Early in last night's 5-1 loss to Nashville, tv cameras caught Hawk bench boss Joel Quenneville angrily barking what appeared to be the words "wake up" to his team, sleepwalking their way through a first period where they would end up down 3-0 in goals—and 2-0 in fights.
The shot differential was 18-7 Nashville in that period. The entire team, with the exceptions of Andrew Shaw, Scott Darling and maybe Andrew Desjardins, just didn't show up. Lazy passes, over handling the puck while looking for the clever play and getting pick-pocketed, pulling up to avoid getting hit and just handing over pucks. The Preds were playing at a playoff intensity—and style—while the Hawks looked like they came to play an exhibition.
Seriously.
The Hawks came back in the latter two periods and outshot the Preds, mounting a lot of pressure on Pekka Rinne, who was very good. They finally cracked him in the third period on a greasy Patrick Kane goal, largely made possible by the effort of Marcus Kruger.
But it was Kane, who otherwise was dreadful much of the night, who set up Nashville's 4th and pretty much game-deciding goal, with a cutesie (and just stupid) drop pass in the neutral zone that a Nashville defender purloined—and ended up in the back of Chicago's net lickety split.
Yes, all teams have games like these during the season. But the problem is, the Blackhawks don't have room for them because they got off to a so-so start to the season in the NHL's most competitive division, and many (myself included) feel they are lucky to have the record they have.
Further, this is a team that has been fighting for consistency all year. They win two games (both of which by the way, they probably would have lost without superior goaltending) and then get absolutely embarrassed.
Yes, it was good that the team came back to play pretty well in the latter frames. Yes, the effort of Shaw in particular, and Desjardins, in dropping the gloves against Pred players who had a significant size advantage, was highly commendable.
Yes, you want to just write this one off as "one of those nights."
But was this just "one of those nights," or further proof that this is a flawed team as currently composed?
The bottom line is this: it's too hard to win consistently in hockey without consistent effort, and effort that's consistent across your roster.
While a portion of the Hawk fan base apparently worships at the First Church of Teuvo Teravainen, he showed yet again that he is a frightened boy when men's league hockey starts up.
I know I will get flamed here and elsewhere for saying that. Sorry. Tough. Deal with it.
And that's not to say "trade him now," or he will never amount to anything. It is to say, in spite of (and because of) his obvious gifts and potential, you can't allow a player—on your top line no less—to obviously give up on a puck to avoid contact, and in the process, allow a prime scoring chance on your goalie. That is inexcusable.
It doesn't send the right message to him to just sweep that under the rug, and it definitely sends the wrong message to those on your team who show up night after night and play hard.
I won't go into David Rundblad, because as some pointed out on my message board last night, he wasn't the only Hawk to play badly last night—and there will be an addition by subtraction anyway when he leaves the lineup and Trevor Daley comes back.
It's soul-searching time for the Blackhawks from the GM on down. What kind of team, and what kind of season, do you want to have? I doubt the Hawks are ever going to come out and announce "meh, we doubt we're really able to go that far this year, so it's really rebuilding."
But that doesn't mean that isn't what they're thinking.
It will be interesting to see how Quenneville responds with his next lineup, and how the front office responds between now and March.
All I have for now,
JJ