By the end of the second period Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks had five power plays that produced one goal — for the Montreal Canadiens.
It didn’t get better in two more cracks with a man advantage Saturday, but at least the Hawks flipped a dismal second-period effort into a spunky third-period rally that fell short as the Habs held on for a 3-2 win at Bell Centre.
Tyler Johnson scored two third-period goals, but that’s little consolation after a night of what-ifs, including the 0-for-7 power play and the Canadiens’ short-handed goal.
“My performance is team performance, so I’m not too happy with what happened,” Johnson said.
Johnson tied the mistakes on the power play to mistakes the Hawks made throughout the game.
“We started to get a little bit — I don’t want to use the word ‘selfish’ — but we started to rely on our skill instead of helping each other, making it more of a team game,” Johnson said.
Coach Luke Richardson added: “We played OK in the first period, a little bit scrambly with all the power plays and penalty kills. The second period we just didn’t have it. We looked tired, we didn’t have the energy, and disconnected. A lot of turnovers. And obviously the power play was not sharp.”
After getting outshot 15-5 in the second, the Hawks turned the tables, outshooting the Canadiens 16-9 in the third.
“We regrouped, we talked about it with the players in between, and the best period was our third, obviously,” Richardson said. “We pushed hard and unfortunately we ran out of time.”
Connor Bedard said of the third: “We were more desperate and ended up getting a couple (goals) but we had our chances. But a lot of breakdowns (earlier) and that’s why we lost.”
On one such breakdown, Bedard’s shot from the right flank went wide and Montreal’s Sean Monahan was able leak out from the middle with no Hawks defender on him for a short-handed goal.
And it wasn’t the only short-handed rush against the Hawks.
“That’s just what happens when you’re a bit out of sync,” Richardson said. “When there’s a shooter on the other side of the ice, you have to protect that shooter and make sure you get to the wall or back that up. We didn’t do that tonight.
“Just poor decision-making led to that. We’ve got to be sharper and that’s definitely something we have to work on.”
On the injury front, ex-Hawk Kirby Dach left the game for the Canadiens after four shifts following a hard hit by Jarred Tinordi.
Bedard flashed bloody teeth while talking to a referee after drawing a high-sticking penalty, but he was fine after the game.
Taylor Hall (upper body) missed Saturday’s game, but his appearance at morning skate was encouraging.
“He wanted to try it today,” Richardson said before the game. “We just want to let it settle today and (see) how it feels. But that was a good sign to see him on the ice.”
Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s game.
1. Were the Blackhawks due for a letdown?
After upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opener and playing the Boston Bruins closer than the 3-1 score looked, it was easy to be lured into thinking a team stocked with newcomers — both veterans and prospects — had helped the Hawks take a leap forward.
Saturday’s turnover-filled performance brought any such notions back to reality.
“It’s the beginning of the season, so you’re going to have that,” Johnson said. “We have a high standard for ourselves, we think we can win a lot of hockey games, and this is not the way to play and we have to be a lot better.
“Yeah, you have to use it as a learning experience, but it’s still unacceptable.”
2. A stalled power play went off the rails.
Before Saturday the Hawks were the only team among six with at least seven power plays that had yet to score.
They had seven more against the Habs and came up empty on 14 shots.
“Obviously the power play’s not good enough. You’ve got to score,” Bedard said. “But every game we’ve had our looks and I feel like we’ve had some prime scoring chances.”
It was the worst in the second period, when the Canadiens challenged the Hawks at the blue line and the Hawks struggled to cross it with the puck in possession.
“You’re trying to think ahead and you’re not completing what you’re doing,” Richardson said. “Our early entries were sharper and then we started to try to make little saucer passes that are too soft. In this league, sticks are too hard. You just knock those down.”
3. Can you judge the Reichel-Bedard power play?
With Hall sidelined, Lukas Reichel joined Bedard on the first unit, but the Hawks power play was disjointed in the first two periods.
Reichel took five power-play shots — which Richardson wants — in the third period, but Bedard took only one the entire game.
Before the game, Reichel was optimistic about teaming up with Bedard, and it’s doubtful the Hawks would give up on this experiment so soon.
“We saw in preseason, the puck was moving quicker,” Reichel said. “(Bedard has) a good shot so they’re going to look for him more than me. It gives me more time and space. He’s a really good player, so we can make plays together.”
4. Were they saying ‘Boo-dard’?
The mere mention of Bedard’s name drew boos from Penguins fans during Bedard’s NHL debut Tuesday, but the crowd in Pittsburgh had nothing on the Bell Centre bunch.
Every time Bedard touched the puck, fans greeted him with jeers.
“I loved it. It was great,” Bedard said. “I didn’t really think about it before the game. But I thought it was awesome. … That makes the game more fun when the crowd is really into it like that.”
5. The penalty kill is on a hot streak.
The Hawks have been short-handed seven times this season and have yet to give up a goal, one of four teams that are perfect after at least seven kills.
“A little bit more aggressive and no hesitation,” Richardson said. “We have some good skaters on the team, both front and back, and we can really force the issue.”
Here’s who the Hawks deployed against the Penguins and for some of the PK time against the Bruins:
Forwards
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Jason Dickinson-Nick Foligno
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Taylor Raddysh-Boris Katchouk
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Cole Guttman-Tyler Johnson
Defensemen
Against the Canadiens, the only change was Guttman playing with Reese Johnson.
The Hawks have used a diamond formation that has grown more popular, and it has tightened up the middle.
Richardson said they’ve studied the nuances of each power-play unit they’ve faced.
“Liketonight, (Montreal’s) Nick Suzuki’s tendencies and Cole Caufield, his awareness of where he is on the ice, we’ve got to make sure we’re paying attention to detail,” Richardson said before the game. “I think we’ve done that. And that aggressiveness both up ice and now adding a little bit more in zone has really helped us get off to a good start.”
The Hawks killed two penalties Saturday, holding Montreal’s power play to four shots.
