The Chicago Blackhawks have not been able to close out games and have struggled in the third period, especially at home. It is so bad that the team ranks 31st in the NHL this season in third period goals at home. The only team worse is the Boston Bruins.
While Chicago has scored just three goals in the third period in eight home games this season, the Bruins have just one in 13 games that came on Oct. 10. There is no surprise that these two teams rank 31st and 32nd in goals per game either.
Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Boston has scored 2.22 goals per game and the Blackhawks have scored 2.33 goals per game. Somehow the Bruins, being a -21 in goal differential, are .500, while the Blackhawks have a -14 goal differential and are five games under .500.
Defenseman Connor Murphy when talking about the third periods this season said, “Some of them we’re tied or hanging on and I think a couple of games are because our second periods have been surviving. Then we come out in the third without energy and kind of catching ourselves in the second and hanging on, but the recent ones have definitely been either a lead or a close game that we’re at home or something where we should be controlling and dictating the pace.”
The Blackhawks aren’t the young team they were last season even though they are still rebuilding. More players should be able to pull together and make this group more competitive offensively, from the back-end to the forwards.
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Murphy also stated, “We just need to get a little more hungry for the wins and know that we have to attack the game versus worrying so much about not making mistakes and defending and sitting back and playing to not make a mistake versus playing to take a lead.”
Most of the Blackhawks have struggled offensively this season and with the last change at home at the most important time of the game, the team continues to fall short. While the problem has been identified, the next step is actually changing.
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