PITTSBURGH — The Blackhawks held a lengthy team meeting after an ugly 5-0 loss Tuesday against the Penguins.
On first thought, it was weird timing after their 56th loss of the season with just four games left to go. There’s nothing left to do aside from some last-minute development for young players, and the Hawks haven’t held meetings after plenty of other blowout losses during the past few months.
With so many prospects having integrated into the group during those past few months, however, experiencing an infamous NHL post-game players-only meeting could be valuable in itself for them. For wide-eyed rookies like Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore, playing their fifth career games, it was their first such meeting.
“Sometimes it’s good to blow off some steam and not sit on it for days, so [we talked about] just how bad we played,” alternate captain Connor Murphy said. “It’s good to hear guys talk and be a part of a locker room at any stage. As a young guy, [it’s good] to know the dynamic and feel that communication.”
Said forward Ryan Donato: “As veterans or guys who have been around long enough know, you’ve got to bring [young players] with you and teach them the right way. There’s some hard lessons in there, but it makes the team better. I think everybody can look at themselves in the mirror and find something they didn’t do great this game. You’ve got to continue to build. It’s a hard league.”
The Hawks looked sharp for the first 15 minutes, but they were awful after that. They suffered their seventh consecutive road defeat and their 13th defeat in their last 15 games overall.
Pittsburgh cornerstones Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang all scored for the Penguins, who generated a 13-2 advantage in scoring chances during the second period and then broke the game open — from 2-0 to 5-0 — during the third. It was a massive difference from the Hawks’ 3-1 home win Sunday against this same opponent.
“A lot is turnovers, and it’s out of our own zone [and] out of the offensive zone,” interim coach Anders Sorensen said. “It’s not good. It’s mind-boggling it can be like that 48 hours later.”
The announced attendance at PPG Paints Arena was 15,029, and there appeared to be thousands fewer fans than that actually present, so no hostile atmosphere suffocated the Hawks.
Yet they weren’t able to get anything going, and they also weren’t able to turn the tide once it swung against them. They spent two-minute shifts chasing Penguins around and then, upon finally regaining possession, threw it away quickly.
Kevin Korchinski took an inexplicably meandering route defending a Kevin Hayes rush in the final two minutes that turned into a goal. Teuvo Teravainen turned the puck over right before Karlsson’s goal.
Rinzel dominated his first few shifts but had some sloppy, out-of-position moments after that. Connor Bedard didn’t generate much offensively. Goalie Spencer Knight awkwardly fumbled the Penguins’ fourth goal into the net.
Sorensen said the Hawks “let themselves and their teammates down.” Donato said they “could have used more” yelling in the meeting, in his opinion.
“[The coaches] give us a good plan to go into the game,” Donato added. “We all have to buy into that and play the same way. It’s on the veterans — and some of the young guys — to make sure we’re doing what we’re told.
“Some of the most simple teams are the best. As a team that’s young and inexperienced, the more the simple you play, you create more offense; you create all these different things. I don’t really know where to start with that.”
