Less than a minute into Sunday night’s game against the Coyotes, the Blackhawks had the lead.
By the end of the first period, they had a two-goal lead.
When it was all over? The Hawks just had regrets.
Even though they came away with a point in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Coyotes, the Hawks played an undisciplined game and didn’t capitalize on their early advantage.
“We were in a pretty good spot at home 3-1 and just disappointed with what came after,” Colliton said. “So not a very good performance. How we respond will tell a lot.”
The Hawks will get their chance to respond this week when they visit the Golden Knights, Coyotes and Blues on a very difficult road trip.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s game:
1. Dennis Gilbert protecting Alex DeBrincat and taking an instigator penalty changed the course of the game.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Dennis Gilbert absolutely did the right thing by chasing down Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers after Demers clearly — and without being called for a penalty — boarded Alex DeBrincat midway through the second period.
It’s also true that what Gilbert did — taking an instigator penalty and getting a five-minute major and 10-minute misconduct — cost the Hawks the game.
The real question: Was it worth it?
The Hawks just had given up a power-play goal to see their lead cut to 3-2 when Demers shoved DeBrincat from behind into the boards. Play continued and DeBrincat was fine, but the recklessness of the hit was too much for Gilbert, who skated more than halfway across the ice to find Demers and explain to him — with his fists — why he shouldn’t have hurt Gilbert’s teammate.
What Gilbert did has happened thousands of times and will happen thousands of times more. It’s an acceptable form of defending your teammate, and afterward Calvin de Haan said as much.
“I think it was pretty blatant that (call) was missed,” de Haan said. “Alex’s head went right off the boards. I don’t know how they didn’t call that one. But good on Dennis to step up, and sometimes it takes a big set of (guts) to do that.
“He tried to get a spark for us, and I think trying to stick up for your teammates is still part of the game, especially on a hit like that. Kudos to him. … It was a key time in the game for us and he tried to turn the tables for us.”
It’s a safe bet that if you ask any other player on the Hawks — or in the league — they’d repeat some variation on what de Haan said. The bottom line: Defending your teammate is never wrong.
Not even when it can be argued it cost your team the game?
Gilbert’s decision to defend DeBrincat and put his team in a hole provided the Coyotes a power play that they scored on to tie the game and ultimately allow them to take it to overtime.
It also forced the Hawks to play with only five defensemen for 17 minutes. Connor Murphy played 27 minutes, 47 seconds — the second-highest total of his career and most as a Hawk — and de Haan played a season-high 26:33.
DeBrincat is not a player who courts controversy. After the game he didn’t want to throw the referee under the bus.
“It’s a fast game and they don’t see everything,” he said. “You have to cut them some slack.”
And here’s what he had to say about Gilbert going after Demers:
“I think it fires us up.” DeBrincat said. “I think he’s protecting me. I think he obviously thought it was a dirty hit and takes control of the play. I think it makes (it) a good play for me. I like that he does that.”
Then he added: “Obviously, at the same time we get a penalty out of it which is not always the best.”
Yes, the small matter of taking a penalty that led to the tying goal is not always the best.
Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton had a very interesting response to a question about whether Gilbert did right thing by putting the Hawks a man down in exchange for meting out immediate punishment.
“It is if we kill (the penalty),” Colliton said. “And I think sends a good message to the rest of the players that we’re in this together and we’re going to take care of each other.”
Colltion talks constantly about putting process before results. Saying that what Gilbert did was correct or incorrect based on the result is contradictory to what he usually says.
Gilbert is a rookie who was playing in his seventh NHL game. What he did will be valued and remembered by his teammates.
But was it worth a point? We’ll find out in April.
2. The Blackhawks are who they are: a consistently inconsistent team.
It’s hard to get too excited when the Hawks play great for a game or two when you know a bad performance is lurking around the corner.
After a great game against the Bruins and a pretty good one against the Devils, the Hawks were somewhere between mediocre and really bad against the Coyotes.
“(A) step back I thought from the last two games, for sure,” Colliton said. “Especially the second and third (periods) I thought we had a tough time making plays, exiting the zone. We were not able to establish zone time and momentum and they were. Robin (Lehner) was excellent to get us the point.”
The Hawks were outshot 47-29, spent too much time in the penalty box and couldn’t hang on to a pair of two-goal leads.
So who is the real Hawks team? For now it’s the one that shows up one game and can’t put one skate in front of the other the next.
“For now that is what we are,” Colliton said. “We’re inconsistent. And it’s up to us to commit to doing the things shift to shift that will allow us to turn into something more. Simple as that.”
3. Robin Lehner was miraculous for 65 minutes, then miserable in the shootout. Again.
Focusing on goalie Robin Lehner’s shootout performance after he stopped 44 of 47 shots and made spectacular saves all night during regulation and overtime isn’t exactly fair.
Then again, shootouts aren’t really fair. Teams spend 65 minutes playing real hockey then use a skills competition to determine an entire point in the standings?
That’s a discussion for another day. For now, the discussion is about whether Lehner can do anything about his shootout struggles. He’s stopped only one of seven shootout attempts this season after Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland beat him on Sunday. He dropped to just 49 of 96 in his career, far below the league average.
The Hawks have they said they haven’t considered replacing Lehner with Corey Crawford for a shootout, so the onus will be on Lehner to get better. And he says he’s been giving it some thought.
“I have,” Lehner said. “We’re still working on it; we’ll see what happens. It is what it is. I’m positive about it, just not very good at it, so I’ve got to keep getting better, keep working at it, and maybe keep finding another way.”
Here is coverage from Sunday’s game:
The first three periods were flashy and fun but decided nothing.
It took some free hockey to do that. Again.
The Blackhawks ended regulation tied for the third straight game. After winning the first two they couldn’t take the extra point this time as they blew a pair of two-goal leads and fell to the Coyotes 4-3 in a shootout Sunday night at the United Center.
Robin Lehner was spectacular in regulation and overtime but gave up goals to Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland to lose in a shootout for the third time in three tries this season.
The Hawks dropped to 12-12-6 while the Coyotes improved to 18-10-4, including 11-4-3 on the road. The two teams will meet again Thursday in Phoenix.
Each team had power plays in the extra session but didn’t convert.
The Coyotes nearly took the lead midway through the third when Clayton Keller was alone in front of the net and one-timed a shot that Lehner miraculously kept out of the net with a sweeping glove save. Lehner finished with 44 saves.
Lehner made perhaps an even more incredible save in overtime when he moved to his left to take away an open net from Jakob Chychrun.
The Hawks jumped to a 3-1 lead despite getting outshot 16-11 in the first period. Calvin de Haan zigzagged deep into the Coyotes’ zone before centering into the slot, where Jonathan Toews was able to get just enough of a backhand on it to make it 1-0. Toews finished with a goal and two assists.
Alex DeBrincat’s power-play goal, after a sweet saucer pass from Patrick Kane, gave the Hawks a two-goal edge. It was DeBrincat’s eighth of the season and third straight game with a goal.
The Coyotes’ Christian Fischer made it 2-1, but Dominik Kubalik tipped in a Connor Murphy shot from the point to restore the Hawks’ two-goal lead.
The lead disappeared in the second period after the Coyotes scored a fast pair of power-play goals. While Jonathan Toews was off for tripping, Conor Garland scored his 12th of the season to make it 3-2.
It might have stayed that way a little longer, but Dennis Gilbert took an instigator penalty after taking exception to a hit that Jason Demers put on DeBrincat. Gilbert gave Demers a pounding but also gave the Coyotes another power play.
They converted seconds before it expired when Carl Soderberg’s shot struck Slater Koekkoek’s stick and rainbowed over Robin Lehner and into the net to tie the game.
Toews nearly gave the Hawks the lead again late in the second when he corralled his own rebound and seemed to have an open net. Darcy Kuemper sprawled to his right, though, and barely kept Toews’ attempt from going in.
