CHICAGO — Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno is well aware of two things right now: his team’s record and how close Thanksgiving is on the calendar.
Foligno believes in the theory that most NHL playoff teams are in the picture by American Thanksgiving. And with four more games until that Nov. 28 deadline and the Blackhawks holding a 6-11-1 record, Foligno is feeling an urgency to win games and win them soon.
“Yeah, we need to win all four of them,” Foligno said after practice on Monday. “It’s been talked about in the room.”
The Blackhawks have been tied, winning or within a goal in the third period in 17 of their first 18 games. From that perspective, they’re more competitive than they were last season.
But that isn’t good enough for Foligno.
“We need to find an urgency of finish games,” he said. “I get it, I’m proud that we’re in every game. I am. Last year, we weren’t. So it’s a step in the right direction. I talked about moral victories, so, yeah, I’m the guy who wants more. I don’t want it to be just OK to be in games. I don’t think that’s what our fans want. I don’t think that’s what we want. A real improvement is winning games. That’s how you know what it takes to win and how hard it is and especially consistently. We haven’t gotten a string of games yet where we can be proud of where we’re winning three, four in a row. That really sets you up.
“That’s just the basement of what I think we should be. We should be a .500 team, so it’s disappointing that we’re not there. Especially seeing how some teams have toiled around the league, we’re not far out. We just got to get on a run. There’s got to be an urgency from everybody in here.”
The third period has especially been a mixed bag. Some have been like their last, a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, where the score was tied 1-1 heading into the final period and the Canucks found that all-important next goal. Some have been like Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken, where the Blackhawks were outplayed for two periods and then made a push late but couldn’t close the game out. Some have been like their 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators, where they’ve played well early and built a lead, then allowed other teams into the game.
Foligno believes the Blackhawks’ mentality can impact how that third plays out.
“I think it’s just an understanding of details, the process of what goes into winning a game,” Foligno said. “Some of those games we opened ourselves up — or we’ve clammed up — because now the team’s getting momentum because they’re now on full-on attack and, OK, we got time and space to play with because we’re not so worried about defending. … If you get a goal, get the next one. Understand what that means, how hard that was to get the first one, get the next one. And every game we’ve done that, get the next one, we’ve won.
“It’s amazing how that recipe works. That’s where I see our need for improvement.”
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson is desperate for his team to score more goals — in the past five games, they haven’t scored more than one goal in regulation — and that desperation was apparent in his new-look lines at Monday’s practice.
Here were the changes in place for Tuesday’s home game against the Anaheim Ducks:
• Connor Bedard joined Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson on a line, with Bedard on the wing.
• Foligno, Phillip Kurashev and Teuvo Teräväinen comprised another line.
• Ryan Donato, Taylor Hall and Ilya Mikheyev were on another line.
• The final line was Tyler Bertuzzi, Lukas Reichel and Craig Smith.
Richardson’s explanation: “Just trying to find something that’s going to create. Thought last game (was) probably one of our best games creating primary scoring chances. We just didn’t get more than the one. So we have to keep trying things to see if something works.
“This is a little bit more of a balanced lineup than that you would maybe see on the road, but we can flip a few things around on faceoffs. We liked practice today, we liked the look of it, so we’re hoping we spark something for tomorrow’s game.”
There has obviously been a lot of talk about Bedard’s lack of production lately. He’s riding the worst four-game stretch of his young NHL career with zero goals, one assist and four shots on net.
Foligno said it’s not a bad thing for Bedard to experience, as long as it’s not made to seem too significant.
“This is unchartered territory for him a little bit, so you can’t fill his head with it,” Foligno said. “I’m sure he’s got a ton of it coming from everybody. I’m just trying to be there, be present, and not make it as big a deal. It is a big deal to you guys. It is a big deal, but he is a 19-year-old player, so anybody else we probably wouldn’t even be talking. We’d be saying, ‘Oh, he’s going through it, it’s all right, he’ll come out of it.’
“Everyone’s like, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ It’s not, ‘What’s wrong with him?’ This is the NHL. It’s a hard league. I’ve seen Sidney Crosby go through it. I’ve seen Connor McDavid go through it. Maybe not to the same degree, but even Sid, there was talk a couple years ago I remember, he hasn’t scored as many goals at the start of the season. So, it’s funny how he’s a lightning rod for a little bit of that, but that’s part of his life and he understands that. We’re just trying to be as good of teammates as we can through it. He’ll get on the other side of it, man. He’s too good not to.”
Richardson is hopeful Bedard playing on the wing and playing with Dickinson will help with that. In 105 minutes, 54 seconds of five-on-five time together last season, Bedard and Dickinson had a 50.21 expected goals percentage and a 50.0 actual goals percentage.
“They had a few games last year together and we did that last year,” Richardson said. “I thought there were times it worked well, and Dickie and Andy are playing really good hockey right now. It’s a good look to try, and sometimes Connor, being on a left wing … it’s a little more of a quicker shooting release side for him. Maybe on entries, we’ve seen him score like that this year and in the past, so that’s maybe not a bad opportunity to try as well.”
Taylor Hall wasn’t playing as well as he hoped, but he had no idea a healthy scratch was coming Saturday.
“Yeah, I was surprised,” Hall said. “It was unexpected from the standpoint of I didn’t know that I was even close to being in that spot, really. If there was some conversations in the days leading up about my game, or if I was constantly being shown video, it would be one thing. I was a bit surprised.”
Richardson was accountable for that part of it.
“That could be part my problem, too,” Richardson said. “Sometimes you give veterans a little more of a grace period, and I know he’s been frustrated. I don’t want the frustration to lead too long, so it was a good time for maybe a little setback. But for me to communicate with him, I need to get to know the player more to see how they like to handle that. We’ve talked lots during and after, but maybe it needs to be more before. So that’s just something I learn about one player. He had a great practice today, and part of my thought process is to have a couple of days like this to reset, and we hope it leads that way.”
Hall didn’t want to make it seem as if he was too big to be scratched. He was just hopeful for more of a discussion around it. He and Richardson have talked a lot since then.
“Yeah, we communicated,” Hall said. “It wasn’t anything argumentative. He thought it was best for me to just reset, and so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m not immune to coaching and I’m not immune to being held accountable. So I just want to play better and I want to be better for our team, and there’s some things in my game that when I’m not playing well, Luke and the coaching staff obviously just want me to do a bit better. So that’s really it. We talked, we talked today, and I’m excited to play tomorrow.”
As much as a healthy scratch was tough to swallow for Hall, a past Hart Trophy winner, he’s tried to use it positively.
“I think you have to toe that line between being angry or embarrassed or whatever, but also, you can’t let it stress you out to the point where you forget what kind of player you are and how much you can bring to the team. It’s a fine line between holding yourself accountable and understanding the messaging or the message, and then it’s another to maintain confidence and come out and play well. So that’s the fine line I’m toeing right now. But it’s a good challenge.
“Look around the room, and there’s lots of guys that have faced challenges. And sometimes that’s where confidence comes from — when you overcome stuff and you get better from it. That’s the view I’m choosing to take.”
(Photo: Stephen Brashear / USA Today)
