The Chicago Blackhawks‘ penalty kill to start the 2016-17 season has been bad. Historically bad.
After allowing another power play goal in Friday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils, the Hawks had given up an astounding 15 goals on 27 opportunities. They gave up a total of 46 in 2015-16. How does that compare to the worst kills ever? STATS inc. began keeping the statistic in 1987-88 and the Hawks’ PK rate is the worst since then.
So what gives?
“‘It can’t get any worse’ is kind of a loser attitude,” said Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford to the Chicago Tribune. “We have to battle hard and be hungry for the kill and … have the pride to kill things off.”
While the saying goes ‘Your goalie is your best penalty killer,’ it’s not all on Crawford who had given up just three even strength goals in Chicago’s five games before Friday. In fact, prior to Friday, the Hawks had outscored their opponents 16-8 at 5-on-5.
Needless to say, their kill sits at 30th place in the league with their record at 3-3-1 after seven games. They currently sit outside of a playoff spot.
Marcus Kruger, one of the team’s best penalty killers, knows the old cliche about not doing too much applies here.
“We all have to be on the same page and trust each other,” Kruger said to the Tribune. “Everyone has to do their jobs. You don’t try to make up for someone else and not trust them instead of doing your job.”
The Blackhawks are lacking forward depth in a way they really haven’t in recent years. While they still boast a talented core in Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Artemi Panarin, and some supremely talented defencemen, their bottom six includes Ryan Hartman, Tyler Motte, Jordin Tootoo, and Nick Schmaltz.
For all the cap issues the Hawks have dodged over the years, it seems it’s finally catching up to them.
“Our identity in the past was being fast and having the puck,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Now we don’t have quite the four-line rotation, or the puck enough, to get that precision we look for, that identity we’re accustomed to having. We’re not playing as fast, because we’re defending a lot more than we’re used to.”
In the first week of the season, Chicago gave up a pair of power play goals to the Nashville Predators with both coming from defencemen shooting from the point. Watch as the points are left uncovered, giving the Preds’ defence time and space while the front of the net is clogged in front of Crawford.
Scheduling could be a factor for a team with some younger, newer faces in the lineup. Chicago has twice played three games in four nights in the month of October.
After killing off one penalty Friday night, there was reason to celebrate.
While it’s too early to produce hard conclusions about almost anything in the NHL so far this year (read: Canucks, Predators), bad is bad is bad. There is no right answer just yet but the questions beg attention.
Are the Chicago Blackhawks too good to fail? Or is their PK symptomatic of larger, developing issues?
