Connor Bedard punched the boards, Petr Mrazek yelled at Jaycob Megna and everything else went equally poorly for the Blackhawks in a 5-0 blowout loss to the Avalanche on Thursday night.
The Hawks have lost 13 of their last 14 games and 28 of their last 34 and have been shut out eight times this season. On Thursday, that shutout came at the hands of Justus Annunen, an obscure backup goalie making just his ninth NHL appearance.
Veterans such as Seth Jones have been feeling the psychological weight of the Hawks’ constant failure for some time now, but those feelings of frustration are spreading.
“You try to keep that in check, but let’s be honest: We haven’t won a ton of hockey games,” Jarred Tinordi said.
Added Reese Johnson: “It’s easy to get frustrated and get down on yourself and teammates, but no one is going to change it. We’re the ones on the ice.”
The Avalanche scored twice in a 42-second span early in the second period to blow the game open. The Hawks will face them again in Colorado on Monday, then visit the Coyotes on Tuesday in the final game before the trade deadline next Friday.
Megna endured a particularly rough night and received Mrazek’s ire after he did nothing to prevent Ross Colton from scoring the first of those two quick goals. But to be fair, no Hawk played particularly well.
Anthony Beauvillier was bodied off the puck too easily on Colorado’s first goal. Taylor Raddysh missed the net on several good chances. Even Bedard was unable to find a goal-scoring touch to finish off some slick moves, and a couple Avalanche slashes on him went uncalled.
“I don’t think we responded well when we got down,” Tinordi said. “We got tentative. We were just watching them make plays, watching them exit the zone. It’s frustrating.”
Reichel finding rhythm
Lukas Reichel has tallied just two assists in four games so far with Rockford, but the IceHogs have at least won three of those four games, allowing Reichel to enjoy some team success that he certainly wasn’t
experiencing much with the Hawks.
Coach Luke Richardson said general manager Kyle Davidson and Rockford coach Anders Sorensen have passed along positive reports. In Reichel’s first game, he played well in the first period but trailed off, mirroring his inconsistencies with the Hawks. The past few games, however, he kept up a high level throughout.
“He’s back playing, he’s back engaged and he’s doing what he needs to do,” Richardson said. “That’s a good sign, so hopefully that continues and it leads him back to here.”
