Blackhawks Can Breathe A Bit Easier After Snapping Road Woes

It wasn’t a Stanley Cup Final win nor was it even a playoff win. It really doesn’t register in a season full of losing streaks. But the Chicago Blackhawks can exhale after snapping a 22-game road losing streak that served as barricade to victory. Since early November.

Every loss weighed a bit more on them and following a 5-0 loss to Colorado Monday night, fans could be excused for having little faith in a team to snap it. The Blackhawks were tangled in two losing streaks at the same time. One on the road and the other threatening to tie the season-long consecutive streak of eight-games.

So the surprise of an 80% conversion rate on the man advantage–in the way of four goals–was more than a shock.

It was cathartic.

Connor Bedard: "Oh my god, that was a long time. Obviously you try not to think about it much, but that was a pretty crazy stretch there. It's nice that that's over."

"[It'll be] the first happy plane ride we've had in a little bit."

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 6, 2024

Blackhawks Can Now Try to Figure More Out With Less Than 20 Games Left

The trade deadline is in just over 48 hours and no one’s quite sure what to make of the Blackhawks plans. There’s one thing certain–changes must happen to ensure a season like this truly is bottom of the barrel. Kevin Korchinski took another step forward–and has certainly had his struggles as he’s adjusted to the league in his rookie campaign. But the the roster thinned out by injury and lack of depth has been some of that.

In 57 games, Korchinski now has three goals and eight assists. A comparable all season long for me was Duncan Keith’s rookie year, where he had just five points more in the same number of games. Keith tallied more goals–but to compare where the Blackhawks were then–he wouldn’t tally a single point in his final seven games. The 2005-06 team 63 games in? 20-34-9, a good 11 points ahead of the current team’s mark.

The roster, then, comes into focus. How do the Hawks improve things next season without giving too much up or trying to simply just draft, develop, and wait a bit longer? More importantly, who remains from this season? The Blackhawks first big exhale was winning last year’s lottery draft, which put one of the biggest foundational pieces in place for general manager Kyle Davidson to build around.

The second exhale was last night, finally escaping the two intertwining losing streaks.

Now, it’s a deep breath as the Hawks plunge into the unknown with the trade deadline approaching and then finishing off a season that could–and should–be the lowest point of the rebuild journey.

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