Blackhawks Locker Room: ‘We cannot fall into old habits’

The Chicago Blackhawks’ Frozen Frenzy was a night to forget falling 6 to 3 to the Vancouver Canucks at home. For the Hawks, tonight’s loss was another missed opportunity, another slow start and another night walking away with no points.

Throughout the start of the season, Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno has done his best to lead by example. He was even promoted to the Hawks top line to play alongside Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen. After the loss, Foligno took ownership on the Hawks poor start – which included a Danton Heinen goal just 21 seconds in.

“Especially our line, we pride ourselves on starting on time, and we didn’t get the job done on the first shift,” Foligno said. “It’s disappointing on my end and just as a team, because it sets the tone for a lot of the game. I didn’t think we had any emotion after that. They got to their game faster because of that goal, so that’s disappointing because it’s an area that we need to fix.”

Starting on time definitely is something the Hawks have to address as soon as possible. Chicago is 2-4-1 through seven games, but to break things down even further in the three games the Hawks have scored the first goal, they are 2-0-1 compared to 0-4-0 when getting scored on.

“It seems like any game we’ve started slow, we’ve had trouble in and we can’t seem to come back from it,” said Foligno. “It’s a bit of a mentality of understanding, if it does happen, we have to have the mental fortitude to come back into it and do the things necessary.”

This isn’t a new problem for the Blackhawks, last year the Hawks were 14-16-4 when they scored the first goal compared to 9-37-2 when their opponent got on the board first.

The Blackhawks looked like last year’s squad tonight. With a new more experienced roster, this year was supposed to be different, competing night in and night out. Foligno saw how things went last year, now as the official captain he spoke on how the team needs to address things going forward.

“It’s just understanding that we cannot fall into old habits,” Foligno said. “Especially the newer guys, they’re still trying to find their way, and not letting that creep into our game because they’re still trying to find their game.”

Blackhawks Head Coach Luke Richardson has been talking about starting on time going back to the first game in Utah. Now seven games in, Richardson spoke of the “same old story.”

“Start was unfortunate, when you get scored on the first shift you kind of get on your heels,” Richardson said. “Obviously, they must’ve sensed that. they did a really good job of moving in our O-zone and created a lot of confusion for us.”

I thought we settled in again and battled and got ourselves on the board. Battled again in the second period. But that’s the same old story. We can’t fall behind, especially at home. We want to be the initiators in that department, so for whatever reason, you can’t get scored on on the first shift.”

Tonight’s game also featured a special moment for Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall. Hall registered his 700th NHL Point with a goal off a loose puck in the offensive zone.

“I liked that goal. it was on and off his stick really quick,” said Richardson. “Hopefully that can build some confidence in his game. He’s still finding it and his body’s still kind of recovering to game mode from being off for nine months.”

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