Chicago Blackhawks’ Losing Streak Rediscovers Ailments

The Chicago Blackhawks were one of the hottest teams to start the season, beginning their campaign 4-0-1 before their first regulation loss. Now, they’re on a slippery slope; rediscovering their inability to find traction just as we saw last year.

Chicago Blackhawks’ fans witnessed some fun hockey for a few weeks, no doubt. We viewed a revitalized team who looked like they were having fun, trying on some new shoes in a season full of surprises. However, with all of the undiscovered territory now ventured, we’re back to the same old feeling of Blackhawks hockey: the losing kind.

The Blackhawks are sitting at a mere 6-6-3 record right now, barely hanging onto a .500 status on the season. During their three game losing streak — which has shown the worst this team has to offer — we’ve seen them sink to the bottom of the central division leaderboards, hanging only four points above the St. Louis Blues.

There’s a lot of problems to mention, but for the sake of repetition, we’ll keep it simple:

Offense Can’t Define Consistency, Defense Can’t Find Rhythm

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Offensive production is lackluster. The only forwards contributing are the teams’ top six, which are seemingly becoming exhausted.

Each night, the top six forwards exhaust everything they have, while the bottom two lines have nothing to show for. It’s an inconsistent pattern that is beyond unacceptable. In the previous three games, the ‘Hawks have seen a few defenseman take shots from the point, such as Jan Rutta and Brent Seabrook, both who have been very active on the blue line when it comes to attempting offensive abilities.

On the other side of the defense, we’re not really seeing anything exciting. Corey Crawford and Cam Ward are being left out to dry, having to make an unhealthy amount of saves to keep the availability of winning seem possible.

It Only Get’s Worse When Put Together

It’s not only those problems that are hurting the team individually, it’s how they cooperate together make the year unbearable.

For example: The Chicago Blackhawks exhausted every possible offensive effort they had in their 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, acquiring 40 shots to no avail. However, the next night, they blew a 3-1 in the third period and lost 5-3 to the Calgary Flames while only acquiring 15 shots on goal.

It’s almost like the hockey gods are ironically using them as puppets just for other fans to laugh at.

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This rhetoric is reminiscent of the god-awful season we witnessed last year. There’s hope in the fact that the year is still young, but there’s a lot of proble ms that leave a sour feeling in the stomach. Can they be fixed? Possibly. Will they? We’re not quite sure. It’s those “maybes” that make this year feel so strange, yet so familiar at the same time.