The Chicago Blackhawks must stop trying to play perfect hockey because it is costing them wins

The Chicago Blackhawks are off to a terrible start this season. Not being able to play a full 60 minutes is a large reason for that.

Trying to score perfect goals is another, as the Hawks are once again at the top of the Tankathon.com/NHL standings.

Chasing perfection certainly cost the Blackhawks in their most recent defeat.

Head coach Luke Richardson felt that is what did the Hawks in as they lost 3-2 to the Sharks.

Goals are not always going to be scored on cycling the puck to set up a wide-open net. Greasy goals count just the same as a Michigan goal or a one-timer.

This reluctance to constantly fire the puck has been costing the Hawks games lately.

Struggling to play a full game is the main reason the Blackhawks have just three wins and an overtime loss, but not doing everything possible to score certainly has not helped the cause.

Both problems were on display in San Jose.

The Hawks played great in the third but just could not get the puck past Mackenzie Blackwood. With little margin for error, the Blackhawks cannot keep attempting to play perfect hockey because they are not talented enough to do it. They are also not good enough to slack off either.

They perform much better when they play simple hockey. For a brief moment, it looked like the Hawks were fine with scoring messy goals. It is how they scored last night.

Then, they went back to their old habits and it was another defeat.

The Hawks are actually shooting the puck at a decent rate, as they are in the middle of the pack when it comes to shots. It is just not enough. This craving for perfection has also kept them from getting more than 2.64 goals per game, which is in the league's bottom 10.

The Hawks are still not great enough defensively to overcome this lack of scoring.

The Blackhawks have been in practically every contest during the first 11 games of the season. So these small issues like not firing the puck enough at the net or taking a period off is the reason the Blackhawks have seven points in the standings.

Losing to the Sharks hurts because the Blackhawks had just thrashed the Avalanche and are trying to stop contending with San Jose for the best lottery odds. It also does not help that some of these defeats are avoidable if they team just stopped to trying to score the perfect goal.