The Chicago Blackhawks had less than a 1% chance of earning a playoff berth entering Monday night’s game at PNC Arena, and that door finally closed when the Hawks lost 5-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes to eliminate them from postseason contention.
It’s a letdown for a rebuilding team that defied preseason predictions.
The Hawks were picked to finish last in the Central Division by several media pundits, and they were outscored 15-5 in three losses to open the season. But they steadily built a 14-9-5 record in the first half of the season.
From mid-February to mid-March, the Hawks reached as high as second place and spent the bulk of that span clinging to a playoff position in fourth place.
But it has been a precipitous fall since the midpoint of the season as the Hawks have gone 8-15-1.
“It’s tough,” forward Alex Debrincat said. “Obviously not the spot we want to be in with four games left. We had a good stretch middle of the season, but we have to play a full season.”
At least some of the Hawks’ early success could be attributed to the schedule, as they played the majority of their series against the Columbus Blue Jackets (6-2-0 for the season) and Detroit Red Wings (6-2-0).
But against the division’s top competition, the Hawks struggled, including losing records against the Tampa Bay Lightning (1-6-1), Florida Panthers (2-4-2) and Nashville Predators (1-5-2).
Goaltender Malcolm Subban was pulled from Monday’s game in the second period after giving up a fourth goal. Collin Delia came on in relief — just his third game this season and his first appearance since Jan. 17.
Delia looked sharp after being idle for 31/2 months. He started 6-for-6 with three straight saves, and in the third period he shut down a 2-on-1 short-handed breakaway by Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas. Delia had 19 stops for the game.
“He was good,” coach Jeremy Colliton said of Delia. “Obviously our plan was to get him in soon here. Wasn’t planning on it being tonight, but he did an excellent job for us.”
The Hawks were no match for the Hurricanes’ strong forecheck, a problem that has followed the Hawks for much of the season, particularly against bigger teams. The Hurricanes kept the Hawks on their heels and in their own zone for long stretches of the first and second periods.
Dougie Hamilton put the Hurricanes up 1-0 about 61/2 minutes in when his shot from below the goal line banked in off Subban’s stick. Seven minutes later, Necas made it 2-0 with a long wrister while Subban was screened. Aho finished off a 2-on-1 break with Andrei Svechnikov early in the second, then Aho scored again on a deflection.
Philipp Kurashev’s would-be goal for the Hawks in the second was overturned because of Pius Suter’s goaltender interference, but with 1:25 left in the second, Ian Mitchell one-timed Dylan Strome’s pass from below the goal line.
With 5:22 left in regulation, DeBrincat made it 4-2 when he raced out on a breakaway on a long pass by Dominik Kubalík, spun Brady Skjei and snapped the puck past Alex Nedeljkovic for his 26th goal. Kirby Dach’s backward pass almost set up DeBrincat for another one, but DeBrincat couldn’t control a roller and fired wide.
Aho completed a hat trick with an empty-netter with 1:16 left.
Despite a lively third period, it was too much Hurricanes for most of the game.
Elite teams either have been quicker to the puck than the Hawks or have bullied the Hawks off of it, and it was the case again Monday. The Hurricanes outshot the Hawks 38-18, including a 17-7 advantage in the second and 11-0 in high-danger chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
With the Panthers and Lightning both two points behind entering Monday night’s slate, the division-leading Hurricanes couldn’t afford a slip-up against the sixth-place Hawks. They maintained a two-point edge on the Panthers, who beat the Dallas Stars in overtime, and moved four in front of the idle Lightning.
The Predators secured the division’s fourth and final playoff berth when the Hawks lost, and they went on to beat the Blue Jackets in overtime.
The Hawks have relied a lot on rookies and second-year players whom coaches were trying to develop simultaneously. Eight players have made their NHL debuts this season, while two others, Brandon Hagel and Nicolas Beaudin, made their debuts last season but were limited to one game before the pandemic brought the season to a halt.
The young players have been major contributors. Suter and Hagel, for example, rank among the top five on the team in scoring.
DeBrincat leads the Hawks in goals (26) after a down season in 2019-20.
Rookie Kevin Lankinen emerged as a candidate to become the everyday goalie of the future, going 16-14-5 and posting a 3.04 goals-against average and .908 save percentage in his first 36 starts.
And some things never change: Patrick Kane remains the team’s points leader (62).
The Hawks did an admirable job blending a cast that had little time to build chemistry while dealing with setbacks such as Dach’s late start because of wrist surgery, Adam Boqvist’s season-ending wrist injury, the retirements of Andrew Shaw and Brent Seabrook, a stretch with five players going into COVID-19 protocol around the same time and Jonathan Toews’ seasonlong absence because of an undisclosed illness.
But they were undone by sporadic five-on-five offense (2.82 goals per game, ranking 16th), a power play that faded in the second half, a penalty kill that didn’t click until recently, a transition offense that defenses eventually solved by stopping it at the blue line and untimely turnovers.
The focus for the remaining four games will be setting up for the future, starting with two more games at Carolina on Tuesday and Thursday. The season then wraps up with a pair of home games Sunday and Monday against the Stars.
“Love the competition and … it’s a combination of evaluation but also development,” Colliton said before Monday’s game. “We’re trying to challenge these guys to give a little bit more and show how they can be part of more team success going forward.
“So it’s a big opportunity. Every game is a gift, every game you can’t take it for granted, no matter the situation. So that’s the approach we want to have.”
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