The Chicago Blackhawks haven't won an away game since early November, and the skid continued without their leading scorer in Vancouver. What's different on the road?
Quinn Hughes scores on Petr Mrazek for his 12th goal of the season on Monday.In their first 39 games this season, the Chicago Blackhawks averaged 2.31 goals per game, second-fewest in the league. Of the 90 goals they scored, Connor Bedard factored in on just over a third, with 15 goals and 18 assists.
Since the star rookie went down with a fractured jaw on Jan. 5, the Blackhawks have managed just 12 goals in eight games. That's an average of just 1.5 goals a game, and even that standard was unreachable on Monday.
Hockey fans in Vancouver will have to wait another year before Bedard can make his hometown NHL debut. On Monday, they had to settle for a workmanlike 2-0 win from their league-leading Vancouver Canucks.
Much like they did against the Toronto Maple Leafs last Saturday, Vancouver jumped out to a quick two-goal lead, this time off a goal from Pius Suter and a beauty by Quinn Hughes.
"(Hughes has) had, I think, about five of those goals in that same spot — top shelf, short side," said an admiring coach Rick Tocchet, a three-time 40-goal scorer himself back in his playing days. "It's probably the hardest shot in hockey to hit. That's a credit for him, how hard he worked in the summer on his shot."
Before this season, Hughes had scored 26 goals in 283 career NHL games. Monday's goal was his 12th of this year in Game 47. That puts him on pace for a 20-goal campaign.
Once they got their lead, the Canucks eased up on the pedal. And while the injury-riddled Blackhawks were able to generate chances, they couldn't solve Thatcher Demko. He made 31 stops for his fifth shutout of the year, tying him for the league lead with Connor Ingram of the Arizona Coyotes and Tristan Jarry of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Blackhawks are a respectable 10-11-1 at the United Center. But Monday's loss was their 17th straight on the road (0-16-1). That leaves them at 4-20-1 away from home this season.
"I think sometimes we're wading into games on the road," said veteran Nick Foligno, who finished with a team-leading seven shots on goal in his return to the lineup after missing seven games due to a fractured finger.
"It's almost like we're waiting to see what they're going to do at home before we respond, and tonight we got caught in that. We just got caught in our end, watching them play for the first part. And they get two goals because of it, where we're just not quite as engaged as we need to be. But then the rest of the game, it's like we snap out of it."
Coach Luke Richardson cut his group a little slack.
"I think it was a little bit of them and a little bit of us," he said. "They really came out ready to go. They flexed their muscles and showed why they're No. 1 in the league."
Richardson and Tocchet were teammates on the Philadelphia Flyers for 90 games in the early 2000s, and it's clear that there's mutual respect between the two.
"(Richardson's) had more injuries than anybody," Tocchet said Monday. "And they've worked hard. Their team works hard."
The Canucks have enjoyed relatively good health but lost defenseman Carson Soucy to injury on Saturday for the third time this season — this time, a hand issue that's expected to sideline him for five to six weeks. After being scratched for six of the last seven games, Noah Juulsen stepped back in on the blueline and was steady on a pairing with Ian Cole.
Monday also marked the one-year anniversary of Tocchet's hiring by the Canucks on Jan. 22, 2023. In 83 games behind the Vancouver bench, he has now amassed a record of 52-23-8 for 112 points, a .675 points percentage. And with a record of 8-0-1 in their last nine games, the Canucks remain in the top spot in the NHL standings and are on pace for 118 points this season — one more than their previous franchise best of 117, which won them the 2011 Presidents' Trophy before their run to Game 7 of that year's Stanley Cup final.
The Canucks will close out their current homestand against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday before sending their massive entourage to All-Star Weekend in Toronto: Tocchet, Hughes, Demko, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and even P.A. announcer Al Murdoch, who is the voice of all the NHL's tentpole events.
The undermanned Blackhawks will look to build off a hard-working showing against a good team and try to snap that road losing streak as they close out their pre-all-star schedule in Seattle on Wednesday, Edmonton on Thursday and Calgary on Saturday.
