DALLAS — The Chicago Blackhawks might deal with the positives.
Tyler Johnson flirted with a hat trick, Jason Dickinson had a aim and an help in his return to Dallas and the Hawks rallied from a two-goal deficit within the third interval.
Or the Hawks might deal with the negatives.
They blew an early two-goal lead, Roope Hintz accomplished a hat trick and the Hawks by no means received a shot on aim throughout additional time of Friday’s 5-4 loss to the Stars.
“It’s partly the other team’s a good team and they come at you,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson mentioned. “But partly we allow them to have somewhat room too.
“It’s just got to be focus and desire to play the same way for 60 minutes,” he mentioned. “And it’s arduous however you’ve received to maintain reminding them and these are good examples. We received a degree out of it tonight, but when we might play like we did within the third interval and the beginning of the primary, you’re taking a look at two factors quite a lot of instances on this league.
“So we’ve got to spell that out and make sure it sinks in.”
For Dickinson, it was an evening of combined emotions.
He had one other sturdy efficiency, helping on Johnson’s first aim and sparking the rally with a third-period aim.
“Great pass by Gutty (Cole Guttman) to find me there,” Dickinson mentioned. “And then T.J. driving the net for the first goal, I get a secondary (assist).”
Dickinson took time to soak up the ambiance at American Airlines Center, a sellout crowd of 18,532.
“I’m used to hearing the chant on my side, but I loved playing here,” he mentioned. “Feels like home still and still hearing them chant the “Stars” through the anthem, it provides me somewhat one thing additional.”
Here are seven takeaways from the loss.
1. The Stars performed keep-away in additional time.
Dallas would backtrack, in search of the fitting rush alternative, circle round and do it another time.
It was as in the event that they had been on the market to get in a exercise — and never precisely scintillating to look at.
“That’s how you should play,” Johnson mentioned pointedly. “I do know they introduced 3-on-3 to attempt to be thrilling and every part, however via all of the historical past that I’ve performed in 3-on-3, it’s possession. The extra you’ll be able to put on a workforce down, catch guys drained, that’s once you get your odd-man alternatives.
“You really shouldn’t just take shots to take shots. Three-on-three hockey, what everyone wants it to be, if you want to win it, you can’t really play that way. They did what they needed to do to win.”
It labored. Hintz scored his third aim of the sport on a tip-in with 7.9 seconds left.
“It’s tough,” Richardson mentioned. “That’s a big team that’s strong on pucks and they have good speed, so that’s pretty lethal when there’s a lot of room out there three-on-three.”
Dickinson felt the Hawks had defended properly and saved the Stars to the surface until the tip.
“We could’ve taken a page out of their book when we did have the puck, we could have held onto it a little bit longer and created more extended possession time ourselves,” he mentioned.
2. What a couple of format change?
Some within the NHL aren’t keen on the tactic the Stars used, and it’s not fan pleasant. But what are you able to do about it?
Implement a rule stating groups must keep within the offensive zone? Give the NHL a shot clock just like the NBA?
“I don’t have an answer for that,” Johnson mentioned, “because you can’t have the guys playing overtime forever with the schedule and everything. If you did a five-on-five OT, you’re not going to get a lot of goals. You could go directly to a shootout, but I don’t think a shootout should determine a lot of points either.”
Dickinson mentioned he wouldn’t change the format both.
“Because you change it one way and teams find another way to counter it,” he mentioned. “So we’ve got the devil that we know, right?”
3. Lately, the Hawks have a knack for scoring first.
Johnson scored his eighth aim of the season 7 minutes, 56 seconds into the sport, assisted by Anthony Beauvillier and Dickinson.
It represented the nineteenth time the Hawks have scored the opening aim — 11 in December alone — however they’ve only a 7-10-2 document in these video games (.368).
(By the best way, Connor Bedard is tied with Sidney Crosby with six game-opening targets.)
Johnson mentioned it comes right down to construction and self-discipline.
“We have the lead but instead of not necessarily sitting back and protecting — I don’t think that’s ever good — but making those right decisions of not doing those hope plays, not doing those plays of ‘this might work, this might not,’ ” he mentioned. “When you’ve got the lead, you must make the for-sure play, the easy play.
“Sometimes it’s not sexy, sometimes it’s not going to create anything, but at least you’re not going to have something go against you. We’re just taking too many chances.”
Richardson mentioned it’s the rising pains of what the Hawks are constructing.
“Do we have as much depth as some teams? Maybe not,” he mentioned. “But our focus (ought to be) preserving that recreation plan going like we talked about earlier, enjoying that 60 minutes. …
“We’ll live with the mistakes if we’re playing aggressive. It’s us, not backing up, (but) it’s maybe losing a little bit of focus on how we got those good starts and letting the other team have a chance to get back in the game. So it’s something to learn from.”
4. Doubling down on Dallas.
The Hawks stayed in Dallas for a second straight recreation — 7 p.m. Sunday, NBCSCH — a uncommon scheduling quirk that’s extra akin to a baseball sequence.
“It’s a little different but it’s good,” Bedard mentioned. “We haven’t played these guys yet (before Friday), so it’s always fun coming to new buildings for myself and playing new teams.”
Taylor Raddysh mentioned to the very best of his recollection he had by no means performed such a schedule, with one exception.
“I know the COVID year with the NHL you played two games just to try to limit the traveling,” he mentioned. “It’s kind of nice you get to play one game and stay in the city. … You don’t have to worry about traveling and tiredness.”
You would assume Dickinson, who known as American Airlines Center dwelling for six seasons, would like it.
“It’s got its pros and cons, just like anything,” he mentioned. “It’s good to have the ability to settle right into a metropolis and never be consistently on a aircraft and touring as a result of it does take a toll on you.
“But we’ll see how the rivalry is for the Sunday game — that’s the problem right there. Either the game gets really jacked up and really intense because of tonight, or it ends up flat and the fans aren’t interested. They’re like, ‘Oh, we already saw them play Friday,’ and it’s not as exciting of a game.”
Dickinson mentioned he hopes “it’s a bit more of a dogfight on Sunday.”
5. The harm bug bites once more.
Raddysh left after his second shift early within the first interval and didn’t return. The Hawks on Saturday positioned him on injured reserve with a left groin pressure and known as up Boris Katchouk.
The Hawks are nonetheless ready for Joey Anderson, Seth Jones and Andreas Athanasiou to return from IR.
6. Jarred Tinordi was a legal responsibility.
Tinordi had a minus-3 ranking, however that’s only a trace on the type of night time he had.
His first-period interference penalty gave the Stars their energy play, which led to their first aim, which gave them momentum as they rattled off three extra scores.
Tinordi was on the ice for all three, getting turnstiled by Jamie Benn on the final one. Tinordi was using pine after that time.
“It was just not his night,” Richardson mentioned. “He’s a battler for us. He is aware of he in all probability didn’t have an excellent night time. He’s a veteran man, he doesn’t need to be instructed these little issues. …
“We can work with a player trying and when there’s mistakes and you can correct those. It’s when people give up on themselves and I know there’s no give-up in him.”
7. This film ought to be titled ‘Gone in 30 seconds,’
Midway via the second interval, Joe Pavelski and Hintz scored 20 seconds aside.
It was the fourth time the Hawks coughed up two opponent targets inside 30 seconds.
Here’s a breakdown of every incidence.
Friday at Dallas: 20 seconds, Pavelski and Hintz
Dec. 14 at Seattle: 21 seconds, Jared McCann and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Dec. 23 at St. Louis: 23 seconds, Jake Neighbours and Jordan Kyrou
Dec. 5 vs. Nashville: 26 seconds, Luke Evangelista and Mark Jankowski
All resulted in losses.
“The second period, we just had too much D-zone time,” Richardson mentioned. “We simply backed off for some cause. We simply performed somewhat bit extra defensive, which means not attacking them, even within the D-zone.
“It’s a big team that can skate so that’s not a good recipe for us.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com