The Chicago Blackhawks will have a season’s worth of rough moments to pore over at some point, but it seemed they had a particularly taxing time Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings.
They slogged through the second half of a back-to-back in which were outshot 36-16 and starting goalie Collin Delia left in the third period because of cramping.
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All told, the Hawks gave up four goals — two of them 15 seconds apart in the third period — in a 4-1 loss at Crypto.com Arena.
“We knew they were going to come hard, we just couldn’t find the energy,” coach Derek King said. “We looked tired physically. We looked tired mentally. We were getting frustrated. Hats off to them, they played a good game.”
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If there’s an upside, the loss Hawks didn’t further jeopardize their chances in Tuesday’s draft lottery, which they’re not likely to win anyway.
Heading into Friday’s matchups, the Hawks place sixth, meaning they have a 7.5% chance of winning the first draw. They have to win the first or second slot to keep their first-round pick, otherwise it goes to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
But good fortune hasn’t exactly been their hallmark lately.
Here are three takeaways.
You know who cares about the Hawks playing the Kings in the tail end of a late-night West Coast back-to-back?
The Vegas Golden Knights, who trail the Kings in the Pacific Division and are on outside looking in at the wild-card spot.
Every team faces tough stretches, but the league should look at how it schedules matchups this late in the season knowing they could have playoff implications.
In the Hawks’ case, it’s not like last month’s Anaheim Ducks-Kings back-to-back in the same metro area. Instead, they played the Arizona Coyotes then flew to L.A. for the Kings, and their Midwestern body clocks were set to 9 and 9:30 p.m. CT puck drops, respectively.
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“Tough schedule against L.A. this year, both times going in here back-to-back, pretty late night,” forward Dylan Strome said. “They jumped on us early and shots were pretty heavily favoring them.”
Said King:“We just had no energy, we had no emotion in the game. You could see we were frustrated.”
The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native’s only win this season came March 24 in Los Angeles, and he was hoping to recreate that magic Thursday.
Delia kept it 2-1 through two periods and the Hawks made 24 blocks, but they were just overwhelmed. The Kings held a 70% Corsi-for share, indicating how much they dominated the puck.
After giving up goals 15 seconds apart in the third, Delia was slow getting up from the ice and gingerly skated off the ice.
“He just was cramping up,” King said. “He’s done that before. I think it was his first NHL game he actually cramped up, if I’m not mistaken.”
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King is correct. It was March 29, 2018, against the Winnipeg Jets, and Delia was famously relieved by emergency goalie Scott Foster, an accountant by day.
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“Playing out here, hot, and facing all those shots I’m sure wasn’t easy for him,” King said of Delia. “I thought he played well. He just could not stop cramping up.”
Toews started his shift with 3:22 remaining in the second period. Later he was stripped of the puck in the defensive zone and the Kings kept the Hawks hemmed in.
By the time Toews could skate off, hunched over in exhaustion, it was 2 seconds before the intermission. He slammed his stick against the wall and appeared to say some choice words on the bench.
“He was upset — everybody was upset,” King said.
Dominik Kubalík was on the ice for 3:02.
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“We got caught out there,” King said. “You want to stay out and take that extra go-at-it and maybe create something and then it turns over and you get back in your D-zone, and now you’re in there (for three minutes).
“We were just not sharp, we turned pucks over. It’s one of those games where I’m just going to try to push it aside and try to forget about it.”
