4 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks’ 3-0 preseason loss in Milwaukee, including power-play miscues catching up with them

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MILWAUKEE — You probably shouldn’t read too much into back-to-back 3-0 preseason losses by the Chicago Blackhawks — first to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday at the United Center and then Sunday’s setback to the Minnesota Wild at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee..

But it’s hard to ignore the troubling signs that marked both games.

• Long stretches without shots on goal.
• A power play that seems to do the Hawks more harm than good.
• A team that loses its composure in the second or third period.

“I think there’s frustration just in general, and that could be any game throughout the year,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said after the game. “You see no results and you had opportunity or you couldn’t create opportunity, the frustration sets in.”

Richardson said he brought it to the players’ attention during the second intermission.

“It was a one-goal game, they got a bounce on a turnover on the power play and made it count,” he said.

The Hawks have seen some positives. They’ve played aggressively on defense and the penalty kill and so far haven’t been burned by it. It’s costly, untimely turnovers on offense that have done them in, but more on that later.

Though it hasn’t translated to the scoreboard, the Hawks’ overall solid efforts in five-on-five “should give us confidence to keep playing aggressive and skating hard and forechecking hard,” Richardson said. “And then on the other side of things, you’ve got to control your emotions. … Hockey is a fast sport, so the emotions run fast in it. You have to really be in check (with) those every night, and we’ll work on that as a team.”

Here are four takeaways from Sunday’s game.

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The Hawks found a spark on the road Wednesday in a 4-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings.

They should hold on to that.

Their home confines haven’t been as friendly — a single goal scored in two preseason losses at the United Center plus the “home away from home” game at Fiserv Forum.

Before the game, Richardson emphasized that offense has to come from everyone — he used the word “committee.”

“You can’t just rely on Patrick (Kane) to score or make fantastic plays every shift because he’s going to be tightly watched by other teams,” Richardson said.

How prescient that statement was. Linemates Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou either tried to set up Kane or couldn’t finish their own opportunities.

Domi dismissed the notion they deferred to Kane: “I don’t know if I agree with that 100%, but, hey, he’s one of the best players in the world and I think all three of us really like to make plays.”

Richardson saw it differently. In fact, he said he has talked to all three linemates about it.

“I might have even said before the game, (Kane’s) going to draw attention and that’s going to open up other people and you’ve got to recognize that and pull the trigger,” Richardson said. “That’s your chance. That’s an assist for Patrick right there, whether he touches the puck or not.”

Pulling the trigger has been a problem throughout the lineup. The Hawks were outshot 17-1 at one point in the second period Saturday against the Red Wings, and they were losing the shot battle 22-7 to the Wild late in the second period Sunday before closing out the period with a power-play attempt.

The Wild finished with a 33-12 edge in shots on goal.

Defenseman Seth Jones said the Hawks had chances around the crease, but Jones credited the play of Wild goalie and former Hawk Marc-André Fleury.

“But we obviously want to shoot the puck more,” Jones said. “I looked up in the third and it was like nine (shots). Just not enough.

“Everyone individually has to put an onus on shooting the puck more. … The ice wasn’t fantastic tonight by any means, so we should’ve been a little more simple entering the zone, getting pucks low to high, getting bodies and traffic there. So we’ve got to do more of that.”

The power play wasn’t a strong suit last year, ranked 21st in the league, and it looks like it could be a while before it rounds into form this season.

The Hawks are 0-for-14 through four preseason games, including 0-for-5 against the Wild.

“The power play just wasn’t clicking at all tonight,” Jones said.

What’s worse, they’ve given up at least eight short-handed attempts (official scoring wasn’t available for Sunday’s game) and it finally caught up with them Sunday as the Wild scored two short-handed goals.

Domi flubbed an attempt to pass from the blue line, which sprung Wild forward Connor Dewar for a breakaway shorty that broke a scoreless tie in the second period.

“I just fanned on the puck. Classic,” Domi said. “Not what you want to do at the blue line, obviously. … I just whiffed on it a little bit and they ended up getting it really quick.”

Ryan Hartman pried the puck from Kevin Korchinski and fed Matt Boldy for another short-handed goal in the third.

“Obviously we’re not where we should be or where we want to be,” Domi said, “but we’ve still got some time here before the real thing starts, so try to get more reps in and some different looks.”

Said Richardson: “We just weren’t prepared to move the puck quick enough tonight, and then we got in into a scrambling, chasing game.”

Jones said that overall, “we probably have to move the puck a little quicker, be a little more simple there as well. We had just a couple shot attempts, we had five chances maybe tonight. Just got to be better. We’ll work on that too.”

The Hawks pared the camp roster from 63 to 45 players by Saturday, but they gave several youngsters what likely was their last turn before the Hawks focus on tuning up for the season and those prospects head to their various destinations.

Among those who drew into Sunday’s lineup were Korchinski, Samuel Savoie, David Gust, Michal Teplý, Buddy Robinson and Cole Guttman.

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Against preseason competition, defenseman Korchinski looked smooth and decisive and got up the ice quickly.

Forward Savoie menaced the Wild, flattening Joe Hicketts and lighting up Dakota Mermis. Savoie already is building a reputation.

“Kevin and Sam … they’ve played very well, both in the rookie tournament games and in our exhibition games and in practice,” Richardson said before the game. “They deserve to be here longer and get another look, a longer look.”

Jones said of Korchinski: “You can see the 18-year-old instincts. The way he handles the puck, his vision on the ice, the way he skates is very exceptional. He’s going to be a great player in this league.”

Of course they had the usual youthful moments, such as when Korchinski was robbed of the puck, leading to Boldy’s short-handed goal.

But Richardson didn’t fault Korchinski.

“I think it was the other four guys that didn’t help,” he said. “I think we felt sorry for ourselves and we didn’t hustle back because Korchinski was basically two-on-one and there’s a rebound there that they got and he was kind of left out there.”

Richardson wasn’t ready to say if it was the last we’ll see of Korchinski or Savoie in camp. That’s up to general manager Kyle Davidson and associate GM Norm Maciver.

“We’re going to make some decisions on how we’re going to move forward in camp because we’re only going to have a few practices this week and two exhibition games left, and then we’re off to Colorado,” Richardson said, referring to the Oct. 12 season opener. “So we’ve got to start thinking about who’s going to be in that first lineup.”

The Hawks re-created a familiar atmosphere for the fans who traveled 90 miles to Milwaukee, bringing pregame hosts Genna Rose and Jon Hansen and mascot Tommy Hawk, who filmed a skit with Milwaukee Bucks mascot Bango.

Jim Cornelison sang the national anthem and, as usual, jutted his hand forward as he belted, “That our flag was still there.”

Domi said it was a great experience: “Beautiful arena and fans were great. The atmosphere was awesome.”

Said Jones: “The turnout we had, the fans, it was definitely special. It’s too bad we couldn’t put at least one goal in to get the crowd going tonight because they deserved it.”