Alex Stalock’s return to the ice from myocarditis is a feel-good story despite the Chicago Blackhawks’ 1-0 loss

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LAS VEGAS — The Chicago Blackhawks had several things go right for them Thursday — a disruptive forecheck, a better penalty kill, dynamic play in net — but they couldn’t capitalize on chances in a 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.

One sequence — which the Hawks wish they played more aggressively — set up Golden Knights rookie Paul Cotter to score the game’s only goal.

It’s an unfortunate result after the Hawks gave the Knights all they could handle despite coming into the second game of a back-to-back after a 5-2 loss in Denver.

“Well, 1-0. It’s a loss, right?” coach Luke Richardson said. “It’s still tough.

“But the compete level was really high tonight from everybody, (from) the goaltender (Alex Stalock on) out. We’re pretty happy with a lot of things we saw on the ice. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it across that line.”

Maybe most hockey fans wouldn’t have pegged this matchup to be one of the night’s better goalie battles, but Vegas’ Logan Thompson was sharp stopping all 27 shots, and Stalock was frenetic, stretching out and making some highlight-reel stops among his 36 saves.

“You’ve got to go all out in the NHL. It’s the best league in the world,” Stalock said. “I can’t show up and give it half-effort, that’s for sure.

“But (I’m) not a huge guy, so I’ve got to use my body in a way that’s effective. Sometimes if it’s coming out and playing more aggressive, it works.”

You could also apply that notion to the Hawks, who have dropped their first two games for the fourth season in a row, but unlike some of those past seasons they haven’t looked outclassed. Despite a second-period lull, they kept the Knights in range and showed a second-straight third-period push.

“We still competed and played much better, so it was a step forward for us,” Richardson said.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Thursday night was just Stalock’s second start since the 2019-20 season after his career was nearly derailed by myocarditis, diagnosed after a case of COVID-19.

“It’s been a pretty crazy last couple years with everything, not only what’s going on in the world but healthwise,” he said. “To be out there again, standing in an NHL rink in obviously a meaningful game, it was quite an honor. It’s exciting.

“It wasn’t an easy road to get back. It was fun. I had fun tonight.”

Stalock was all about fun in the entertainment capital Thursday night, with each save seeming to carry its own emotion — he laid on his back and stared at the T-Mobile Arena rafters after one close call — and he showed no fear coming way out of net to play the puck, perhaps sometimes to the chagrin of his coach.

“We were wondering what he was doing as the low forward in the corner in the second period,” Richardson quipped. “I thought he actually maybe got his leg pulled by somebody, but I think he was just being aggressive. That’s the way he plays and it works for him.”

Richardson praised Stalock’s 36 saves on 37 shots.

“I know in the last couple years he hasn’t played much with injuries and COVID,” Richardson said. “He’s a real battler. I’ve seen him battle before, but when he’s on your team, and you really see the work that he puts in, that was really nice to see and the guys played really hard in front of him.”

Jones returned from a right shoulder injury, only missing the opener.

That’s much better injury luck than season when he didn’t make his debut until Nov. 17 at Seattle because of a wrist injury.

“Kind of dodged a bullet with that (shoulder) injury,” he said. “Felt good enough yesterday and told them I was ready to go today.”

Jones found himself in the middle of the game’s critical play.

It was the end of a Hawks power play — Cotter was called for hooking Jack Johnson — and Jones was coming off the bench. Shortly after Cotter came out of the penalty box, Zach Whitecloud passed to him near the defensive blue line and Cotter led a two-on-1 rush with Reilly Smith.

Jones was backpedaling, trying to play the pass to Smith, but Cotter looked Smith off and snapped it past Stalock.

“Unfortunately, you’re getting fatigued again, you’re going back and forth,” Richardson said. “We could have squeezed it a little bit more to give Staler a little bit better angle, but it was a great shot.”

Jones thought he could’ve played it differently, too.

“I saw two guys busting down and I was in between committing,” he said. “I saw the other guy coming so I decided to play the middle and give up the shot — live to fight another day, don’t want to give up the back door.

“Maybe I could’ve pushed them a little outside there, but he had a good shot and it was unfortunate it went in.”

Still, Jones was just glad to get back in action.

“For sure a little bit of rust,” he said. “I’ve got a little bit of work to do to clean some things up. But there’s some positive stuff there I can build off of.”

“One goal” had been the Hawks’ marketing slogan, but now it should be their mantra on the ice.

Just get one goal during five-on-five play.

The Hawks’ pair of markers in the 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche came via the power play, but they haven’t been able to touch net during even strength. They struggled with this in the preseason when they were failing to get shots on net.

They were outshot 37-27 by the Knights, but that’s a lot better than the 35-17 deficit to the Avs.

The Hawks had their chances against Vegas, but in several cases Thompson made a good play, such as foiling Andreas Athanasiou’s breakaway.

Some of the Hawks’ offense is predicated on getting bodies to the net for redirects and tip-ins, and they didn’t have enough of that.

Add it to the list of what Richardson is trying to fix.

“I think defensively, much better,” he said, “and we can only work on one thing at a time, because if we work on everything, I don’t think we’re going to get better at everything at the same time.”

Mind you, Richardson is a former defenseman and later defensive assistant coach, so he’s in the “best offense is a good defense” camp.

“If we can chip away at that and continue to get a little bit better every game with our sticks and defensively, that’s just going to add to more possession time, which hopefully adds to more offense,” he said.