3 takeaways from the Chicago Blackhawks’ loss to the N.Y. Islanders, including Alex Stalock entering concussion protocol after a scary collision

Notice: Trying to get property 'post_title' of non-object in /home/ofzfvenynm4q/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wp-rss-feed-to-post/includes/wprss-ftp-display.php on line 109

Throughout training camp, Chicago Blackhawks goalie Arvid Söderblom expressed his belief that he was NHL-ready.

Now, he’s going to have to be.

Eleven days after Petr Mrázek left the Detroit Red Wings game with a groin strain, Alex Stalock was knocked out of the game Tuesday during a scary collision in which New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas made contact with Stalock’s head.

Stalock had to be helped to his feet and Söderblom replaced him just 3 minutes into the game.

“That was a tough one for him to take,” Blackhawks defenseman Caleb Jones said. “I haven’t talked to him, hopefully he’s alright.”

Stalock was placed into concussion protocol.

Coach Luke Richardson couldn’t confirm if Stalock has a concussion.

“They said they’re just going to let it settle for the night, see how he responds in the morning” Richardson said. “The doctors say that’s normal, that’s what they usually do and they get a better bead on how he’s going to come out of that. Right now, he’s probably out.”

Cizikas was tagged with a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct.

“I don’t know if it was really malicious, it just happened,” Richardson said. “You have to protect the goalies and that’s the right call.”

The Hawks could do little with that stretch of man advantage, a microcosm of their struggles against the Islanders in a 3-1 loss at the United Center.

Söderblom made 28 saves and now has a .920 save percentage and 3.12 goals-against average through two games.

“He was very calm and collected, just as he’s been,” Richardson said. “He’s like that in practice, made some really big saves for us and gave us a chance to stay in that game. He plays the puck well for a young goalie, too. That’s helpful for our D-core.

“He’s going to have a little bit of a workload now, so I think that calm demeanor is going to help him with that.”

Still, the Hawks are two goalies down and have to figure out who can back up Söderblom. Jaxson Stauber, a camp invite, has a 2.69 goals-against average and .886 save percentage in three games in Rockford.

As for Tuesday night’s game, the Hawks’ passing and shots were off, and they struggled to get their forecheck going.

The Isles were physical and disruptive, daring the Hawks to beat them at the blue line on zone entries on the power play and in five-on-five.

They also kept the crease fairly clean for Ilya Sorokin, breaking up most attempts to screen him or set up for greasy goals.

“We knew that they play like that every year,” Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy said. “Seems like they’re structured and stay in lanes, and they won’t sway away from that and cheat too much on offense.

“We saw that tonight and we didn’t do a good enough job of when we were able to recover pucks getting shots through onto their net with rebounds, and I think they stayed a little stingier to their game plan than we did with ours.”

Here are three takeaways from the game.

And the five-minute power play helped.

“It was early in the game, it was only three minutes in, so that makes it easier,” Söderblom said. “It’s always hard to come in like that.”

Söderblom gave up two goals — the third goal was an empty-netter.

On the first goal, New York had a first-period power play, and the puck slipped underneath him during a scrum and Anders Lee tapped it in.

On the second, let’s set aside that Brock Nelson outhustled Taylor Raddysh to the puck though Raddysh was closer.

On Nelson’s ensuing breakaway, he beat Söderblom short-side, lifting the puck over his left shoulder.

“I wanted to have the second goal (back), the rush, but overall I felt pretty good,” Söderblom said.

He said his confidence is building, though he has appeared in just five games dating back to last season.

“This year I feel more comfortable. I handle the pace much better,” he said. “I’m in position earlier and have a lot of time to make saves.”

Jonathan Toews scored a power-play goal in the third period, but make no mistake: the Hawks struggled on the power play.

The Islanders entered the game with the No. 1 penalty kill (96.7%) and it was evident as the Hawks couldn’t capitalize on a five-minute power play in the first period.

Richardson lamented the lost opportunity with the Islanders not even fully warmed up yet.

“It’s frustrating when you have a chance like that, even though they’re going to get opportunities, too, and they capitalized on the power play,” he said. “It would’ve been nice to have been up one just to kind of even things out.

“But I think they stuck with it, worked at it and got better as the game went along.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks can’t seem to stay out of the penalty box.

The Hawks committed four infractions Tuesday and are tied with the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild for the second-most penalties at 54.

The Hawks are fourth from the bottom in special teams differential at minus-15:49.

If something had happened to Söderblom, Richardson would’ve had to use his emergency backup.

Only one hitch with that.

“No, I don’t even know him,” Richardson admitted with a laugh. “I guess I should introduce myself, the injuries keep coming like that.”

Richardson said he saw the emergency goalie “down the hallway half dressed.”

“Every building has to have one and it’s fortunate that he’s there, gives you peace of mind for the rest of the night,” Richardson said. “We’ll have to figure that out tonight before Thursday’s game, anyway.”

The Hawks famously found themselves in that very scenario against the Winnipeg Jets on March 29, 2018, when starter Anton Forsberg was injured during warmups and Collin Delia left in the third period with a lower body injury.

Insert then-36-year-old accountant Scott Foster, who found out he had to dress about a block away from arriving at the United Center.

“The initial shock happened when I had to dress,” he said then. “You just kind of black out after that.”

Foster made seven saves on seven shots and the Hawks won 6-2.