Duncan Keith’s return to the Blackhawks after missing nine games with a groin injury felt like old times.
But that doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
The Hawks have been bad enough for long enough that they’re becoming more synonymous with the recent failures than the success they had for nearly a decade.
On Wednesday, the Hawks made costly turnovers and, according to Keith, didn’t play with enough emotion in a 4-1 loss to the Avalanche the United Center.
“It’s frustrating,” Keith said. “It’s been a long time where we’re like this. It’s not gonna happen unless we do it, the guys in the room here. It’s up to us to figure it out and find a way.”
One way, Keith said, is to get a little more ticked off.
“We’ve got to get a little more emotion,” he said. “It’s not gonna just turn around, it’s not gonna just happen. We need to make it happen. We need to get a little pissed off. We can go over the X’s and O’s and everything and all the stuff.
“But I think everybody, myself included, has to play with a little more energy, a little more grit, being a little mean out there.”
Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s loss:
1. It will be an issue whenever Brent Seabrook is a healthy scratch.
The day began with Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton answering questions about Brent Seabrook being a healthy scratch — and it ended the same way.
The Hawks are in a bind regarding Seabrook. On the one hand, he played a major role in the franchise winning three Stanley Cups.
On the other hand, he has 41/2 seasons left on an overpriced contract. The question is not whether Seabrook will play out his contract, but when will the Hawks decide he has to go. Seabrook has a no-movement clause, but nothing is stopping the Hawks from buying out his contract over the summer.
Even though the Hawks wouldn’t receive much cap relief if they buy him out, it would remove Seabrook from becoming a distraction whenever he’s not in the lineup.
For now, Colliton is willing to take the hit for benching Seabrook.
“We’ve got to do what’s best for the team,” Colliton said. “The guys in the room, I believe they want to win, so they’ve got to believe that every decision we make is to help the team win, to have success short and long term. That’s all I think about.”
After Wednesday’s loss, Duncan Keith said it was hard to know that Seabrook was watching the game in street clothes. It was just the fourth time of Seabrook’s career — but third this season — he was a healthy scratch.
“Yeah, it is (hard),” Keith said. “I thought he had been playing well. When we’re in the D-zone a long time, we could break down every little play. Tough to pin it on one guy out there when there’s five guys. I don’t know. I watched the games, I thought he was doing well.”
“I like playing with (Adam Boqvist) out there, and (Dennis) Gilbert’s been playing good. But I don’t know. I like playing with Brent, too, when I’m out there.”
Could the coaching staff lose the team if Seabrook sits out regularly?
“I don’t know,” Keith said. “I have to focus on my game and being as best as I can out there. I don’t like seeing my good friend, obviously been with him a long time, sitting out. As players, you have to focus on the job that you’ve got to do, and you’re in there and that’s all you can do is try to be at your best.”
2. Samuel Girard’s hit on Alex DeBrincat was dirty, and there was history behind it.
Late in the third period, Alex DeBrincat was skating fast down the right side into the offensive zone and put a shot on net. After waiting a few beats, Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard gave DeBrincat a shove and sent him flying hard into the end boards.
DeBrincat stayed down for well more than a minute as Hawks head trainer Mike Gapski checked him out before DeBrincat left the ice.
No penalty was called on Girard for the play. In fact, the only thing called was a roughing penalty on Erik Gustafsson for going after Girard.
The NHL on Thursday fined Girard $1,957 for the hit.
The two have a history that might have contributed to the shove. Last month in Denver, DeBrincat and Girard got into a fight, and the Hawks winger got the better of it.
When Keith was first asked if he had an issue with the hit, he had a simple response: “No.”
But in middle of answering another question, Keith decided he had more to say.
“Back to that question (on DeBrincat),” Keith said. “I thought (Girard) was finishing his hit. You don’t like to see Alex take a hit like that, but they’re playing hard too, right? That’s the way we need to play.”
Keith’s response may have come somewhat out of his frustration with the way the Hawks have been playing. Gustafsson and Colliton took exception with the hit on DeBrincat.
“What I saw, kind of a late hit,” Gustafsson said. “I felt like they blew the whistle and then he hit him after. That’s what I saw and that’s why I stepped in.”
Added Colliton: “I didn’t like it. I thought it was boarding. It was late and he was in a dangerous spot. Seems like a boarding call to me.”
The Hawks and Avs play again Saturday in Denver, the teams’ final meeting of the season.
So get ready for a possible third round.
3. The net-front presence disappeared. Again.
The lack of consistency in front of the net is one of the major stories of this Hawks season.
One night, they zoom around the ice with the energy of roadrunner and head to the net with heightened urgency. The next night, they’re lead-footed and nobody is by the net.
Against the Avalanche, it was the latter.
The Avs buzzed Corey Crawford all night and scored their first goal when Nathan MacKinnon distracted him just enough to let Ian Cole’s shot get through. Meanwhile, the Hawks didn’t put enough shots on net and rarely had anyone in front of it.
Jeremy Colliton was frustrated by the decrease in the net-front presence from Sunday’s win over the Wild.
“For sure,” Colliton said. “We don’t give ourselves an opportunity to get a bounce. Their first goal, they had someone at the net, they got a puck through, it’s in. You leave a lot on the table offensively when you’re not doing those things.”
Here’s coverage from Wednesday’s game:
The last time Duncan Keith played before Wednesday was in a loss to the Avalanche at the United Center last month.
Keith’s return to the Blackhawks from a groin injury went fine, but the result was the same: a loss to the Avalanche at the United Center. Nathan MacKinnon and Andre Burakovsky scored second-period goals to lead the speedier Avs to a 4-1 victory.
Ryan Carpenter scored the lone goal for the Hawks, who dropped to 13-16-6. The Avs beat the Hawks for the third time in less than three weeks and can complete a four-game season sweep Saturday in Denver.
Corey Crawford stopped 33 shots while losing his third straight start.
The Avs started the scoring when Ian Cole blew a slap shot past Crawford midway through the first period. The Hawks tied it a little over a minute later on Carpenter’s second goal of the season.
Alex DeBrincat picked up a turnover by the Avs’ Mark Barberio and passed to Carpenter, whose snipe sailed over the shoulder of goalie Pavel Francouz.
MacKinnon put the Avalanche back up with 12 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the second period when he slipped past Keith and sent a quick wrist shot past Crawford for his 21st goal of the season.
Burakovsky, who was out with an injury for the first two games against the Hawks, scored less than three minutes later from nearly the same spot on a similar shot to give the Avs a two-goal lead.
DeBrincat appeared to escape injury late in the third period when a late hit by Sam Girard sent him flying into the end boards. No penalty was called, but Erik Gustafsson went after Girard and received two minutes for roughing.
Mikko Rantanen added an empty-net goal to complete the scoring.