Chicago Blackhawks’ Defensive Struggles Prove Costly During East Coast Road Trip – The Hockey Writers – Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks had an adventurous East Coast road trip over the past week. Unfortunately, more negatives than positives arose from the trip, and they’re pretty alarming. The defense was the main problem throughout the four games, and the lack of physicality was stunning. 

The Defense Leaves Their Goalies Out to Dry 

Over the last four contests, the Blackhawks allowed an average of 42 shots per game, the most being 47 against the New York Islanders. The Islanders threw everything and the kitchen sink at Arvid Soderblom, putting every puck that bounced towards them on goal in the third period, leaving Chicago flustered. Somehow, the Hawks stood tall, and won 4-3 in Anton Frondell’s debut. They allowed 42 shots against the Philadelphia Flyers, 38 to the New York Rangers, and a solid 40 to the New Jersey Devils. 

Their inability to clear the zone in under a minute and a half hindered the Blackhawks in the beginning of the season. With Connor Murphy traded to the Edmonton Oilers and Matt Grzelcyk out due to an upper-body injury that he suffered on March 22 against the Nashville Predators, it’s rearing its ugly head again. Per NHL Edge, the Blackhawks currently spend 42.5% of the game in their own zone, which ranks 27th in the league.

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There is no veteran presence to slow or calm the game down for the kids, as their oldest defender is 24-year-old Alex Vlasic. Even then, he can only take on so many shifts, and he has the other eldest defender, Louis Crevier, who is also 24, right beside him. Wyatt Kaiser is 23, and the rest are 20 and 21. Plus, Artyom Levshunov just went out with a fracture in his left hand and is most likely done for the season. 

If they make it out of their own zone, which is a struggle in its own right, they’re completely lost in the neutral zone, as well. The defense, with the puck on their stick, commits turnover after turnover that leads into odd-man rushes for the opponent. At other points throughout the game, they just straight up get beaten. For example, Jack Hughes stormed right past Vlasic and sniped it past Spencer Knight in a game that saw a 3-2 Blackhawks lead become a 4-3 Devils lead in a span of 19 seconds in the third period. 

Someone is going to have to step up and start quarterbacking this core and start barking orders mid-game on the ice; head coach Jeff Blashill can’t say and do it all in the postgame interview. It was clear that communication was an issue after the miscue between Knight and Levshunov that led to a goal last Thursday in the game versus the Flyers. 

The Blackhawks Lack Physicality 

The other glaring issue is the fact that the defense just lacks physicality and hustle. Puck battles against and around the boards are constantly being lost, which then leads to goals against because the attackers are left wide open in the slot. They’re losing battles at the net-front, too, and the opposing forward always has his stick in prime position for a point-blank chance. The Blackhawks need to be more mean and start pushing people around, because games are won and lost in the slot. 

Vlasic is 6-foot-6, 217 pounds, and Crevier is 6-foot-8, 228 pounds. The two of them are towers and are the tallest guys out on the ice; there is no reason for them to be losing these battles. They have to learn how to use their big frames over the offseason, because if they do, their game will improve drastically. 

Last Friday evening against the Rangers, Levshunov took a nasty hit into the boards, but no one stood up for him. That isn’t specific to the defense, but it shows that the team is soft right now. In the third period of that game, as advertised before his debut, Sacha Boisvert dropped the gloves and fought Will Borgen. Boisvert did that a lot throughout his NCAA career and will hopefully continue to add a young edge to a team that desperately needs it right now. 

Luckily for the Blackhawks, all of those flaws can be worked on. As the guys age and gain more experience, most of those things are going to go away — right now, it’s just growing pains, and the perfect time to be making those mistakes is in garbage-time hockey.