ANALYSIS: Penalty Trouble Thwarts Comeback Bid in 6-4 Loss to Arizona

Chicago's offense showed that it can strike with authority -- and creativity -- on Thursday night in Arizona, but short periods of mental lapses once again proved the difference in a 6-4 loss to the Coyotes.
"There's clearly times in these last few games where we're playing really good hockey and then we just decide to take a few shifts off, give up momentum," captain Jonathan Toews said after the game. "One thing leads to another and we've got to work really hard to build that momentum back up again.
"We've got to find ways to commit to each other and not have those lapses of energy and focus. We don't want this little skid to snowball into something bigger than it is… If we keep playing as a team a little bit more consistent with our effort, things are going to start clicking for us."

POSTGAME LINKS
GAMECENTER: CHI at ARI
RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Coyotes in Back-and-Forth Game, 6-4
RELEASE: Hardman, Mitchell Recalled; Beaudin Assigned to Active Roster
HIGHLIGHTS: Blackhawks at Coyotes
GALLERY: Blackhawks at Coyotes
That, in large, was the message after the game when the team left the ice, shut the door to the locker room and held a players-only meeting for the better part of 20 minutes. Interim head coach Derek King and his staff found the door closed when they went to make their postgame remarks, but left it better said by the leadership group inside.
"It's good. They need to. It can't be myself of the rest of the staff coming in there and telling them what they're doing wrong or what they need to do," said King. "Honestly, I never went in. I saw the door shut, so I just left it… It's frustrating (losing) and I know they're frustrated. The biggest thing is they still need to believe that they're a good team and they can pull out of this and continue to try to climb the charts here. My message was to just back each other up, stay as a team."

PENALTY TROUBLE

The Blackhawks overcame a slow start as a two-goal hole was erased early in the middle frame with Kirby Dach and MacKenzie Entwistle scoring in the opening six minutes of the period to make it 2-2.
But a sequence of penalties -- five total in a 17-minute span from the middle of the second period into the early third -- throttled the visitors' new-found momentum and led to a 5-2 Arizona lead just four minutes into the final frame, with two of the three goals on the man advantage.
It was a similar scenario on Sunday night against Calgary, with the Flames taking advantage of three straight penalties in a 1-1 game en route to a 5-1 win.
"Our start was pretty flat. In the second, we got into penalty trouble again," Toews said. "Moments like that -- giving up one, two, three goals and we get ourselves in a hole -- those are making the difference for us right now and something we've got to nip in the bud, try and see when those lapses are coming and keep each other engaged on the bench and find ways to say the right things and keep playing with energy, especially when teams are coming back at us."
"We need to play with pride," Connor Murphy added. "We all care about the end result of the game, but that's only going to take care of itself if you do put in that effort every shift and give yourself and your team the best chance to come out with a win by doing that every shift. There's a lot of good teams in this league that play consistent and if we take any time off, like we did tonight and in some of these games, they're going to end up getting grade-A chances and scoring and then we're going to be trying to catch up like we did tonight."
A pair of goals from Toews and Alex DeBrincat late in the third made things interesting late, but the three goal hole was too much to overcome for the second time in the game. Arizona added a late empty-netter to seal the final, 6-4.
"We had a lot of chances and we were able to put some pressure on them right to the end there even though we were down three goals," Toews said. "There's times we're playing good hockey, we've just got to find a way to be more consistent."
"We have great players and that's something we talk about with each other," Murphy added. "That's what's probably most frustrating, that we haven't been able to show that for each other."

MOVING PARTS

Interim General Manager Kyle Davidson was busy on Thursday afternoon. Brandon Hagel, Erik Gustafsson and newly-acquired Sam Lafferty were all placed in COVID-19 protocol before the game, triggering a slew of moves to not only replace their spots on the active roster, but to add some bodies to the taxi squad for the rest of the road trip as well.
Mike Hardman and Ian Mitchell were
recalled from Rockford to the active roster
, while Kurtis Gabriel, Jakub Galvas and Josiah Slavin were
recalled from the IceHogs to the team's taxi squad
. The problem, though, was that none of the five reinforcements could get to Arizona ahead of puck drop. Nicolas Beaudin, who was with the team on the taxi squad, was activated to give the team just 18 healthy skaters -- 11 forwards and seven defensemen -- for the game.
"We're missing the one player, it's tough to rotate guys in all the time," King said. "[Henrik Borgstrom] and [Patrick Kane] had pretty much a different player on their line every other shift. You have seven D, it's hard to get a rotation. It's just off... It was one of those days. We deal with it. We'll get through this."
Being shorthanded up front did provide one cool moment, though. With that open spot at left wing alongside Borgstrom and Kane, Riley Stillman lined up as a forward for the game's opening faceoff with his dad, longtime NHLer Cory Stillman, looking on from the Coyotes bench as an assistant coach.
Chicago also still is without the services of netminder Kevin Lankinen, who remains in COVID-19 protocol.