After the postponement of their original match on Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks tried to take advantage of the off day to come out strong the next night. Instead, Chicago endured a 3-0 deficit against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
Alex Vlasic felt that the Blackhawks simply started the game off slow and continued to play that way throughout the matchup. From there, they continued to struggle as the Sabres outshot them, 31-19.
"All around, I think we were kind of sluggish the whole game, myself included," Vlasic said. "I feel like a lot of us didn't have our legs and we weren't ready to go from the start."
Tonight’s game marked the fifth straight game where the Blackhawks recorded one goal or less in regulation and their eighth in their last 10 contests.
Both teams kept things even with a scoreless first period, but momentum began to shift towards Buffalo way halfway through the second period as they took the 1-0 lead on the power play. After the start of the third period, the Sabres grew their lead with two more goals. Philipp Kurashev took a five-minute boarding major after his hit on Buffalo’s Erik Johnson, who exited the game early.
While head coach Luke Richardson stated that it would have been nice to spend less time in the penalty box, he still praised the Blackhawks' penalty kill for their 5-for-6 performance. Although they had four power play opportunities, the team simply could not take the advantage to find the back fo the net.
"We didn't generate enough offense, obviously with no goals, but our guys killed penalties hard and well," Richardson said. "Unfortunately, the power play couldn't generate much after the first try."
Arvid Soerblom kept the Blackhawks in for most of the games despite some tough goals he faced. He finished the night with 28 saves off of 31 shots.
Richardson and Vlasic both praised the young netminder for his recent performances despite the results. As they move forward, they hope to help their goaltenders out by providing more goal support.
"He kept us in there as much as he could," Vlasic said. "It's just hard to win a game when you score zero goals."
The Blackhawks return to the United Center on Friday night with a 7:30 p.m. CT puck drop against the New York Islanders. As they enter the second half of their back-to-back, Richardson hopes his team will find more opportunities to take shots on net to help produce some offensive production.
"[We just need] a simpler, direct approach on the offense," Richardson said. "I think we need to shoot pucks when we have that opportunity. We have to look at the net as first choice and not the second choice."
