The Blackhawks finally got defenseman Seth Jones back in the lineup Saturday, but his rust revealed itself at the most inopportune time in a 3-1 loss to the Stars.
Jones was reunited on the top pairing with youngster Alex Vlasic, whom general manager Kyle Davidson described as “dynamite” this season. Both of them logged over 22 minutes of ice time, and the Hawks had an 8-2 advantage in scoring chances during their five-on-five time together.
But with five minutes left in the third period, Jones committed one crucial turnover at the defensive blue line, allowing Stars forward Mason Marchment to score the go-ahead goal.
“It was an unlucky break on a bouncing puck,” coach Luke Richardson said. “He has to be a little bit more aware of his body position. But he played well.”
In retrospect, Jones wished he had backed off and kept his position instead of taking a chance trying to move the puck forward. He said his legs “felt good,” though, in his first appearance since suffering a shoulder injury Dec. 10 against the Capitals that ultimately cost him 15 games.
This week in many ways represented the Hawks’ stoutest defensive stretch of the season. In three matchups against upper-echelon Western Conference teams — the Oilers, Jets and Stars — they maintained solid structure, limited odd-man breaks and frustrated some talented forwards.
The offense without rookie Connor Bedard was as quiet as the defense was strong, however, and the Hawks lost all three of those games while scoring just one goal in each.
Richardson said the guys felt “pretty down” after this defeat, prompting him to go into the locker room — something he rarely does after games — to reassure them about maintaining “belief with the way we’re playing.”
Kurashev recognized
Jones’ return meant forward Philipp Kurashev no longer wore an ‘‘A’’ as an alternate captain, a role he had filled — alongside defenseman Connor Murphy and forward Jason Dickinson — in the first three games after forward Nick Foligno went down.
But even three games with that letter meant a lot to Kurashev. Five years after joining the Hawks’ organization as a shy kid speaking only limited English — his fourth language after German, Russian and French — he has grown tremendously off the ice.
He wasn’t told in advance of the game last weekend against the Flames that it was coming. Instead, he walked into the locker room before the game and was surprised to see it stitched into his jersey.
‘‘I was really pumped up,’’ he said Wednesday. ‘‘I just [try to] be the same person. [I] just try to give it my all on the ice. If I say something, I do. If not, no. But we have a lot of vocal guys on the team.’’