CALGARY, Alberta — The Blackhawks offensive woes were already dire entering Saturday, but nothing could’ve prepared them for the frustration that awaited against the Flames.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen six breakaways in a game and zero on the score clock,” coach Luke Richardson said.
The Hawks’ 1-0 loss extended their road losing streak to 20 consecutive games, officially breaking the previous franchise record set in 2004.
And in their last five road games, they’ve been rather unbelievably shut out four times. Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom joined Buffalo’s Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko and Edmonton’s Calvin Pickard in the group of goalies who have blanked the Hawks this month.
Markstrom had to work harder for his shutout than the other three, though. He robbed Boris Katchouk on a breakaway in the opening minutes (and again later on), denied Jason Dickinson’s juicy rebound attempt with four seconds left and made a number of other excellent stops in between to finish with 32 saves.
“I feel like it’s maybe in the back of our head,” forward Taylor Raddysh said. “We’ve been playing such a strong game as a group overall. We’ve had our shots; we’ve had our chances; we’ve had a lot of ‘Grade-A’ chances that just haven’t found the back of their net.”
Flames forward Elias Lindholm scored the game’s only goal in the second period when he tapped in a power-play rebound that deflected right to him.
Lukas Reichel enjoyed his best game in a while, skating with confidence and fluidity while deking out quite a few opponents, but he, too, couldn’t find a way to hit the net.
“Right from Petr [Mrazek] all the way out, there wasn’t anybody that we were unhappy with their performance tonight,” Richardson said. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it over the line.”
Finally, the bye
The Hawks’ bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. Between the multitude of players working back from injuries and the team’s demoralizing on-ice struggles lately, everyone has been craving this week off.
“We’re playing really hard against teams...[and] when you’re kind of running out of gas, it’s hard to do,” Richardson said.
“It’s going to be a good boost physically to have that break for those guys to rejuvenate. There are guys that are playing banged-up — which everybody does — but with our injury list and guys playing banged up, that’s a lot of stress on this team. It’s going to be good for them to get a break.”
The Hawks won’t play again until Feb. 7 against the Wild and will play nine of their 10 games in February at home, with several more multi-day breaks sprinkled in.
That will provide lots of practice time and minimize travel, helping Connor Bedard (jaw), Anthony Beauvillier (wrist), Tyler Johnson (foot), Connor Murphy (lower body) and Nikita Zaitsev (knee) try to rejoin the lineup as soon as possible.
Gilbert finds niche
Former Hawks prospect defenseman Dennis Gilbert has finally found his niche in the NHL with the Flames.
Gilbert, now 27, made his 31st appearance of the season Saturday, having already set a career high. After being traded away from Chicago in October 2020 in the Nikita Zadorov trade, he spent two years on the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, then landed in Calgary in 2022.
“I thought I’d come out here and give it the best I could, and...I’ve been able to build through last year to this year,” Gilbert said.
During his Colorado stint, he learned how to defend using his feet, skating and positioning rather than purely through physicality, which always came more naturally for him. His hits-per-game rate has decreased from 3.6 with the Hawks to 1.6 this season, but the Flames have fared decently well during his ice time.
“Knowing what is expected of you and doing it consistently is the name of the game,” he said. “This year, for the most part, I’ve done a good job of that.”