The Blackhawks have had some bad games this season. They were shut out in consecutive contests just a few weeks ago, and that was pretty bad. But today, Sunday, February 22nd, 2015, is (arguably) the absolute worst the Blackhawks have played all season.
They welcomed the Boston Bruins to the United Center in an afternoon affair, hoping to bounce back from their 4-1 loss on Friday and get back to at least looking competent and earning points in a hockey game. Oh man, they failed. They were thoroughly embarrassed by their Northeastern foe, and it wasn’t even kind of a fun game. It was 59:50 of a complete ass-kicking of the worst variety. The Blackhawks had 5 good seconds at the end of the first leading to a Jonathan Toews goal, and 5 good seconds in the third leading to a David Rundblad goal. But that was about it.
It was all Bruins, all day. Need a case-in-point? Take a look at the third Bruins goal, scored by Milan Lucic. He walked in from about 20 feet out absolutely untouched and un-checked, and proceeded to clean up a juicy rebound while Michal Roszival stood there and watched. At least he had a good seat. That goal proved to be the winner.
The Blackhawks played without effort. They simply looked like they didn’t care. They were just hoping to get through it. They stopped playing the second period with about 7 seconds left, and the Bruins made them pay by scoring a 6th goal. But it didn’t matter at that point; it was already over.
Maybe I’m being a tad dramatic, and if so you can chalk that up to the fact that I’m still heated and pissed off about how this one went down. But you can’t deny that this game was absolutely pitiful, and the Blackhawks team that took the ice at the United Center today is not a team that’s winning a Stanley Cup.
Hopefully this is a wake-up call, not just to the players, but also to Joel Quenneville, Stan Bowman, etc. that changes need to be made. Because while this is just one game, the issues that were at play in this game are not outliers. They have been consistent issues throughout the season, and they need to be addressed.
Adam Hess is the editor and publisher of Feathers in the Hat, and a staff writer at Second City Hockey. You can follow him on Twitter at @FeathersInDaHat.