Blackhawks crumble late against Avalanche as young players keep learning, not winning

Blackhawks games have been consistently more competitive and compelling during the last few weeks, but they haven’t been more successful.

The Hawks’ 3-2 shootout loss Wednesday against the Avalanche exemplified that trend. Their young players largely held their own against a star-studded opponent, but their hearts were broken when Avalanche newcomer Martin Necas tied the game with less than 11 seconds left in regulation time and then Arturri Lehkonen buried the shootout winner.

“Young guys, when they come in for the first few games, they have that adrenaline, energy and excitement,” veteran defenseman Connor Murphy said. “That’s nice to have. It rubs off on the group, for sure. But you want to learn how to play the right way for extended amounts of time in the game — enough to win. That’s where, as an organization, we need to get to.

“But it is good to see that guys have the energy. They’re not backing down from tough matchups and situations. You see a guy like [rookie defenseman Sam] Rinzel playing against [Nathan] MacKinnon. That’s not easy to do. To have to go in, give what you have and try to grow and learn on the fly is something that’s valuable for them this year.”

Murphy was pumped up after scoring his second goal of the season in the second period, extending the Hawks’ lead to 2-0 at the time, but things gradually slipped away after that. The Avalanche finished with a 44-23 advantage in scoring chances.

Interim coach Anders Sorensen thought his team did a “good job” overall, although their power play did not. They could — and probably should — win games like Wednesday’s in the future, but that’s simply not the way this season has gone. They’re now 1-9-2 since March 7.

Finishing Nazar

Young forward Frank Nazar knows people sometimes need to fail at something before they can succeed.

When he converted his first career NHL penalty shot March 7 against Utah, for example, he said his stymied attempt in the Hawks’ marathon shootout Feb. 8 against the Blues had actually helped him build trust in himself in those situations.

Perhaps the same phenomenon will eventually happen with Nazar’s breakaways during fluid play, too. Thanks to his blazing speed and offensive instincts, he has generated quite a few breakaways during the Hawks’ last handful of games, but all of them have been saved.

“It’s like that with everything you do with hockey,” Nazar said recently. “Look at [my] first couple games compared to now: I’m starting to figure out a lot more things and play a lot better hockey. The more experience you get and the more attempts you have, you learn from them and just get better.”

Sorensen suggested it might benefit Nazar to add more moves into his breakaways. In his last one Sunday, for example, he skated in straightforwardly before trying to shoot five-hole on Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka, and it was stopped rather easily.

During a shootout competition after practice Tuesday, Nazar did incorporate more crafty puckhandling, and he successfully converted a couple attempts. Now it’s just a matter of doing that in games. He didn’t have any breakaways Wednesday, although he did earn an assist on Ilya Mikheyev’s shorthanded goal.

“[The] encouraging thing is he’s getting them, so he’s going to figure it out,” Sorensen said Wednesday morning. “It’s one of these things you don’t want to talk about. They’re smart players, [so] they know and they’ll figure it out.”

Sitting Korchinski

On one hand, the Hawks have so many young defensemen on their NHL roster right now that they have no choice except to scratch a couple for every game, so it doesn’t mean that much. On the other hand, there’s a possibility they trade one or two of them for a young, established forward this summer, so it could mean something.

In light of that, Kevin Korchinski’s healthy scratch Wednesday — after his subpar performance Sunday in just his second NHL appearance since Dec. 27 — is interesting.

Sorensen said he thought the opportunity to watch Avalanche star Cale Makar cook from afar could be enlightening for Korchinski, who is a better player than he was at this time last year but nonetheless hasn’t developed quite as quickly as hoped.

“He has calmed down, quieted down a little bit defensively,” Sorensen said. “[There’s] still room for improvement, for sure. We want him to be able to utilize his positive attributes — his skating and his offensive abilities — and find more touches in those areas that can get him involved. That’s the biggest thing.”

Refining Levshunov

The Hawks are evaluating not just Korchinski but all of their young defensemen, of course. When it comes to chaotic rookie Artyom Levshunov, there’s a lot to evaluate and give him advice about.

“[We’re watching Levshunov’s] reaction to transition,” Sorensen said. “If we’re on offense, how quickly [does he] get back and react on defense? Where are the threats coming from? And keep working on his gaps. He’s a good skater, so we have to get him holding his gaps even more.”

Notes

Colton Dach (elbow injury) has skated each of the last two days but just individually, with no stick or puck. He’s running low on time to return this season.

The Hawks will visit the Capitals on Friday in a potentially historic game. Alex Ovechkin scored his 892nd career goal Wednesday against the Hurricanes and is now just two goals away from tying — and three goals away from surpassing — Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record.