Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks lost 5-4 in overtime against the Kings on Thursday.
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LOS ANGELES — It would be an easy storyline to purport, that the small yet poorly timed errors the Blackhawks committed in their season finale Thursday exemplified their season-long struggles.
But that would be far too generous to their season overall. They weren’t inches away from success; they were miles away.
On Thursday, a 5-4 overtime loss to the Kings tacked one more defeat — albeit a more-entertaining-than-usual defeat — onto their final record of 23-53-6. Those 53 regulation losses and 59 total losses are both the most in franchise history.
“It’s a disappointing finish to a disappointing year,” Nick Foligno said. “I just wanted something to hang our hat on.”
After that comment, Foligno launched into a more blunt, critical and memorable diatribe about the overarching state of the Hawks and the offseason ahead.
“We are a team that needs to make some changes here,” he added. “This isn’t good enough. This can’t be good enough. This has to change drastically over the summer.
“You battle all year long with the group and you care a lot about every individual. But the reality is, when you don’t win, changes are inevitable. And we understand the business side of it. We even talked about it: this might be the last time we play together — all of us, forever.
“We can’t go through this again. And I certainly won’t allow it. Either the mindset changes from the group, or personnel changes. That’s just the way it is in the NHL. It’s a business and we need to treat it as such — as we’re moving forward, trying to become a winning team.”
The Hawks appeared content to trudge to the finish line as of the second intermission, when they trailed 3-1 and had tallied only seven shots on goal. Lukas Reichel was the lone bright spot at that point; he made arguably his most impressive play of the season with an end-to-end rush for a breakaway goal.
Out of the blue, however, Tyler Johnson, Joey Anderson and Ryan Donato scored three goals in a five-minute span early in the third period to give the Hawks a 4-3 lead.
The Hawks then appeared driven to enter the offseason on a high note — but that unraveled, too. Philipp Kurashev cleared the puck over the glass in the final two minutes, giving the Kings a six-on-four power play that Viktor Arvidsson converted to tie the game.
Right off the overtime faceoff — six seconds in — Kings forward Adrian Kempe ripped a shot over embattled Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom’s blocker to culminate the roller coaster. That result, combined with the Golden Knights’ loss to the Ducks, means the Kings will face the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs while the Knights draw the Stars.
Hawks players, meanwhile, will disperse for the summer — many never to return to Chicago again — after exit interviews Saturday.
“There are moments that cost us tonight’s game at the end, but [also] the perseverance in the third period,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We have to learn from both. We have to learn that we have the ability to come back in a game, and we have to learn how to hold onto leads and do all the little things to preserve that.”