Blackhawks' lineup decision backfires in shutout loss to Ducks

Ryan Sun/AP Photos

ANAHEIM, Calif. — After last week's Blackhawks-Ducks game ended with a melee, Hawks coach Luke Richardson felt like he needed to dress grizzly defenseman Jarred Tinordi for Tuesday's rematch in case things escalated again.

Tinordi indeed dropped the gloves with Ducks enforcer Ross Johnston on his third shift of the night, but he made an objectively negative overall impact in the Hawks' 4-0 loss.

He was on the ice for three Ducks goals in only 8:24 of ice time, most egregiously failing to box out — as the Hawks had just practiced Wednesday — on Alex Killorn's tip-in opening goal. Even the fight caused referees to blow dead a developing two-on-one rush for Connor Bedard on the other end.

Meanwhile, with seven defensemen in the lineup, the Hawks had only 11 forwards at their disposal and weren't able to run their usual flow of lines. In other words, every aspect of the lineup decision backfired.

"We wanted to put 'Tinner' in the lineup for some toughness," Richardson said. "I just thought it [also would give] us a chance, if we need to find some scoring, to use some of our offensive players a little bit more.

"But, obviously, both didn't work tonight. Our back end didn't move the puck as clean as we wanted, but also [our] forwards weren't in position and weren't clicking as a unit. We just weren't connected."

Star Ducks rookie forward Leo Carlsson was injured by an inadvertent knee-on-knee collision with Alex Vlasic in the second period, and Ryan Strome dropped the gloves with Vlasic later on. Beyond the two fights, the Hawks also committed five minor penalties; the Ducks scored a five-on-three goal and another mere seconds after a power play expired.

"We were a little careless with our sticks," defenseman Jaycob Megna said. "We've got to work to draw more penalties. [There were] a couple we took that we didn’t need to take; they weren’t near the play. [It's] just a lack of discipline on our part."

The Hawks were shut out for the 11th time this season and lost for the 25th time in their last 26 road games.

Note: Forward Colin Blackwell missed Thursday's game due to an upper-body injury he suffered Tuesday against the Kings. Richardson said Blackwell is feeling "sore" and that the evaluation of his injury likely won't be completed until the Hawks return to Chicago, implying he won't play Saturday against the Sharks either.