Lazerus and Powers: For Blackhawks, the schedule eases, but the story remains the same

CHICAGO — The thing about covering a team with Nick Foligno is that Foligno often can do the job as well, if not better than we can. The 35-year-old veteran has a way with words and a knack for getting right to the heart of an issue.

A sampling following Sunday’s frustrating 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night, a game the Chicago Blackhawks came about an inch away from tying at the buzzer, and a game in which they did an awful lot of good but just enough bad to come away without a point for the fourth straight game.

Foligno on always being in it, but never enough to win it: “We’re trying to claw back late in games, and it looks good — like we almost score — but it’s almost. It’s not good. We don’t put points on the board. … That’s the result you’re going to get in this league when you don’t play or respect how hard it is to win. We can’t be OK with these ‘sometimes we play well, sometimes we do the right things.’ That’s winning habits and we haven’t built those enough.”

Foligno on the mounting frustration: “We’re a way better team than we’re showing, and that’s the disappointing part of it, too. I’m not trying to sound negative, I just see more. I see it in practice. I see the plays we make. I see the care in this room. But it’s got to translate out there.”

Foligno on having just one win in the United Center: “I’ve been on the other side of it when you come in this building and you’re (just) hoping to get a win some nights. I want to create that again. The fans deserve that. … We talked about that at the beginning of the year, (how) we want to make this a hard place to play, and that hasn’t been the case and that has to change. We’re digging a hole here and we’ve got to find a way out of it because this is awful. This sucks.”

There was a lot to like about Sunday’s game from the Blackhawks’ perspective. They had an excellent second period. They came out great to start the third, tied 2-2 before a stunning Erik Johnson roof-job knocked the wind out of them. Philipp Kurashev was excellent again, with a goal and an assist as the main driver of a new-look, young-guns top line with Connor Bedard and Lukas Reichel. And Petr Mrázek once again did everything he could to steal two points for his team.

But they lost. Again. And while moral victories like this might be ideal for a front office with its eyes on another top-five pick next summer, Luke Richardson and his team are long past being sick of them. The Blackhawks can’t blame the schedule anymore, either. The ridiculous gantlet of contenders they opened with is mostly over, and consecutive narrow losses to Nashville and Buffalo can’t be so easily brushed aside. A visit to lowly Columbus, the loser of nine straight, comes on Wednesday. If that doesn’t cure the Blackhawks’ ills, nothing might.

Powers: American Thanksgiving has become that all-important barometer in recent years for where a team is in the standings. It’s not always 100 percent right, but if your team is in the playoffs come that holiday, you’re often in a good position for the remainder of the season. This Blackhawks team probably wasn’t ever likely to be a playoff team, but the players undoubtedly believed they could defy the odds. Reality might just be sinking in now, though. The Blackhawks have just 10 points through 16 games and only the San Jose Sharks have a worse points percentage.

As you said, this is all going according to plan for the Blackhawks front office. They’re achieving everything they want to. They’re getting a ton of experience for their young players, and they’re setting themselves up for another top-five pick. Cole Eiserman would probably look pretty good beside Bedard. But I’m getting well ahead of myself. There will be plenty of time to discuss the draft lottery.

Lazerus: OK, let’s move on to something more positive. Is this it? Are we finally seeing Philipp Kurashev realize his potential? Two hundred and one games into his NHL career, the Blackhawks — and Kurashev himself — are still trying to figure out just what he is and what he can be. He’s shown flashes of top-six talent in the past, combining with the likes of Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat to have productive spurts in which he is tenacious on the forecheck, hard on the puck, creative in the scoring areas. But those spurts typically last a game or two, and then he fades back into the netherworld of bottom-six defensive forwards.

But since joining the lineup a little less than a month ago after a shoulder injury that cut short his season last March, Kurashev has looked every bit the part as a productive top-line winger for Bedard. With a goal and an assist on Sunday, Kurashev now has 10 points in 10 games this season, four goals and six assists. It’s still a small-ish sample size, but it’s more than just a spurt. It’s a bona fide hot streak. Now can he keep it up? Playing with Bedard certainly helps, especially if Lukas Reichel is on the left side. That’s a lot of offensive weaponry with which to work. If this truly is Kurashev unlocked, he could become a key part of the next phase of Blackhawks hockey.

We still have no idea which of the Blackhawks’ top forward prospects — Oliver Moore, Frank Nazar, Colton Dach, and whomever they take in the upcoming drafts — will pan out. If Kurashev locks down one of those top-six roles, that’s one fewer prospect that has to hit. After all, he might be the second-longest-tenured player on the team (and isn’t that wild to think about), but he’s only 24.

What do you think, Scott? Are you buying Kurashev 2.0?

Powers: The Blackhawks do have a lot of offensive prospects coming, but what Kurashev has in his favor is he’s in the NHL now and can build chemistry with Bedard. If Kurashev can figure out how to complement Bedard, that might go a long way in the future. You can definitely tell Kurashev is playing with more confidence and jump as of late. We’ll see if he can keep it up.

This was the first extended look we’ve seen of Bedard with Reichel together. I know it’s something you wrote about wanting to see, and fans have been clamoring for it for most of the season. Just reading between the lines of what Richardson said, it felt like he and/or Blackhawks management finally decided it was time to make that happen. What were your impressions of that line?

Lazerus: Unsurprisingly, the trio looked really good offensively, with Reichel seemingly more engaged and active around the net. According to Natural Stat Trick, that line out-attempted the Sabres 16-10, out-chanced them 10-5, and out-high-dangered them 4-2. That amounted to a 68.65 expected-goals percentage. Putting talented players together creates offense. This isn’t news.

The question is, can they hold their own defensively without Foligno as a safety net? Kurashev is a responsible, defensive-minded player, but can he be the backstop for that line and continue to be a big part of the offense? Reichel’s fully aware of the fine line they’ll be walking together.

“Offensively, it was good,” he said. “We’ve just sometimes got to be careful on the way back. We all want the puck in the O-zone, we all want to make plays, but we can’t turn the puck over (and) we’ve got to be more sharp in the D-zone. But offensively, it was good.”

And perhaps just as importantly, with their top three offensive weapons on the top line, will the Blackhawks be able to get any goals from any of their other lines? Taylor Raddysh’s goal in the second period was his first point of any kind in eight games, and he was expected to be a major top-six producer this season.

Maybe it doesn’t matter. After all, this is not a win-now season, and if Bedard and Reichel put up big numbers together and the Blackhawks still get a top-five pick, maybe that’s the best-case scenario from a management perspective. But the guys in the room aren’t thinking about next season. Foligno said he believes “this team can do a lot of damage” and he means it. But after another near-miss, it looks like the Blackhawks are what they are — a team that can hang most nights, but can’t win most nights.