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<\/p>\nWINNIPEG, Manitoba \u2014 There will come a day when we stop doing this. A day when we no longer compare, when we no longer look for analogs, when we no longer try to force Connor Bedard-shaped pegs \u2014 or are those Frank Nazar-shaped? \u2014 into Patrick Kane-shaped holes. A day when the Stanley Cup years finally ride the synaptic road back to long-term memory and the brain finally bumps the past for the present.<\/p>\n
That day isn\u2019t here yet. In fact, the Blackhawks\u2019 nondescript 6-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night was a reminder that as far as the Blackhawks have come, there\u2019s still so much farther to go. Regression comes for everybody, and it came for Spencer Knight and the Blackhawks\u2019 team defense, particularly in the second period. Hardly the way you want to start a six-game, 12-day road trip, but it happens. Especially to young teams still finding their way.<\/p>\n
That glorious day when the present overtakes the past is getting closer, but nostalgia\u2019s a tough one to shake, especially when it\u2019s lining up right across from you. Indeed, it was hard not to focus on the jarring sight of Jonathan Toews\u2019 No. 19 slightly italicized and ringed in baby blue. It\u2019s not as galling as Patrick Kane in New York Rangers blue or Detroit Red Wings red, and it\u2019s different than Duncan Keith in Edmonton Oilers orange. For one, Chicago is getting numb to seeing its erstwhile heroes in another city\u2019s colors by now. But more significantly, that Toews is even back in the league at 37, after two years of semi-retirement, is a gift to the hockey world. Even to Blackhawks fans, who seem on the whole to be genuinely happy that Toews is looking and feeling well.<\/p>\n
But still. It\u2019s so weird.<\/p>\n
Even for Toews himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still a connection to the organization and the city of Chicago and I think there always will be,\u201d he said before the game. \u201cChicago was my home for a long time, and it\u2019s days like this that you get to stop for a second, reflect, look back. \u2026\u00a0You start to think that things are never going to change, or at least you just assume that\u2019s the way things are with every organization. But then things change really fast and then here we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said I\u2019m very thankful for how things went in Chicago. It was definitely a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
A dream that\u2019s slowly, finally beginning to fade. It\u2019s been more than 10 years since Toews and Kane held the Stanley Cup aloft on the United Center ice, Toews\u2019 right hand on the base, Kane\u2019s left hand on the bowl: the capstone image of a golden age of Blackhawks hockey. Chicago \u2014 its fans, its organization and yes, its writers \u2014 has clung to that era as tightly as Toews and Kane clung to the Stanley Cup in that famous photo, because there\u2019s been so little else to get worked up about. Certainly no other fan base will feel sorry for Blackhawks fans, but man, what Blackhawks fans wouldn\u2019t give to be nitpicking a coach\u2019s decision about who plays right wing on the fourth line again rather than checking out who\u2019ll be available at the top of the draft in June.<\/p>\n
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\n Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane lifted their third Stanley Cup in 2015. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
These Blackhawks aren\u2019t there yet, but they do seem to be a little ahead of schedule. Instead of jockeying for position with the San Jose Sharks for the best odds at drafting Gavin McKenna, they\u2019re jockeying with the Jets \u2014 the reigning Presidents\u2019 Trophy winners \u2014 for playoff positioning. Given where they\u2019ve been the last few years, that\u2019s borderline astonishing. It\u2019s still way too early to start dreaming again, as Thursday night reminded us, but the fact fans have to guard against getting ahead of themselves is progress in and of itself.<\/p>\n
Even if this early success \u2014\u00a05-1-1 in their previous seven games \u2014\u00a0isn\u2019t sustainable, these Blackhawks are far more entertaining than teams of recent vintage. They\u2019re younger, they\u2019re faster, they\u2019re more tenacious, they\u2019re more fun. They\u2019re better. And it\u2019s tempting to go back to the well and start comparing these Blackhawks to the Blackhawks of 2007-08, the rookie season for both Toews and Kane, or 2008-09, when they announced themselves to the league with a run to the Western Conference final. Even Joel Quenneville made that comparison when he came through town a week and a half ago \u2014 for both his Ducks and these Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just too easy to say that Bedard has that Toews drive, that Nazar has that Kane showmanship. We start wondering who\u2019ll be this generation\u2019s Duncan Keith (Sam Rinzel? Artyom Levshunov?) and this generation\u2019s Niklas Hjalmarsson (Alex Vlasic? Wyatt Kaiser?) and this generation\u2019s Patrick Sharp (Nick Lardis? Roman Kantserov?) and on and on.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what you do after a decade of futility. You hold the past tightly, because the present isn\u2019t any fun and the future seems so distant. But even though Toews and Kane are still roaming NHL rinks, that past is pretty far back now. Bedard was 9 years old when the Blackhawks won the third Cup of that era. Let that sink in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember those last two Cups pretty well,\u201d Bedard said, meaning 2010 was so long ago that infantile amnesia is a factor. Oof.<\/p>\n
Of course, Bedard is a hockey historian, like Kane before him (dang it, did it again). He knows exactly what Toews means to the NHL, to Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up watching him a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to play him, as well. We\u2019re excited to see him. It\u2019s obviously a great story, him coming back, and everyone\u2019s happy for him. It\u2019s good to see a guy like that back playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still one more nostalgia hurdle to get past, when Toews visits the United Center on Jan. \u2014 wait for it \u2014 19. That\u2019ll be the big one, for both Toews and for Chicago. On Jan. 20, it\u2019ll be time to move on, to leave the past in the past. And if the Blackhawks are still in the thick of things, if they\u2019re still playing fast, fun and effective hockey, it\u2019ll be that much easier to do so \u2014 to let Bedard and Nazar be the first Bedard and Nazar, not just the next Toews and Kane.<\/p>\n
As long as there are nights like Thursday, when the Blackhawks look somewhat outclassed by a true contender and the growing pains are as evident as they are inevitable, the past will still hold sway in our minds \u2014 its appeal undeniable, unignorable. But if everything goes right in the years ahead, if Chicago is absurdly fortunate enough to live that dream Toews talked about yet again, there\u2019ll come another day in the distant future when we\u2019re looking for the next Bedard, the next Nazar, as the nostalgia cycle starts all over again.<\/p>\n
Hey, Chicago can dream.<\/p>\n
Game observations<\/p>\n
1. The Winnipeg media spent much of the morning skate talking to the Blackhawks and Jeff Blashill about Chicago\u2019s defensive prowess. And why not? Chicago entered the night allowing the third-fewest goals per game in the league. But those who\u2019ve watched the Blackhawks on a nightly basis know Spencer Knight has been masking some familiar defensive deficiencies. After all, you don\u2019t have a league-leading 13.27 goals-saved-above-expected in seven games if you\u2019re not facing some pretty good scoring chances.<\/p>\n
Knight, who\u2019s been spectacular, was probably due a night like Thursday. Winnipeg beat him early and often, and Knight let in some uncharacteristic soft goals, like Mark Scheifele\u2019s unscreened shot in the second period and Josh Morrissey\u2019s point shot midway through the third (on which Toews got the secondary assist). Knight didn\u2019t get much help, either, as Blackhawks defensemen got caught flat-footed and too far up the ice on a few occasions.<\/p>\n
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\n Spencer Knight was perhaps due for a night like Thursday, when the Jets put six past him. (Terrence Lee \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remind them on a daily basis when we\u2019re not playing good defense, for sure,\u201d Blashill said before the game. \u201cOur guys are in a spot where they\u2019re ready to be coached and we\u2019ve shown on a consistent basis things that are leading to chances against, things where we\u2019re not checking good enough. We recognize we\u2019ve gotten very good goaltending this year from both guys, so that does allow us to learn some of these lessons while still winning hockey games. \u2026 And they get it. They know. They know how good our goaltending\u2019s been, they know that we still need to get way, way, way better. They know those things. I\u2019m most impressed with their mindset more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
2. It didn\u2019t help that the Blackhawks were without Ilya Mikheyev, who skated in the morning but was unable to play for the second straight game due to an upper-body injury. Compounding matters, Jason Dickinson didn\u2019t play in the third period. Mikheyev and Dickinson are the Blackhawks\u2019 best two defensive forwards and the heart of the all-important checking line.<\/p>\n
Dickinson, who already missed three games this season with the same nagging injury, is questionable for Saturday\u2019s game against Edmonton, Blashill said. He hopes Mikheyev will be back for that one. Even though the Blackhawks were on the road, Blashill said he would have tried to match up Dickinson and Mikheyev against Winnipeg\u2019s vaunted first line of Kyle Connor, Scheifele and Gabriel Vilardi.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just really good players,\u201d Blashill said \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of young talent, but you still need those guys that know how to manage their shifts and go against other teams\u2019 really good players. It\u2019ll be something we\u2019ll have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. Louis Crevier got way too aggressive in the neutral zone in the first period, allowing Scheifele to blow by him and tee up the first of Vilardi\u2019s two goals, this one on a two-on-one. It was a common theme on Thursday night. Blashill said he wants his defensemen gapping up laterally rather than moving north in the neutral zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, that shift was great \u2014 we had a great shift and then they come down two-on-one and score,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cThat\u2019s the maturing process for our team. (When) you work so hard to have a good shift, create those kind of things, you can\u2019t give up those easy chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
4. Andr\u00e9 Burakovsky scored the prettiest Blackhawks goal of the season, and surely one of the best in the league, in the third period, briefly cutting the deficit to two goals. In front of the net, he spun to corral a Bedard pass from up top on the forehand, then, while still spinning, went between his legs and beat three-time Vezina Trophy-winner Connor Hellebuyck top-shelf.<\/p>\n
we like this\ud83d\ude42 pic.twitter.com\/19KN8w0XrH<\/a><\/p>\n