Blackhawks hope to correct atrocious penalty kill vs. Devils
The Chicago Blackhawks, at 5-on-5 this season, have looked like the perennial championship contender they always do. They've outscored teams 16-8 thanks to their talent and depth throughout the lineup.
Ask the Blackhawks to kill a penalty, however, and they look like a lottery team tanking for a top draft pick. Their 30th-ranked penalty kill, which sits at an unbelievable 46.1 percent, will try to right itself Friday night against the New Jersey Devils, who have five power-play goals in 16 chances over their past four games.
The Blackhawks' struggles while down a man can be indirectly credited to a lack of cohesion that has led to the team defending more, which has put them in position to take more penalties than they usually would.
"Our identity in the past was being fast and having the puck," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said to the Chicago Sun-Times. "Now we don't have quite the four-line rotation, or the puck enough, to get that precision we look for, that identity we're accustomed to having. We're not playing as fast, because we're defending a lot more than we're used to."
The Blackhawks (3-3-1) have also had trouble delivering consistent starts to games. They have been outshot in the first period in six of seven games, including a 14-8 deficit during a 3-2 home loss to the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Is there a reason for the slow starts?
"No good one, that's for sure," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said to the Chicago Sun-Times. "We've got to get that out of our game. The penalty-kill usually translates from our effort 5-on-5, and if we're not starting games well, then we're getting behind (and) giving up power plays. And we're not killing the penalty kills that we're on. It was unfortunate to get behind again (Monday night against Calgary)."
The Devils (3-2-1) are off to a 3-0 start at home. All six games were started by goaltender Cory Schneider, who holds a 2.00 goals-against average and .936 save percentage but will get the night off in favor of backup goaltender Keith Kinkaid.
The 27-year-old Kinkaid has yet to play a second this season but with the Devils playing Friday against the Blackhawks and Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, his first test was going to be a difficult one either way. He had a .904 save percentage in 23 games last season.
"I'm very excited," Kinkaid said to the Bergen Record. "I'll finally get some game action. I just want to help the guys out."
The Devils won nine of Kinkaid's 20 starts last season, which included two shutouts. If the Devils are to improve on their 84 points of a season ago and become a playoff contender, Kinkaid will have to give the Devils more support and better play when giving Schneider the night off.
"Going back to backs, we knew all along coming into the year in those situations we wanted to play both guys," Devils coach John Hynes said to the Bergen Record. "He's played well. He's practiced well so we'll give him a chance tomorrow. We want to be able to do a good job in front of him and make sure we allow him to get into the game and see the shots that he should stop and get himself re-acclimated with things. He's been through this before. It's not like it's a newer player that has to come in in a backup role. So we'll be confident he'll be ready to go.
