Blackhawks grounded by Jets again as losing ways continue

Few teams have consistently dominated the Blackhawks more than the Jets have in recent years.

That trend did not change Friday. The Jets controlled the majority of the game and Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom could only do so much in a 3-1 Hawks defeat.

The loss marked the Hawks’ 14th in their last 17 meetings against Winnipeg and third in three this season, during which they’ve been outscored by a lopsided 14-3 margin. They’ve now lost 17 of their last 20 games overall.

The Jets’ 7-2 rout at the United Center just a couple weeks ago represented the first time this season the Hawks have “played a little bit apart as a team,” coach Luke Richardson had said pregame.

Their togetherness didn’t crumble to that degree Friday, but they still generated very few reasons to believe in a comeback after yet again falling behind 1-0 in the first period.

Soderblom made “backdoor saves left and right,” defenseman Seth Jones said, but his 29 saves were meaningless when the Hawks scored just their lone goal in a three-game span. Final scoring chances favored the Jets 38-21 (and high-danger chances favored them 18-6).

“It wasn’t all bad. We came out slow in the first, though,” Jones added. “We weren’t very physical. Weren’t forechecking very much. And they took it to us a little bit. In the second period, we started to get more ‘O’-zone time [by] moving our feet.”

Last man back

Tyler Johnson, the only injured Hawk who wasn’t part of the en-masse return to practice Thursday, continued the stretch of encouraging health news by participating in morning skate Friday. It was his first on-ice appearance since suffering a setback in his ankle recovery around Nov. 20.

“He’s kind of back to where he was close [to returning] last time, but he has to try the contact again, which is the hard part,” Richardson said. “[With] the ankle, you never know when you’re going to get hit and you have to flex it. That’s what hurt him last time and set him back, so we have to try it again.”

Sam Lafferty’s return Friday from his back injury slightly bolstered the forward lineup; Lafferty slotted in as the fourth-line center, bumping Boris Katchouk to healthy scratch. But Johnson’s return would bolster it significantly more. He was the Hawks’ leading scorer, with six points in six games, at the time of his injury.

On the defensive side, Jarred Tinordi (hip injury) also unexpectedly returned to the lineup, then missed more time in-game but ultimately returned.

McCabe being heard

Defenseman Jake McCabe has played well recently, pressuring the puck in the defensive zone and getting involved in the offensive zone. But Richardson appreciates McCabe’s talkativeness more than any of his physical skills.

“He’s vocal,” Richardson said Thursday. “The game has gotten quiet — [this is] just a generation of players where they’re not vocal as much as they used to be — and he is. So that’s a real help on the ice. I love how he competes and he doesn’t settle for anything but the best. When things aren’t going well, he’ll let everybody know…it’s not acceptable.”

Richardson paired McCabe with Ian Mitchell against the Jets, believing McCabe’s strong communication would help Mitchell build chemistry with him quickly.

“You get to not just see what [Jake is] doing, but [also] hear what he’s doing,” Richardson said. “And that lets you decide quicker what you…need to do in the ‘D’-zone.”

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