Blackhawks undermined by poor finishing in loss to Blues

ST. LOUIS — The Blackhawks have scored one or zero goals in eight of their last 11 games.

That’s a lot of numbers, but they tell a simple story: the Hawks barely score. And in a hard-fought but fruitless 3-1 loss Thursday against the Blues, that story held true once again.

“We’re getting some decent chances around the net,” Seth Jones said. “I don’t know if we’re running into hot goalies or what the case is. You [have to] think something’s going to give if we continue to stay the course.

“Mistakes are that much more magnified when we’re not putting the puck in the net.”

That they are, and one particular mistake Thursday was magnified so much it might as well have been in a biology lab.

That was Boris Katchouk’s inexplicable, blind, slow, backhand pass in the second period, which sent the puck from below the Hawks’ goal line to the middle of the slot with no teammate around. Blues defenseman Calle Rosen intercepted it like it was intended for him and ripped a shot past Hawks goalie Alex Stalock for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

Hawks coach Luke Richardson had “not much” to say to Katchouk after the play, but Richardson tried his best to support the fourth-line grinder in his postgame comments.

“The players on the bench were really good, rallying around him and telling him to have a good shift the next time,” he said. “It’s hard to shake those off as a player, but you have to. He had a really good penalty kill at the end of the game…and he almost sprung himself for a break. That’s a good sign of a player overcoming a tough break and bad decision.”

Stalock remained stellar in his usual chaotic way — his 26 saves (on 28 shots) were actually a season low, exemplifying how well he has played — and the Hawks were cleaner and more efficient in all three zones against the Blues than against the Hurricanes.

When Katchouk makes that kind of error and the offensive finishing remains nonexistent, however, it’s nearly impossible for the Hawks to win.

“We had some pretty good looks,” Richardson said. “It didn’t go in as much as we’d like, but they’re there. When they’re not there, that’s when everybody gets really concerned.”

Lafferty avoids absence

Forward Sam Lafferty missed morning skate Thursday with an illness and was deemed a game-time decision, but by warmups, he was back on the third line with Jason Dickinson and Andreas Athanasiou. That was a relief for the Hawks; that trio has been arguably their best lately.

Richardson said Jujhar Khaira and MacKenzie Entwistle, who were both scratched, are also dealing with nagging minor injuries.

Mitchell scratched twice

On defense, meanwhile, Ian Mitchell has been scratched in favor of veterans Jack Johnson and Caleb Jones in consecutive games. That’s a curious decision, considering Johnson and Jones basically are who they are at this point, but Mitchell’s NHL upside has yet to be nailed down.

Richardson stumbled through an attempted explanation Wednesday, saying the Hawks scratched Mitchell on Tuesday because they wanted “good skaters” against the speedy Hurricanes. Mitchell was scratched Thursday so the Hawks would match up better against the “big, heavy” Blues.

Mitchell had played relatively well before the holiday break, scoring two points and averaging 18:03 of ice time in his last three games. But the Hawks don’t seem interested in giving the soon-to-be 24-year-old a steady NHL role.

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