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Blackhawks coach isn’t worried about scoring, playing with leads

joeqgetty

The Chicago Blackhawks’ 6-1-2 record seems reasonable enough, but they’re not dominating teams like they did before. Still, head coach Joel Quenneville said “we’re not complaining” to reports such as the Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Lazerus.

He might not be complaining, but considering Chicago’s recent struggles with scoring and holding onto leads, is Quenneville worried? It doesn’t seem that way.

“I don’t think we’re playing any different than we did in the first two periods, [it’s] not like we’re sitting on leads,” Quenneville said. “I’m not worried about our offense, because I know it’s there.”

Even so, Lazerus reports that both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp referred to blowing late leads as a “bad habit.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of recent games, including Tuesday’s 3-2 shootout win against the Florida Panthers:

Today: Chicago went up 2-0 in the second period, gave up two goals in the third period.
Saturday: run-of-the-mill 3-1 win against Toronto.
Oct. 17: Gave up 1-0 and 2-1 leads against St. Louis, lost 3-2 in a shootout.
Oct. 15: Built 2-0 lead midway through first period vs. Carolina, gave up two third period goals, won 3-2 via a shootout.
Oct. 12: Won 2-1 against Buffalo after going up 2-0.
Oct. 11: Built 2-0 lead, allowed Islanders two goals in the last minute of the first period, eventually won 3-2 after a second period goal.

So ... yeah, there’s a trend, although that trend also involves the Blackhawks getting one or two points in every game, aside from Oct. 9’s 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

Chicago has room to improvement, yet the Blackhawks are doing just fine. That’s not such a bad way to start a title defense - success mixed with a healthy amount of fear - right?

Unless they’re just getting lucky and will start losing. That wouldn’t be good.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins