Inside a FRUSTRATED Chicago Blackhawks Locker Room Following 5th-Straight Loss

Inside a FRUSTRATED Chicago Blackhawks Locker Room Following 5th-Straight Loss

kind of been here before. A good start and then things just kind of get muddled. Is that a Yeah, I didn’t think we were very good honestly to be honest with you. I I I would say um it was a game where I didn’t think you know we talked last game about okay, you know, we played probably two pretty good games in a row and didn’t win, but you just keep repeating that and and you’ll get results. And I just thought from uh you know, maybe the first few minutes of the game we were all right. And then I just I didn’t think we were good enough uh the rest of the way and um you know that manifests itself more in the second when we can’t get on and off the ice. Um but I just to me it was kind of the way we went through the game. What do you chalk that up to? uh learning like we better learn you know learning pro like it’s a it’s an everyday league and um you can’t uh uh you know you can’t walk out and uh not be as prepared to play as you have to I don’t know if prepared is the right word just it’s an everyday league man you have to be uh you know I thought we had a number of guys not have their aame tonight um and you know it’s it’s it happens I guess that’s going to happen you’re not going to have your a game every night but your B game, you know, your your your next game has to be a B game, not a C game. And I thought, you know, we have too many guys probably at their C game, you know, and so, uh, you got to find a way when we’re not on top of it, maybe when we’re not great, to still be good. And, uh, I didn’t think we’re good enough tonight. We got a handful of real tough games coming up, too. How important is it for these guys to kind of pull themselves out of it? Yeah, I mean, it’s huge. You know, we’re going to we got a number I think every team we’re playing right now would be a playoff team if the playoffs started today. Obviously, you’re doing a number of those on the road after Sunday. And so, you know, we got to we got to go and play great hockey. The thing that’s encouraging is I know when we play great hockey, we can uh you know, I’ll I’ll match us up with anybody. I think we’ve shown that. So, now we got to go play great hockey. You can’t you know, you can’t play uh just okay hockey as we’re heading into this stretch. And um so, we’re going to have to be better. You know, hats off to Nashville. They they did a good job of uh uh you know, kind of staying with it and uh uh you know, we got the lead, but they just kind of stayed with it and really started to take it to us, I thought, as the game went along. are good for them, but we got to make sure we play better than that. Brian Green played a really good game tonight. Could you comment on his game? Yeah, you know, great Green is playing really good. You know, he just has he’s just a little snake bitten. You know, if he if he finishes on some of those, he’s probably uh, you know, one of the top three stars of the week to be honest with you. He’s had a lot of opportunities. Um, I thought I thought, you know, he he was going pretty good. I thought Berky had a pretty good jump. Um, you know, I I thought uh uh you know that that line was good at times and we probably had different lines be different good at different times, but uh Greeners played played good hockey, so just keep going. Do you think Green could do anything different to score or just stick with it? Uh stick with it. Stick with it. You know, it’s just one of those things where he’s had a lot of opportunities and um you just hopefully you just keep getting those opportunities, you’ll score. Seems like confidence might be a little shaky for the first point this year. How will how will you manage this from like an emotional standpoint? Yeah, you know, confidence is is a is a funny thing. It’s a it’s a huge thing in this game, in sports in general, I guess, in life. And um you know, my only answer is you have to kind of earn your own confidence and you earn it by uh doing things right. You earn it by your your your compete, your work ethic. Um, you know, you just have you have to dig in and uh I think only the most mentally tough survive this league and so we’re going to have to be mentally tough and dig in. Started off for well guys and then what in the second period? I don’t know. Um I mean a lot of mistakes giving up a lot of chances and they take that momentum and and kind of wearing us out down there and grinding and I don’t think we came up with an answer and yeah I don’t know wasn’t good enough that’s for sure. How did you feel on your return? I don’t know. Um I wouldn’t say great. Uh um yeah. No, no, not great. Second periods have been a problem off this season. What What’s different in the second? I mean, other than the long change uh versus the first. I mean, if we had an answer on him, we we would have corrected it. Uh I think it’s a it’s got to be a mentality thing. I I don’t know. Um we talk about it. We comes again. we talk about it and come out again. So, I don’t know. We got to we got to figure it out and then we got to figure out. Does this feel like the most discouraging moment or the most adversity you guys have faced this year? I mean, we we’ve been I think the the last two games we played great and we didn’t get the win. Right now, today I think we we just made it hard for ourel. Um, I think I think Nashville is a team that we should and can beat. Um, we just uh me mentally didn’t want it enough to I guess. You got a team of so many young guys. How do you help them prevent this from snowballing in the wrong direction? No, we we talk about every day just to clean up stuff that we we maybe do wrong. We’ll look at a lot of video to to figure it out. And um I mean we all just going to pay attention to what’s said and when and then remember it when we come out nice. Um I think yeah I mean you can we can definitely the older guys can definitely help them out and talk but I don’t think it’s the the younger guys. I don’t think it’s older guys. It’s a we’re group and and uh it starts starts with the group. The last few games here. Yeah. I mean uh thought we were all right in the first. Um obviously struggled a little bit in second again, but uh overall, yeah, I thought um we definitely could have played better in certain areas of the game. Why does that happen in the second period so often? Uh honestly, I’m not really sure. It’s something that, you know, we need to to figure out here going forward. You got a lot you had a lot of scoring chances in the past few games. How did it feel to get kind of finally see one get in the back of the net? Yeah, I mean it felt good. There’s still uh some that I feel like I obviously need to score on and um some I’m trying to work on, but yeah, felt pretty good to see one go. This loss feel different than the last couple where you had things you could really hang your hat on. Uh I mean, I think any loss just kind of feels the same. I mean, it’s you hate losing and um you know, I know all the boys do as well. So, I just got to find a way to get a double in the next one. In a losing streak like this, how does you I guess how as players do you keep morale? Do you keep your head up? Yeah, I mean I think overall we’re we’re a positive group as is and um I mean we don’t struggle to find motivation. We want to win every night and um obviously it sucks that we’re on a bit of a skid right now, but um you know we’re going to be ready to go for the next one and then hopefully continue to grow from there. How are you feeling playing on the top line with some regularity man? Uh feels good. I mean I’ve said it before, it’s pretty easy playing with those guys and um obviously play at a fast pace, but now I feel like uh I’ve been getting more comfortable with it for sure. Okay.

The Chicago Blackhawks lost their 5th-straight game on Friday, this time at the hands of the Nashville Predators. Jeff Blashill speaks postgame about the sluggish effort. Andre Burakovsky is back from an injury, but his return wasn’t enough. Ryan Greene also tries to make sense of the Blackhawks’ most difficult stretch of the season inside the United Center locker room.

0:00 Jeff Blashill
3:25 Andre Burakovsky
5:45 Ryan Greene

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