Blackhawks’ Alex DeBrincat looks to affect game in more ways beyond scoring

Blackhawks right wing Alex DeBrincat used to obsess over his scoring droughts. But as he has gotten older, he realized that wasn’t productive.

Now in his third NHL season, DeBrincat has a different perspective when it comes to scoring goals.

“They’re going to come,” he said. “If you’re a goal scorer, you’re not going to score every night and for me, I just try to keep [that in mind] and stick with the process, and hopefully it’s going to go in sooner than later.”

That’s something DeBrincat has had to remind himself often this season, which hasn’t gone to plan for the 22-year-old, who started the 2019-20 campaign by signing a three-year extension before the opener in Prague.

In 44 games, DeBrincat has scored only 10 goals, his slowest start to his career. Last season at this time, he already had 19 and went on to finish second on the Hawks in scoring with 41.

DeBrincat is still firing plenty of shots, but they just aren’t going in. His shooting percentage has decreased drastically from 18.6 percent last season to just 8.1 percent.

“He just hasn’t converted at the same rate that he did last year,” coach Jeremy Colliton said Wednesday after practice. “He’s had a lot of chances, so that’s something that I’m sure he would like to change.”

DeBrincat really has no explanation why the scoring hasn’t come as naturally as it has in the past.

“It is what it is,” he said. “They don’t seem to be going in.”

But DeBrincat is confident that his luck will turn eventually. In the meantime, he’s trying to affect the game in other ways.

One way he’s doing that is by drawing twice as many penalties this season compared to last, according to Natural Stat Trick. He also has 20 assists, which is five more than he had last season at this time.

“I’m still contributing a little bit and trying to do anything I can to help the team win, whether it’s winning pucks back or getting points,” DeBrincat said. “Whatever it is, I think they’re going to find that each and every time.”

Colliton is pleased with how DeBrincat has been playing.

“Our feedback to him is more about how he’s playing,” Colliton said. “And when he’s getting chances we’re happy with it. And we constantly remind him that we want him to be active, away from the puck, skating, pressuring, great back pressure and then that’s going to put him in a position where he has a lot of speed going back and then he’ll get even more chances.

“So I’m not unhappy with his play, of course, we would like him to score, but I think he’s been good for us, especially since [Kirby] Dach and [Dylan] Strome combination, we put that together, that line was probably our best line.”

Note: Coach Jeremy Colliton couldn’t offer a timeline on Dylan Strome, who left the game in the second period Tuesday with a right ankle sprain. He did, however, rule the center out for the game Thursday against the visiting Predators.

Meanwhile, goalie Robin Lehner, who suffered a right knee injury last Thursday against the Canucks, was a full participant in practice. With Lehner cleared, the Hawks reassigned goalie Kevin Lankinen to the Rockford IceHogs.