One particular sentence Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said Thursday held true again Sunday, and it likely will continue to hold true for the rest of the season.
It sums up the Hawks’ predicament at the moment.
‘‘Our depth chart has been hit well, but we’ve been patching holes as we’ve been going on,’’ Richardson said Thursday in Seattle. ‘‘But once we get to a certain point, we’ve got to be perfect, and we were definitely not perfect tonight.’’
Richardson might as well repeat that line after every game. The Hawks’ imperfections will be more obvious in some games than others — they certainly looked less glaring in a 4-3 loss Sunday to the Canucks than they did in the 7-1 blowout defeat Thursday to the Kraken — but they always will be present.
And considering how much talent is missing from a roster that was already subpar entering the season, the Hawks will have a difficult time overcoming those imperfections enough to earn victories — no matter how much effort they exert.
For most teams, whether they won or lost ultimately determines whether they played well or poorly. For this Hawks team, the measuring stick might as well be shifted to whether they lost by a lot or a little.
On Thursday, they played poorly and lost by a lot. On Sunday, they played well and lost by a little. That formula won’t hold true every night — they occasionally will face some nearly-as-bad opponents, and goalie Petr Mrazek will earn them a handful of victories if he continues playing the way he has — but it will hold true on most nights.
‘‘Forgive me, I hate moral victories,’’ forward Nick Foligno said. ‘‘But with what we’re facing right now, with the group we have [considering our] injuries, I’m proud of our guys for competing.
‘‘[That was] arguably a better team we played than Seattle, and we played a way better game.’’
Nonetheless, the Hawks lost for the 14th time in their last 18 games, falling to 4-13-1 since Nov. 11. After a relatively competitive 5-7-0 start, they’re now 9-20-1, last in the NHL and on pace for only 52 points — down from 59 last season.
The interesting thing is that this time period — November and December — represented the Hawks’ lowest point of last season, too. They posted a 4-23-4 record in a 31-game span and, as of Jan. 4, found themselves on pace for a mere 44 points.
When asked about that repeating pattern a couple of weeks ago (before his injury), defenseman Seth Jones chuckled knowingly about the reason why.
‘‘When you start the season, especially with this many young players on the team, everyone’s so excited [and] there’s so much energy,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s their first 10 or 15 games in the league.
‘‘Some guys don’t realize these are actually the easiest games of the year. Once game 40 and [game] 50 hit, teams really start pushing for playoffs, and the game gets a whole lot harder. I’m excited to see how we’re going to respond when it comes to that time.’’
The Hawks responded fairly impressively at that time last season. From Jan. 4 through March 17, they went 16-13-2.
A turnaround probably will arrive at some point this season, too. Perhaps it won’t be that dramatic, but there will be brighter weeks. That’s just what happens in a league with as much parity as the NHL.
This roster, however, is even worse than the one last season. This season probably will end up being worse, too.
Even though the Hawks have Connor Bedard now and didn’t then — and even though Bedard, who had two more points Sunday, continues to live up to expectations — it’s time to accept that fact.
