Considering the Blackhawks have scored just four goals in their last four games combined, the coaching staff is looking at every possible way to increase offensive production.
It’s no easy task without Connor Bedard, whose absence leaves the forward depth chart direly lacking proven scorers. But the postponement of the Hawks-Sabres game from Wednesday to Thursday (due to hazardous weather in Buffalo) gave the team an unexpected off day to review tape and discuss things.
And with that extra time, the staff can keep encouraging their forwards to operate more like Cole Guttman.
Guttman, since reestablishing a regular spot in the Hawks’ lineup on Dec. 3, has consistently shot the puck every time he has had a shooting opportunity. It would behoove the Hawks for his mindset to rub off on others.
“Lately, [Cole] has really taken what we’ve shown him and talked about and put it into his game plan,” coach Luke Richardson said. “When he has a chance to shoot the puck, he’s going to take it.
“We’re trying to get forwards to shoot that puck more on the fly and get to the net for rebounds and not make the risky extra pass in the offensive zone. Teams at this time of the year, they start hunkering down on defense; they’re going to take away the middle. If it’s not there right away when you come in the zone, don’t look for an extra pass — shoot the puck. Cole is representing that for us as a team.”
Since Dec. 3, Guttman has averaged 15.9 individual shot attempts per 60 minutes during five-on-five play. That ranks second among Hawks forwards, behind only Colin Blackwell — another bright spot amid the offensive gloominess.
During the same time period, Bedard has averaged just 12.1 attempts per 60 — below Blackwell, Guttman, Anthony Beauvillier, Taylor Raddysh and Tyler Johnson. Lukas Reichel has averaged only 9.0 — one of the team’s lowest rates.
Richardson recently showed the team clips of Blues forward Jordan Kyrou’s hat trick last week against the Rangers. He pointed out how, on every goal, the puck flew “off [Kyrou’s] stick in a millisecond,” as MacKenzie Entwistle later described it.
“I said to them, ‘It doesn’t have to be the perfect shot. You don’t have to stickhandle and get to the perfect place,’” Richardson said. “[If you’re] in stride, get it, shoot it. If it’s wobbling, doesn’t matter — shoot it. [It] doesn’t have to be perfect; sometimes that throws the goalie off.”
Guttman did exactly that Tuesday against the Sharks, scoring the team’s lone goal in the first period after Ryan Donato ripped a hard shot from the high slot. Guttman fought for the rebound, chipped it toward the net and got a lucky bounce off Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro’s knee.
In the second period, on a two-on-one rush with Katchouk, he correctly identified the Sharks had taken away the passing lane and ripped another shot on net. Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood saved it, but at least he was tested. Far too often, the Hawks have forced passes on odd-man breaks that have squandered the chance altogether.
“If the pass is wide open, I’m going to try to make that,” Guttman said. “But shooting the puck is definitely something I’ve been working on — changing the angles and trying to get them through triangles and sticks and all that.”
He believes his shooting technique and accuracy has tangibly improved as a result of that work, but it’s his eagerness to shoot to begin with that matters most.
“Any pucks to the net are good pucks — you never know when it’s going to go in,” Entwistle said. “‘Gutty’ is great at getting pucks to the net, and the more we can do that . . . it’s only going to benefit us.”
NOTE: The Hawks put defenseman Nikita Zaitsev on injured reserve Wednesday with a right knee injury and called up Louis Crevier from Rockford.
