Blackhawks’ nagging flaws give talk of winning, playoffs an empty feeling

In an early season of considerable darkness, of dispiriting twists and irreversible turns, there was a rock-bottom. In hindsight, it sure seems so, anyway. What could have been worse than the second period of the first meeting between the Blackhawks and Lightning on Oct. 21?

Thirty-three shots on goal. No, not for both teams combined (though that would have been a lot). No, definitely not for the Hawks. The Lightning pummeled goalie Cam Ward with 33 shots — only three of which found the back of the net, miraculously — in a historic case of pathetic play by the home team at the United Center.

Indeed, the monstrous total of 33 was the most by any team since the NHL began tracking shots by period as an official stat during the 1997-98 season.

The Lightning took a 5-1 lead in that game and won 6-3. The Hawks somehow will look to produce a completely different result — against the top team in the Eastern Conference and despite not having won on the road in more than a month — Friday at Amalie Arena.

We should point out that things aren’t quite as bleak as they appeared for a while there. The Hawks have begun to play better in the last handful of games under new coach Jeremy Colliton, whose predecessor, the fired Joel Quenneville, wasn’t exactly helped by the aforementioned first game against the Lightning. To a man, the Hawks are speaking in terms of winning. Even the word ‘‘playoffs’’ is being uttered unironically.

‘‘Good teams,’’ defenseman Duncan Keith said after the Hawks’ 4-2 loss Wednesday to the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals. ‘‘But we have to be a good team, too, if we’re going to be in the playoffs.’’

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But nagging flaws cropped back up in Washington. Take, for example, the Hawks’ special teams. (Please.) They were 0-for-3 on the power play, falling to 29th in the league with a puny success rate of 13.4 percent, and the first attempt — which generated zero shots — was comically inept. The penalty kill, also ranked 29th at 74.2 percent, was dinged with a Capitals goal.

Particularly troubling was the even-strength goal by Michal Kempny that gave the Capitals a 3-0 lead. Forwards Brett Connolly and Lars Eller planted themselves in front of goalie Corey Crawford with no resistance. Crawford never saw Kempny’s blast — the sort of easy goal the Hawks continue to be unable to come up with themselves.

The Hawks still are getting next to nothing from their third and fourth lines, and they can be maddeningly inefficient (or is it unlucky?). Witness defenseman Brent Seabrook’s nine shots on goal — one off his career high — against the Capitals, none of which got by goalie Braden Holtby.

‘‘We played hard,’’ Colliton told reporters. ‘‘I thought the effort was there, and we looked like we were going to climb back into it multiple times during the game. Just some self-inflicted wounds there that made it difficult against a Cup winner.’’

And that’s where Colliton — justifiably or not — turned up the positivity.

‘‘We’re good enough,’’ he said. ‘‘We have a good-enough team. We’ve just got to tighten up a little bit. These are things we can control.’’

But this is only the start of a brutal stretch of the schedule. And the road certainly has been no friend to this team. Even if the darkness has lifted, the talk of winning — let alone of the playoffs — seems somewhat empty.