For whatever reasons, winning three straight games had been a psychological mountain for the Chicago Blackhawks, but they finally climbed it with a 3-1 win Thursday against the Seattle Kraken at the United Center.
But to Connor Bedard, it’s just a molehill.
“I mean, it’s three games,” he told the Tribune on Friday. “It’s not like it means the world. It’s good to win, but we don’t want to be super over-the-moon about it. It’s a three-game winning streak. We want to get more.”
Still, it was Feb. 25, 2023 when the Hawks concluded a five-game winning streak, so 1 year, 9 months and 24 days had passed between their previous streak of three victories or more and this three-game streak.
Winning streaks like that don’t come by very often around here.
“Well, it should. It should,” Bedard said pointedly. “Obviously we’re happy when we’re winning, but we’re not looking at the three-game win streak like any huge achievement or anything.
“It’s good and we’re happy that we won three in a row. But that’s not how we’re looking at it.”
That was music to Anders Sorensen’s ears.
“I like that,” the Hawks interim coach said. “That should be the minimum standard, right?”
Here are three other things we learned from practice Friday at Fifth Third Arena.
1. Seth Jones could return for Saturday’s game in Calgary, Alberta.
The veteran defenseman practiced Friday with no apparent issues with his right foot.
“He looked good today so he should be good to go,” Sorensen said of Saturday’s game against the Flames (3 p.m., CHSN). “We’ll see tomorrow.”
Jones last played Nov. 14 in Seattle and saw a game-high 26 minutes, 12 seconds in the 3-1 loss.
“It just had that kind of pain to it where it wasn’t going away,” he recalled. “Obviously (I was) playing the whole third (period) because of adrenaline.
“You don’t really feel it, you’re not thinking about it. But after the game it was pretty bad.”
Now he’s ready to go physically, but mentally might be another matter.
During Jones’ absence, the Hawks fired Luke Richardson and replaced him with Sorensen, who brought in a whole different system.
“A little bit weird,” Jones said.
But he has watched the games, and “it looks like we’re playing a lot more predictable,” he said. “Especially on breakouts, those are very clean the last couple weeks. And now we’re scoring some goals too.”
Jones has been trying to keep up with it all despite being unable to play.
“I made sure to be in a lot of these meetings right when the change happened to really make sure that I wasn’t missing anything … or messing something up because I’m the only one that doesn’t know what’s going on,” he said.
It’s not like he can ease back either.
Sorensen’s system is predicated on defensemen jumping up in the offensive zone, and Jones is the unquestioned top offensive threat among the group.
But he appreciates the freedom Sorensen’s system brings.
“I see us on the weakside D do a lot more on breakouts, just because everyone knows what they’re going to be,” Jones said. “And then that D has the flexibility to jump into the play and make something happen.”
Theoretically, Jones’ skills should be a perfect fit.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Sorensen said. “We know what he can do offensively, so we want to get him involved just like we do with all our D. It should be hopefully a lot of positives there with him being up in the rush or running … the power play.
“We know what type of player he is, so we’re excited to have him back.”
2. The Hawks tried out their Winter Classic uniforms.
The sweaters and sticks bear a vintage look for the outdoor game between the Hawks and St. Louis Blues on Dec. 31 at Wrigley Field.
“It was good. It was good,” Jones said. “I love the logos. The colors are awesome. I saw all the guys using the sticks today too.”
He added that they have “that old-time feel, that old-school feel.”
3. Wyatt Kaiser’s run comes to an end — for now.
The young defenseman was sent down to Rockford, while forward Craig Smith (back) was placed on injured reserve.
With Jones’ return imminent — and Kaiser having been a healthy scratch for the Hawks’ last three games — it’s good timing to give him some run with the IceHogs for the first time this season after giving him 28 games with the big club.
“He’s got to play as a young D-man,” Sorensen said. “Young players need to play. Right now, he was outside of our lineup for … three games here, so we don’t want him sitting too long.
“Get down, play a lot of minutes and then be ready to go.”
Sorensen said Kaiser had regressed a bit.
“He’s just got to play his game,” Sorensen said. “If we go back a little bit, the (New York) Rangers game he was really good — that’s where his standard is,”
In that game, he was Artemi Panarin’s pest and had three shots on goal.
“We need to get him back to that level,” Sorensen said.
