Jonathan Toews takes blame for latest loss

The Chicago Blackhawks suffered their 8th straight defeat on Wednesday night at United Center, falling to the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-4 final score. Despite battling back in the 3rd period, the Blackhawks weren't able to overcome Edmonton's dynamic forward duo of superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. 

Of course, the struggling Blackhawks had attempted to spark some offensive punch by putting their top two players in Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane together on the 1st line along with speedy forward Andreas Athanasiou. But it was two key mistakes by Toews that lead to goals by the Oilers; the mistakes were referred to by head coach Brad Richardson as "double pinching", in which a forward substitutes at the blue line for a defenseman who "pinched" down lower in the offensive zone. 

And according to Richardson, Toews owned up to his errors.

“He [said he] knows, ‘I’ve got to be better than that,’” Richardson said. “‘[It] doesn’t matter if I’m tired, I have to make the right read there. [It] could’ve maybe been a different outcome.’ So he takes ownership of that and accountability, and that’s a good thing for the players to see it and know. It’s a good message to everybody.”

“When we’re aggressive with our ‘D,’ (Jake) McCabe is...not diving in, he’s just up on the rush,” Richardson said. “[If] we have a forward covering up, that’s a different situation. [But if] we’re not playing our positions, we have to play a little more cautiously. Not necessarily backing off, but just holding until we get back into our positions instead of diving in again.”

The Blackhawks are back in action in the Big Apple on Saturday night against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.