How Close Are the Blackhawks to Breaking this Insane NHL Record?

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Stef
April 27, 2022 (1:19 PM)

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Most of the time, when you hear someone's about to tie or break a 50 year old record, it sounds impressive. Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, it's just the opposite.
Currently, Chicago has recorded 0 power play goals by defensemen, this season. They have 2 games left (Vegas and Buffalo). Coincidentally, the last team who made this record was the 1970-71 Buffalo Sabres, in their inaugural season.
The team is aware of this particularly depressing statistic. See Erik Gustafsson's response, here:

I mean, the general response is «shoot the puck more». Sure. That seems like a no-brainer. But, as they say, easier said than done. It doesn't help that one of our defensemen has been out with concussion protocol (Connor Murphy), but he only had 4 goals in his 57 games this season, anyway. Honestly, the whole D-core has struggled with injuries from the beginning of the season, starting with Wyatt Kalynuk being injured twice in October (ankle), along with Alec Regula (back), Caleb Jones (wrist), and Riley Stillman (health protocols).
Stillman was out again in November due to a knee injury, Calvin de Haan was out in December with COVID, and January lost us Jake McCabe and Seth Jones for COVID protocol, Riley Stillman, again, with a shoulder injury. McCabe and de Haan were out again in February, and March is when Murphy got his concussion.
Without consistency in the line-ups, it's not easy to develop chemistry and that special language defensemen need to have, especially during Power Plays.
The Blackhawks are currently ranked 21st in the league for the Power Plays, and 25th for their PK. Tonight, they play Vegas, who has essentially the reverse stats - being 24th in the league for Power Plays and 21st for Kills. Buffalo's stats are also within a few points, so it seems like Chicago has equal opportunity in both games to prevent their organization from being the new face of this abysmal record.