Jonathan Toews on state of Blackhawks: ‘We're trying to find our way'

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NASHVILLE — The Blackhawks are 11 games into the season and a 3-6-2 record isn't how they envisioned October going. Not in the slightest.

After a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday, the Blackhawks were hoping to carry that momentum into Tuesday's Central Division matchup against the Nashville Predators to kick off a four-game road trip, and the exact opposite happened. The Blackhawks turned in one of their worst performances in recent memory, but they refuse to get down on themselves. Or at least they won't show it.

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews still believes in this team and knows it falls on his shoulders to help steer the ship back in the right direction.

"It's as good as it can be, given the fact that we're really unhappy with the way we're playing," Toews said on the morale in the locker room following a 3-0 loss to the Predators in which they were outshot 51-20. "But it's a good group of guys and we're trying to find our way. I think as individuals, I start with myself, my game hasn't been there so you can say all you want to your teammates and try and rally guys in the locker room and be positive but it starts with your individual game and your effort and your energy and your consistency and doing the little things right and my game hasn't quite been there.

"I think when your top guys and guys who have been in this locker room for a while, your best players, everyone followed suit, I think myself and those others take it upon myself to start leading the way and having that consistent effort every single night. There's no doubt we have a ton of ability and a ton of experience in this room and a bunch of guys who are already really enjoying being around each other in the room so it's frustrating that we've gone through this. ... We gotta find ways to get our consistency and start building our confidence as a team."

Robin Lehner was brilliant on Tuesday, just like he has been all season long. He made a season-high 48 saves and, as Toews said after the game, "it could've been a 10-0 game if it wasn't for him."

Lehner has turned into one of the more vocal leaders on this team, both on and off the ice, and he shared Toews' sentiments regarding the mood in the dressing room.

"It's fine," Lehner said. "We try to keep positive, but we know we got to step it up. Today they just had us in most of the categories you can think of but, yeah, it's a hard one to analyze because they're a good team. They play hard. Every single guy on their team played desperate and hard and really outworked us today. That's what happens. We got to figure out a way to figure this out."

It's easy to throw blowout games in the trash occasionally. Sometimes you have to forget about them as quickly as possible because games like that are going to happen over the course of an 82-game season.

But this game isn't one that falls into that category. The Blackhawks want to look themselves in the mirror, address the issue head-on and find a solution before things spiral out of control.

"Definitely, there's some recurring themes and if we want to beat good teams throughout the season we gotta figure out what it is," Toews said. "Playing with energy, playing with speed, being in the puck area, getting the pucks first and having support to win those battles and get those loose pucks all over the ice, I think that's where it starts.

"So from there we didn't do that and then their confidence just grew and they didn't let up, they just kept working. There's a lot of things we can take from the way they played the game tonight."

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