Jeremy Colliton reacted to his Blackhawks opening the season with losses in Prague and to San Jose in Thursday’s home opener essentially by blowing up the lines he had stuck to since the beginning of training camp.
It’s a sign that Colliton is fully aware how crucial this current seven-game homestand and eight October home games will be. The schedule gets mightily tougher as they get into November, so Colliton can’t pretend like things will magically come together if he just stays the course.
Considering Alex Nylander was yanked off the top line after twenty minutes Thursday, then skated just two shifts in the third period – which included being on the ice drifting around, puck watching with his stick glued to his waste on the Sharks game-winning goal – and was out of the top 12 forward group altogether at Friday’s practice, you can probably declare the Alex Nylander honeymoon period expired.