Roman Kantserov not letting Blackhawks' losing ways weigh him down

RALEIGH, N.C. — Roman Kantserov's last-minute goal Thursday was meaningless for the Blackhawks but significant for him.

It extended his point streak to seven consecutive games — the longest by a Hawks rookie since Jonathan Toews in 2007 — and kept him atop the NHL rookie goal-scoring leaderboard. He's now at eight goals, just ahead of three high-profile first-round picks: Trevor Connelly, James Hagens and Gavin McKenna.

Amazingly, though, the Hawks have only won one of those seven games. Kantserov has factored in nearly half — seven of 15 — of their total goals during the stretch. His teammates are barely producing anything at all.

"Regardless of how it’s going for everybody else, it seems to be working for him right now," Ryan Donato said Thursday. "I hope that we can help him out and...he can continue to stay hot, and then we can have another couple guys get hot, as well."

These team struggles represent one of many American culture shocks for the 22-year-old Russian forward, who isn't accustomed to losing.

Magnitogorsk Metallurg, his hometown KHL team that he played for before making the NHL jump this summer, is a perennial power.

They posted records of 44-24, 43-25 and 44-24 in each of Kantserov's three seasons, obviously making the playoffs every year and winning the KHL championship his first year. That's not out of the ordinary, considering they've posted only losing season since at least 1997 (and likely longer).

The Hawks, on the other hand, have dwelled in the NHL basement throughout that time.

"It's a little bit different because, before NHL, I played always on contending teams [that were] going to make the playoffs," Kantserov said this week, adding he has "the mentality of a winning guy."

"Now I have same mentality, but we just need to stay focused. We have the time. We need just to give up our stupid mistakes and focus on our game. Because the team is young but everybody is skilled. I hope, in a couple weeks, we stay [getting] better. It should be fine."

He believes he's doing a good job not letting the losses weigh too heavily on his mind.

"For sure it's sad when you lose, but you just focus on your health, analyze your game, watch a couple shifts, [see how] you can play better and forget about the last game and be ready for the next one," he said.

"Because there's so many games here. It will not be [smart] to think about, 'Oh my God, I can play better. I can't score here.' You have a new game, new chances."

He has scored on one of out every seven shot attempts so far, and his shooting percentage is an otherworldly 27.6%, which is unsustainable and will inevitably decline.

But there's reason to believe it should remain well above the league average of 11%. He finished with a 20.8% shooting percentage in the KHL last season, for what that's worth.

Kantserov isn't solely a net-mouth fiend like Tyler Bertuzzi, but he does understand the importance of stopping in the dangerous areas and looking around. That's how he scored Wednesday against the Panthers: he was simply there when the puck ended up there.

"If you look at a lot of his goals, they are around the net," coach Jeff Blashill said. "He's not going to score from far out, but he's a smart player. He's good around the net. He's got good eye-hand coordination so he can tip pucks. He's a good shooter."

Blashill added he didn't think Kantserov's line with Bertuzzi and Connor Bedard had as much "jump" Thursday as they did Wednesday. But it's a testament to Blashill's faith that Kantserov has been Bedard's most common linemate by far this season.

Kantserov has also shown flashes of ability to play a physical brand of hockey — a mentality the Hawks want to embrace more team-wide moving forward.