Say what you will about Luke Richardson’s tenure as Chicago Blackhawks head coach, but the man wasn’t under any delusions about what he had to work with. Particularly this season, Richardson’s 26 games were marked by a stubborn commitment to hyper-conservative play. The Blackhawks took few chances, and as a result, got few chances. The Blackhawks were in every game under Richardson but one, as they tried to grind out low-scoring, one-goal wins night after night (with little success).

The elevation of Anders Sorensen — a man who built his reputation on his skills coaching — on Dec. 6 was largely about unlocking a stagnating Connor Bedard, but it was also supposed to allow the Blackhawks to go on the offensive. Saturday’s 5-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights was exactly what Kyle Davidson had in mind when he made the coaching change. But it was still more exception than rule.

The Vegas game was Sorensen’s 20th as Blackhawks interim head coach, which gives us a perfect excuse to see what — if any — difference his hiring has made. Let’s look at the numbers:

The biggest progressions have been individual, as the Blackhawks’ three most important and potent offensive players — Bedard, Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen — have thrived under Sorensen. Bedard jumped from 0.73 points per game to 1.1; Bertuzzi from 0.38 ppg to 0.8 (from five goals in 26 games to 11 in 20, coinciding with his long-awaited elevation to Bedard’s line), and Teräväinen from 0.46 ppg to 1.05. Clearly, Sorensen’s more aggressive offensive style has suited the most aggressively offensive players.

As a team, though, the numbers are less flattering. With three points in the last two games, Sorensen now has a better points percentage than Richardson, but it’s still a rather gruesome .375, third-worst in the league in that span. Sorensen’s higher-risk, higher-reward style is having the expected effect, for better and for worse, at five-on-five. Yes, the Blackhawks are scoring more (0.39 more goals per game) but they’re giving up a lot more (0.60 more goals per game). They’re getting more high-danger chances (up 1.06 per game) but giving up more high-danger chances (up 1.1 per game). Not counting empty-netters, seven of Chicago’s 13 losses under Sorensen have come by multiple goals, while only five of Richardson’s 18 did.

It’s worth noting the team save percentage has plummeted since Sorensen took over. Arvid Söderblom has dropped from .919 to 900, while Petr Mrázek has fallen from .905 to a dreadful .864. The Blackhawks certainly are playing looser defensively under Sorensen, but the minor uptick in high-danger scoring chances can’t account for those drops entirely.

Special teams, meanwhile, have improved marginally, but already were solid under Richardson — unsurprising, given the assistant coaches have not changed.

So what does this all mean for Sorensen’s hopes of keeping the job long-term? Well, the odds already were stacked against him, considering the last four Blackhawks coaches also had no NHL head-coaching experience. And there are still 36 games left for Sorensen to make his mark. The significant surge from Bedard certainly plays in Sorensen’s favor, but the Blackhawks likely will have to improve dramatically at both ends of the ice for Sorensen to lock down the job.

Söderblom has faced nine shootout attempts in his NHL career. All nine went in.

It’s not ideal.

But it’s also not a Robin Lehner situation, Söderblom swears.

Lehner, you’ll remember, was one of the best goaltenders in the league for his 33 appearances with the Blackhawks during the 2019-20 season. But he also was a disaster in shootouts. Always had been. He said the slower nature of the shootouts affected him, and he was better able to act on his instincts during the frantic pace of regulation play.

Söderblom, meanwhile, said his abysmal shootout record in the NHL is a fluke, too small a sample size to draw any real conclusions.

“I feel like that’s just circumstance,” he said. “That’s a part of the game where you have a chance to be the hero as a goalie. You get a chance to be the guy. So historically, I love shootouts, and I’m good at it, usually.”

Indeed, Söderblom’s track record in the shootout is pretty spectacular. In his two AHL seasons, he gave up only eight goals on 53 shootout attempts. In his first AHL season, only Charlie Lindgren had a better save percentage than his .875. In his second season, only Yaroslav Askarov had a better save percentage than his .838.

Losing the shootout in Nashville on Thursday was particularly disappointing for Söderblom, who had one of the best games of his career with 39 saves in regulation and overtime. He looked particularly confident, challenging shooters and snaring pucks out of the air with a bit of flair we haven’t seen from him before. He said he’s feeling as confident as he ever has in the NHL, earning co-No. 1 status with Mrázek after serving as his very clear backup for more than a year.

Söderblom said the competition between the two is healthy.

“As goalies, you’re always going to compete with each other, but you also have that friendship and brotherhood,” he said. “We’re the only ones in here that understand what the other one goes through. It’s an individual sport within the team sport. We’re a bit different from the rest of the team, so it’s important for us to stay together and support each other both in ups and downs. It’s a great team within the team — the goalies and the goalie coach — and we always support each other.”

When he was announced as a starter Saturday night, Seth Jones was greeted with a smattering of boos. When he was announced as the game’s No. 1 star a little less than three hours later after posting a goal and two assists, it was all cheers.

Jones deferred to the team’s performance when asked multiple times what it meant for him to put together two excellent games in a row after his dreadful minus-4 showing against Calgary. But his teammates knew what it meant.

“He played awesome,” Nick Foligno said after the Vegas game. “He’s a proud guy. He’s a pro. He wants to be a part of this. It’s nice to see him leading the way. When he does, look how much better we are. It’s the reality of the position he holds. It’s a privilege and I think he understands that. You have a lot of emotion, though, too. We’re all human and there’s things you go through throughout the year. It’s hard when you’re not winning and things aren’t the way you want them to be. But he’s found a way to really impact the game the past two, and look at where we’re going with it.”

Sorensen said it was Jones’ best game since he took over as interim coach.

“He was invested a lot in the game emotionally, seemed to be really into it,” Sorensen said. “He had some offensive output, but the defensive part of his game was really good.”

The Vegas game kicked off a particularly brutal stretch of schedule for the Blackhawks — eight straight games against teams currently in the top three in their divisions. Oddly enough, though, the Blackhawks frequently have been at their best against the league’s best. Of their 15 wins, nine have come against teams harboring legitimate hopes of a deep playoff run — Edmonton, Colorado (twice), Los Angeles, Minnesota, Florida, Dallas, Washington and Vegas.

Carolina is up next Monday night at the United Center. The Blackhawks are coming off two strong efforts in a row, so they’ll need to keep playing up to their opponent’s level in order to find sustained success for the first time all season.

“We’ve got to build off that, though, right?” Sorensen said. “That’s got to be the biggest thing for our group — stacking shifts, stacking periods and stacking games together. Multiple sequences of that is going to be the key.”