Blackhawks' ultra-young core faces gut check after back-to-back blowout losses

NEW YORK — The idea of the Blackhawks dressing one of the youngest lineups in modern NHL history is romantic. The reality, at least for now, is less pleasing on the eyes.

The Hawks were shellacked 6-1 by a poor Rangers team Friday, one day after getting routed 5-1 by a mediocre Flyers team.

It was almost as ugly a back-to-back set as the Hawks’ disastrous December weekend in Southern California, when the Kings and Ducks beat them by a combined 13-1.

General manager Kyle Davidson, who has accompanied the team on this East Coast trip, surely hopes the fully developed version of this lineup will fare much better than this fresh-off-the-vine version.

And it likely will, to be fair. But the results this week offer a bitter reminder the Hawks still have a long way to go to become contenders, even if they’ve progressed through one stage of the rebuild and into the next.

With all six defensemen in the lineup 24 or younger and seven of 12 forwards 23 or younger, the Hawks played a solid first period, then fell apart.

‘‘We were in the game,’’ said new alternate captain Tyler Bertuzzi, one of few remaining veterans. ‘‘And then I don’t know what happened in the second and third.

‘‘We’re trying to figure that out ourselves. I don’t know if it’s just such a young team [with] immaturity and we can’t put it together, but it’s on everyone. It’s on us older guys to show the lead and have them follow. As a group — everyone — the last few games, we have not been good at all.’’

Through the first three games of this trip, scoring chances during five-on-five play favor Hawks opponents 130-59 and high-danger chances favor opponents 69-23. Those are lopsided numbers.

The Hawks’ biggest problem Thursday was ill-advised step-ups in the neutral zone leading to odd-man rushes against them. Their biggest problem Friday was succumbing to pressure in the defensive zone and failing to relieve it cleanly.

Fatigue is almost certainly a factor, considering the density of games and lack of practice time lately. But the schedule is dense for every team, so it’s no excuse.

‘‘This will be a good test for us here after two tough ones,’’ Blashill said. ‘‘Overall, we haven’t been in this spot a lot. I think we’ve played pretty good hockey through most of that stretch after the trade deadline. Now we’ve got to regroup.’’

The Rangers, who had lost six in a row entering the game, moved into a tie with the Hawks for 30th place in the standings — a close race for the second-best odds in the draft lottery. (The Flames, one point ahead of both, also remain in that conversation.)

For that reason, a sizable contingent of Rangers fans on social media were rooting for their team to lose and a smaller contingent of extremely future-looking Hawks fans probably were pleased with the result.

But most Hawks fans have grown tired of caring about lottery position, even if they recognize another top-five pick will be valuable. The Hawks’ front office has shifted its primary focus to the NHL roster and its progress, too. After all, the purpose of this season is to take the first step up the mountain, not to tank.

Even though the Hawks remain on pace to finish with 75 points — a 14-point improvement from last season — this week is a reasonable cause for concern.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of the . . . core pieces that that are going to be here moving forward, hopefully,’’ defenseman Alex Vlasic said. ‘‘So it’s on us to do a better job.’’