Blackhawks drop third straight; Toews to return early?

Another day and another frustrating loss for the Blackhawks.

Despite outshooting the Ducks 19-2 in the third period, the Hawks' losing streak reached three games Sunday night with a 2-1 loss at the Honda Center.

While Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller was very good, stopping 39 shots, the Hawks can blame themselves for failing to capitalize on some great chances.

The most maddening miss came late in the third period when Dave Bolland deflected wide a shot by Viktor Stalberg that appeared headed into an open net.

Hiller also made a big glove save on Jack Skille in the third period.

The Hawks started the day in 10th place in the Western Conference and out of the playoffs, and they fell to 11th with the loss.

Corey Crawford returned from missing three games with the flu and was sharp in just his second regulation loss in his last 13 starts (10-2-1).

Crawford and the Hawls fell behind 1-0 at 10:32 of the first period when Andreas Lilja's slap shot got through a maze of Hawks in front and might have deflected off Troy Brouwer's leg.

Bryan Bickell tied the game at 18:08 of the first period on his own rebound after a nice pass from Brian Campbell.

But the Hawks weren't ready to start the second period and fell behind at 1:46 when Corey Perry scored after getting behind defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.

Crawford was good early in the third period to keep it close. He took away most of the net on Teemu Selanne's missed penalty shot at 4:03, then stopped Bobby Ryan in alone moments later.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville gave the line of Bolland, Skille and Stalberg a lot of ice time in the third period, and they had their chances.

Stalberg and Skille started the night on the fourth line with Jake Dowell, but Dowell was benched for the entire third period.

Marian Hossa played only 17 minutes and Patrick Kane 15. Both players had only 2 shots on goal.

Hossa has 1 goal in his last 18 games.

There was good news for the Hawks even before the puck dropped on Sunday, however.

Quenneville said before the game that there was a chance Jonathan Toews could return from his shoulder injury for tonight's game at Los Angeles.

“He skated (Sunday) and skated well,” Quenneville told reporters. “There's a possibility he could go (today).”

Toews was injured Wednesday at St. Louis, when Matt D'Agostini slammed him hard into the boards. The Hawks, who originally expected Toews to miss two weeks, have lost both games without him.

“I feel really good so we'll see,” Toews told WGN-TV during the second intermission Sunday. “Obviously we're ahead of schedule from where we thought we would be.”

Tim Sassone's game tracker

<b>Three stars</b>

<b>1. Jonas Hiller, Ducks: </b>The difference with 39 saves in goal.

<b>2. Corey Perry, Ducks:</b> Scored the game-winning goal in the second period.

<b>3. Corey Crawford, Hawks:</b> Gave his team a chance to win with some big saves.

<b>Halfway home</b>

The Hawks reach the season's halfway point tonight in Los Angeles with a record of 20-17-3 and on pace to finish with fewer than 90 points.

<h3 class="breakHead">Blackhawks game day</h3>

Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center, 8 p.m.

TV: Versus

Radio: WGN 720-AM

Game notes: The Kings were blanked 1-0 by Antti Niemi and the Sharks on Saturday and have lost three games in a row. They allowed 13 goals in their two previous games. Willie Mitchell (knee) and Alex Ponikarovsky (ankle) are out. This is the third game of an eight-game homestand for L.A.

Season series: Hawks lead 3-0

Next: Dallas Stars at the United Center, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday