Blackhawks lose, fall to fourth in division
This is not the way the Blackhawks envisioned going into the all-star break.
Fourth place in the Central Division.
Playing without injured captain Jonathan Toews, the Hawks needed to play an airtight defensive game Tuesday night and couldn't do it. Two ugly turnovers resulted in first-period goals, and Nashville made them hold up behind stud goaltender Pekka Rinne for a 3-1 win at the United Center.
Despite a record of 29-15-6 and 64 points, the Hawks now trail Detroit, St. Louis and the Predators in the division with a nine-game road trip staring them in the face when they return from the break next week.
“The break probably comes at a good time for us,” Patrick Kane said. “It's nice to have a little break here, hopefully get our minds away from hockey and come back ready to go here.”
Not even six days off can hide the fact the Hawks continue to fail defensively, which is why their 141 goals-against even before Tuesday's loss was the third most in the Western Conference.
Craig Smith scored through a screen at 11:49 of the first period after Sean O'Donnell's turnover. Mike Fisher made it 2-0 at 17:34 after Nick Leddy was beaten badly behind along the wall behind the net by Patric Hornqvist and lost the puck.
“I thought the first 2 goals tonight were very generous on our part,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
Even after Leddy's turnover behind the net there was nobody helping in front from the forwards picking up Fisher, who had goalie Corey Crawford all to himself.
Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith didn't come right out and say the forwards haven't helped as much as they could on the defense, but you knew what he meant.
“You're going to have breakdowns in your own end, but that's where we need to have everybody in positions to bail somebody out or not compound one mistake into two,” Keith said. “It seemed like ‘nothing plays' that ended up in our net.”
It's hard to believe only 32 games remain on the schedule. In those games whether the Hawks improve on defense is what's going to make or break them, especially during a brutal stretch of nine games away from the UC that begins next Tuesday in Vancouver.
“I think all year long we've been talking about it,” Quenneville said. “There's always enough offense, but how well we check is going to be what gets us there. We've had stretches where we started improving. Tonight you can say we gave up 2 goals, but we gave up some high quality chances along the way that were dangerous situations.
“Whether you're playing from behind or playing an even contest, we've got to be better in all areas defensively and more predictable in our movement.”
Dave Bolland's power-play goal at 7:20 of the third period made it close, but the Hawks fizzled on two later power plays. A penalty for having too many men on the ice by the Hawks with 1:51 to play finished them as the Predators adding an empty netter on the power play after Crawford was pulled.