Blackhawks take positive approach to loss
There are two ways a Hawks fan can look at their team's 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit on Wednesday night at the United Center.
And it all depends on if you're a glass half-empty or glass half-full kind of person.
Half-empty: The Hawks dominated the first period with a 17-6 shots-on-goal advantage, yet the game still was scoreless at the horn.
Half-full: Twice, after the Red Wings took the lead, the Hawks were able to erase the deficit in less than a minute.
Half-empty: Andrew Shaw (point-blank chance), Jonathan Toews (wide-open net on a wraparound) and Marcus Kruger (back-to-back point-blank chances) somehow missed some of the easiest chances they'll ever have at a goal.
Half-full: The Hawks were two minutes away from a loss, yet were able to extend their point streak to seven straight games thanks to Kris Versteeg's goal with 1:23 left in regulation.
Color the Hawks in the half-full category, especially Duncan Keith, who was impressed that his team was able to rally in the waning moments.
"It wasn't that bad," Keith said. "We wanted to get the extra point. There were things we could have done a little bit better over the course of the game to be a little bit better overall.
"We found a way to tie it up late. (Then) it's kind of a tossup when you go to a shootout. … If we win in the shootout, we wouldn't be talking about this."
The Hawks are 2-0-3 on their eight-game homestand and 35-18-5 overall, 3 points behind idle St. Louis.
Detroit snapped a three-game winless streak and improved to 3-8 in shootouts, while the Hawks fell to 7-3. Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, in just his third game back after missing five weeks with a groin injury, was impressive in turning away 32 of 34 shots.
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead 16:10 into the second period on a Tomas Tatar's 24th goal of the season. It took Brandon Saad just 39 seconds to answer with a blast from about 40 feet out.
The Wings looked to be in position for a regulation win when Darren Helm beat Crawford with just 2:06 on the clock. But 43 seconds later, Versteeg registered his 11th goal to send things to overtime.
"Fortunate bounce and it went in," he said.
Gustav Nyquist and Tatar scored in the shootout for Detroit, while only Toews managed to beat Howard.
Like Keith, Versteeg and coach Joel Quenneville were in the glass half-full camp, happy the Hawks came away with a point.
"We've found ways to get points in seven straight games now," Versteeg said, "and that's a positive we can take from it and keep building."
Said Quenneville: "I thought the response after their first goal was very important and even more so with the second goal. We did some good things. For the first 40 minutes we were doing what we wanted to do with the puck. … We'll take a point."