Despite slump, Blackhawks stay confident

The Blackhawks aren't really playing like a confident team, but they're still talking like one.

Despite losing three of the last four games, all against non-contenders, the Hawks aren't lacking in hubris as their grasp on third place in the Central Division slips.

Heading into a daunting back-to-back set Sunday at the Winnipeg Jets and Monday at the United Center against the Los Angeles Kings, they're putting more stock into what they've done in the past than what they've done in the recent past.

"I think we still believe we are a great team here," Marian Hossa said Friday, following a mistake-filled 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on home ice.

"We have stretches where we play really good and then we've got stretches which are uncharacteristic and it ends up in our net."

The Hawks, who didn't practice Saturday, are 9-4-1 since losing to the Boston Bruins 6-2 on Feb. 22 at home. That's good, but they didn't score in 3 of the defeats and allowed at least 4 goals in 4 losses.

They were outplayed for long stretches in each of the previous four games, including the win at Carolina Hurricanes, and depended heavily on goalie Corey Crawford to win eight of 10 games before this funk.

Crawford has allowed 4 goals in three of his last four starts and was pulled in the first period Friday after giving up 4 goals on 13 shots.

Coach Joel Quenneville placed the blame for only 1 goal on Crawford, but even that was linked to the Hawks' inability to clear the puck from their zone.

"We had spurts where we played well," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We created a ton of offense. We just gave away way too many Grade A scoring chances and it hurt us. We've been doing that to our goaltenders way too often lately and it finally caught up to us."

The power play, which has struggled most of the season, went 0-for-5 and coughed up the puck in the first period to create the late short-handed breakaway goal by Cam Atkinson.

Still, the Hawks don't hesitate to choose themselves in a hypothetical seven-game playoff series.

"For sure, I'd take us every time," Andrew Shaw said. "We've got a team that has a lot of character, a lot of playoff experience (and) we know what it takes to win. I feel comfortable with our team."

Brief reunion:

The Hawks' most common defense pairing was back together against Columbus, but Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook struggled and were quickly split up again.

Keith and Seabrook, who played the first 45 games together, were split up Jan. 20 against the Arizona Coyotes. After being reunited, they struggled in the Blue Jackets' 4-goal first period.

Keith finished with a minus-3 rating, and Seabrook logged a minus-4.

"I don't really look into that sort of thing, I really don't," Keith said. "I've been here on the same team as Seabs for a long time.

"We've played together lots over the years, but I've played with lots of different guys. We're just trying to play our game, and we weren't at our best."

Close call:

Niklas Hjalmarsson has developed a reputation for playing through painful injuries and might be tasked with that challenge again.

He appeared to injure his arm late in the game Friday and skated to the bench in apparent pain, leaving his stick and a glove on the ice.

Quenneville was a little vague when asked afterward if Hjalmarsson was OK.

"I think so," he said.