Blackhawks will need to tighten game if they're to survive Keith's absence

Before the Blackhawks took on the Anaheim Ducks last week, Patrick Kane warned that a potential letdown might be on the horizon.

Kane's intuition told him that the more the Hawks play without Duncan Keith, the more they're going to struggle without the all-world defenseman.

"Throughout the first two games (wins over Florida and Tampa Bay), you can see there are times where you miss him," Kane said. "Maybe there's not as much puck control or patience and poise at the point like he has.

"Over time, I'm sure that's going to show up (more) and that's when you really need to bear down and concentrate on filling that void."

It didn't happen that night against the Ducks as the Hawks escaped with a 1-0 overtime victory, but it didn't take long for Kane's prediction to come true as the Hawks allowed 8 goals in back-to-back losses at Winnipeg and Minnesota.

These were the first two road games the Hawks played without Keith, who is scheduled to miss 2-4 more weeks after undergoing knee surgery. They had been struggling mightily to score goals of late, but erupted for 4 against the Wild … only to allow 5.

There was plenty of blame to go around for the meltdown.

• Minnesota's first goal came 18 seconds into the game when Jason Zucker appeared to surprise Scott Darling and beat the Hawks' goalie through the five-hole.

• Kane was a big reason the Wild tied the game at 2-2 with 5:08 left in the second period. With the puck in the Minnesota zone, Kane tried to flip it to a charging Trevor van Riemsdyk with a pair of Wild players in the way. Erik Haula got a stick on it, which immediately set up a 2-on-1 breakaway and a goal by Ryan Carter.

• The Wild made it 3-2 with 11 seconds left in the first period when Charlie Coyle tipped in a blast from Marco Scandella from just in front of the blue line. Viktor Svedberg was in no-man's land, standing just to Coyle's left when the shot was released. The 6-foot-8 Svedberg needs to be a physical presence there and not let Coyle camp out unmolested.

• Early in the second period, Jared Spurgeon raced past a flat-footed Marcus Kruger, took a pass from Thomas Vanek and scored a power-play goal, making it 4-2.

• The last goal came when Zucker got behind the Hawks' defense and put a shot on net that Darling saved. The puck bounced out front, though, and Nino Niederreiter slammed it home. Brent Seabrook, Svedberg and Teuvo Teravainen were all around the net but couldn't clear it out of harm's way.

In his postgame interview, Quenneville hardly laid the blame for the 5-goal outburst on the defensemen, saying that the forwards must be responsible as well.

Said Seabrook: "We did a good job of playing with speed and pace, but we gave up too much and that's not something we're trying to do."

With Keith out, the Hawks' top four defensemen have mostly been solid, with van Riemsdyk taking on more responsibility and Seabrook stepping up his offensive game in dramatic fashion. Before Keith went down, Seabrook had 1 goal and 11 shots on goal in six games. In the five games since, Seabrook has 2 goals, 5 assists and 14 shots on goal.

Svedberg and David Rundblad have been underwhelming, which led to Erik Gustafsson making his season debut for Rundblad against the Wild. Gustafsson impressed with a highlight-reel, 100-foot pass that sprung Artem Anisimov for a breakaway goal in the second period.

The losses dropped the Hawks to 6-5-0 and they remain in sixth place in the Central Division. This is a big week for Quenneville's squad to right the ship as they get set to take on a Kings team that has won seven straight, a Blues team squad is 7-2-1, and an Oilers team that won four of their last seven entering Saturday's game against Calgary.