Blackhawks can't take advantage of opportunities, drop fifth straight
Before the Blackhawks played perhaps their most important game of the season at Minnesota on Saturday, coach Joel Quenneville told WGN Radio that his team needed to be harder to play against.
It was a big reason he started Tommy Wingels on a line with Brandon Saad and Nick Schmaltz, and why he put the hard-hitting Lance Bouma back into the lineup.
The Bouma move paid huge dividends when the 6-foot-2, 208-pound forward absolutely obliterated Nate Prosser behind the Wild net less than three minutes into the game. Mike Reilly and Marcus Foligno converged on Bouma, and although Bouma absorbed several big blows from Foligno, the Hawks were awarded a 5-on-3 power play for a full two minutes.
Already trailing 1-0, it was a golden opportunity for Quenneville's squad to knot the score or even take the lead.
But it was not to be.
Two shots by Brent Seabrook and others by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane failed to beat Devan Dubnyk, and Minnesota went on to claim a 3-0 victory despite being outshot 44-19.
The Hawks (24-23-8) fell to 2-7-2 in their last 11 games and are now 10 points behind Minnesota (30-19-6)
"I'm running out of words to say," Jonathan Toews told reporters. "Just like the last bunch of games I think we're outshooting teams, but the quality chances aren't there. The second efforts around the net (aren't) there. The traffic isn't there."
Minnesota took at 1-0 lead on a Charlie Coyle goal at 1:58 of the first period after on a bad defensive-zone turnover by Kane. Less than two minutes after the Hawks failed on their two-man advantage, Minnesota went up 2-0 on a power-play goal by Mikko Koivu.
Coyle scored his second goal at 2:22 of the second period.
After that, the Hawks controlled the play, but they failed on two more power-play chances and never solved Dubnyk.
"We started playing some good hockey midway through the second (period) and in the third when that desperation sets in," Toews said. "We start winning our battles, getting behind our 'D' men, simplifying and winning our puck battles. …
"Then stuff happens. You've got to do that more often and eventually they're going to go in for you."
Bouma, a healthy scratch in seven of the previous eight games, played just 7:33 but was more than noticeable with 3 shots on goal and 2 hits.
"Nothing's over," Bouma said when asked if it's difficult to stay positive with the season slipping away. "We've just got to have that mindset every night that we're going to be the best team, and just believe in each other. ... We've got to believe in here that it's going to happen."
Glass made 16 saves for the Hawks, who have been shut out three times in the last 11 games.
Dubnyk saved 147 of 151 Hawks shots in four games this season.
Crawford update:
Coach Joel Quenneville told reporters that Corey Crawford will be in Arizona on Monday before the Hawks take on the Coyotes. Crawford is expected to take part in morning skates that day and before the Hawks play at Vegas on Tuesday.
He will not play in either game, however.
Quenneville would not speculate when Crawford would return to game action. After playing the Golden Knights, the Hawks begin a five-game homestand against Washington on Thursday.
Crawford has been on injured reserve since Dec. 27 with an upper-body injury.