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Ward struggles in a big way in loss

It's just one game, but the performance turned in Tuesday night by Chicago Blackhawks goalie Cam Ward during an 8-6 preseason loss to Detroit at the United Center should have fans sending get-well cards to Corey Crawford en masse.

Ward allowed his first goal 16 seconds into the game. A second came five minutes later.

A third, fourth, fifth and sixth were pumped in during an ugly second period, and that was all coach Joel Quenneville needed to see as he replaced Ward with Anton Forsberg for the third period.

Ward stopped 11 shots and had a .647 save percentage, while Forsberg stopped just six of eight attempts.

Ward admitted it was "an embarrassing" night, but he doesn't want it to sap his confidence with the season opener just nine days away.

"Unfortunately just wasn't able to get comfortable through the game," he said. "Whether it's preseason or not, you want to put forth a good outing and a good effort and tonight just wasn't the night. I'm going to do what I can to flush it away and not let it ruin my training camp and just get ready for the next one."

General manager Stan Bowman signed the 34-year-old Ward hoping to stabilize the net behind Crawford after shaky seasons by Forsberg, J-F Berube and Jeff Glass.

But Ward hasn't posted a save percentage above .910 since 2011-12, and his performance Tuesday could be cause for concern.

Not that Quenneville is worried. Yet.

"It's one game. Forty minutes," Quenneville said. "We'll throw it in the basket. Pucks were going in on both ends at an abnormal rate. You have a few games like that over the course of a season. Good thing it was preseason."

Crawford (concussion) may be able to join his teammates for practice Saturday or early next week. He is unlikely to play during the first week of the season, however.

Getting offensive:

It wasn't all bad news for the Hawks as Jonathan Toews scored twice, and they also got goals from Matthew Highmore, Dominik Kahun, Nick Schmaltz and Duncan Keith.

Kahun, skating on a line with Toews and Alex DeBrincat, had 7 shot attempts (2 on goal) and continues to impress.

The power play looked good as well, going 2-for-5.

"You score 6 goals in our league, you should be happy at the end of the night," Joel Quenneville said. "So there are some positives to take out of that game because we didn't get dominated in any capacity."

Cutdown day:

The Hawks' blue-line picture became clearer after Carl Dahlstrom and Joni Tuulola were assigned to the AHL's Rockford IceHogs.

The Hawks have just eight healthy defensemen in camp: Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Erik Gustafsson, Jan Rutta, Brandon Manning, Brandon Davidson and teenagers Henri Jokiharju and Adam Boqvist.

Barring a trade or injury, that likely means the seventh - and final - spot will come down to Boqvist or Davidson, who is in camp on a professional tryout.

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