Short-handed Hawks fall
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- A flu big sweeping through the team was forcing the Blackhawks to experience playing short-handed a different way.
After being without leading goal scorer Patrick Sharp and Tuomo Ruutu in Saturday's shootout loss at Edmonton, the Hawks at least welcomed Ruutu back to the lineup Sunday when they took on the Canucks at GM Place to conclude their six-game road trip.
Sharp missed his second straight game with the flu, while winger Jason Williams sat again with a groin strain. Without them, the Hawks lost 2-0 to the Canucks.
The Hawks finished the road trip 2-2-2, capturing 6 out of a possible 12 points.
"We could have got more points out of it, but our goaltending was strong on this trip," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "I'm really proud of our guys because we're going to battle."
Savard had to dress eight defensemen at Edmonton, so forward Petri Kontiola was recalled from Rockford and made it to Vancouver in time for the game.
"It's tough to miss guys like Sharp and Ruutu the way they've been playing," Savard said.
Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo made 27 saves for his 34th career shutout.
The Hawks trailed the Canucks 1-0 after the first period, and it could have been a lot worse except for the strong goaltending of Patrick Lalime.
A delay-of-game penalty on Brent Sopel led to the first goal of the game on a Canucks power play. Brendan Morrison was left alone to the left of the net to beat a helpless Lalime.
"We know they have a good power play, so we have to stay out of the box," Hawks winger Martin Lapointe said. "We took too many penalties."
The Canucks played a physical first period, and the Hawks were slow to respond.
Matt Cooke drilled James Wisniewski face first into the boards midway through the period, opening up a cut over Wisniewski's left eye. Wisniewski left the game and didn't return.
"It was a deep cut and we didn't want to take any chances," Savard said.
The Hawks were outshot 11-6 in the first period and never came close to testing Luongo, who likely worked harder at the morning skate than in the opening 20 minutes.
"We were a little sluggish early," Savard said.
There was more life in the Hawks in the second period, particularly offensively. Luongo had to make several strong saves, including a stop on Dustin Byfuglien on a 2-on-1 with Sergei Samsonov.
Lalime was good late in the period on two Canucks power plays, the first that resulted from Sopel's second delay-of-game penalty of the night.
Moments after the Hawks killed the penalty on Sopel, Luongo stoned Adam Burish alone in front.
Luongo needed to be at his best in the third period and made a game-saving stop on Jonathan Toews on a power play in the final minutes.
"He's a great goalie," Savard said of Luongo. "He's probably one of the top three in the league, if not one or two."
The Canucks got an empty-net goal from Daniel Sedin in the final seconds.