Bad blast from the past for Hawks
A small crowd, a dull atmosphere and a loss by the Blackhawks.
It was like old times at the United Center on Wednesday night.
The Hawks let another winnable game slip away in a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks, who capitalized on mistakes to win for the 10th time in their last 13 games.
A poor first period sent the Hawks on their way to their second loss in a row and fourth in six games. They saw their home winning streak snapped at five.
"We probably played half a game," Hawks winger Martin Lapointe said. "In the first period we were stick-checking everybody when against Vancouver you've got to take the body.
"Obviously, the slow start cost us the game. Those were 2 points ready to be had and we didn't take advantage of it."
A crowd of only 12,444 saw the Hawks go 1-for-6 on the power play and look a lot like they did last season when they ranked last in the NHL.
The Hawks are 4-for-35 on the power play in their last eight games, which might have general manager Dale Tallon stepping up his efforts to acquire a defenseman who can quarterback the unit from one of the points.
"Our power play could have made a difference," defenseman James Wisniewski said. "We've got to bear down a little more and make better decisions."
The power play was disjointed, and only Martin Havlat's superior skill accounted for the 1 goal in the second period that made it 2-2.
Havlat was low on the right side when he fired the puck into the crease and off the skate of Canucks defenseman Sami Salo past goalie Roberto Luongo. It looked as if that's exactly what Havlat planned to do.
"It was OK," Hawks coach Denis Savard said of the power play. "You've got to give them credit. They do a good job shutting you down on the half wall and they recover well when the puck gets down low. We still got 1, and if you get a power-play goal a game it should be good enough to win."
Lapointe got the other Hawks goal in the first period sandwiched between goals by Vancouver's Mattias Ohlund at 7:24 and Byron Ritchie at 19:22. Ritchie's goal, following a turnover by Hawks defenseman Brent Sopel, hurt coming so late in the period.
"I didn't like our start," Savard said. "We just sat back for whatever reason."
Lapointe's first goal of the season came with linemate Adam Burish bothering Luongo in front. The Hawks didn't do enough to crowd one of the best goalies in the game.
The Canucks got the winning goal from Brendan Morrison at 3:11 of the third period on a shot that went in off the leg of defenseman Andrei Zyuzin. The play started with Sopel failing to keep the puck in the Canucks' zone on a pinch.
A bright spot was the play of the No. 1 line after Savard put Dustin Byfuglien with Havlat and Robert Lang.
"I liked that a lot," Savard said. "It gives us size on that line."
The line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Tuomo Ruutu accounted for only 2 shots on goal.