No diatribe this time from Savard

DENVER -- As much as Blackhawks coach Denis Savard might have wanted to let his team have it again after Wednesday's uninspired 6-3 loss to the Avalanche, he elected not to go there.

Perhaps Savard figured there would be no point to another rant since the last one he delivered last week obviously didn't work.

"You always think when a message like that comes across you're going to come out a little better than that," Patrick Kane said.

If Savard thought last week's 1-0 loss to Columbus was bad, what happened Monday was even worse. The Hawks fell behind 3-0 in the first period and managed only 15 shots on goal -- that's 5-6-4 by period for anyone keeping score at home.

The Hawks didn't get their first shot on goal in the third period until the 15-minute mark, and 2 of their goals were scored by little-used Yanic Perreault -- both in the final three minutes when it didn't matter.

But Savard gave his team mostly a pass this time.

"I'm not going to take a look at one game here and get down," Savard said. "Obviously we're not pleased with the results, but there are some things we did OK."

Savard blamed the loss on bad decision-making that resulted in too many turnovers. He counted 12 alone in the first period when the Avs took a 3-0 lead.

"We turned pucks over in our zone and our coverage wasn't very good," Savard said. "We've got work to do. We've got to recognize in this league when you turn pucks over, no matter where it is, it's going to cost you."

With their offense showing no signs of coming back to life, the last thing the Hawks can afford is to be bad in their own end.

"It just seems like for us when we're losing games everything is wrong," said defenseman James Wisniewski. "We're not getting pucks in, the defense is not making passes, we're getting beat in the corners, we're getting outworked.

"If it was one thing, if we're making a couple turnovers but still working hard and getting pucks deep, then you can deal with that. But every time we lose a game everything is wrong. We're not clicking at all."

Wisniewski, Brent Sopel, Jack Skille and Craig Adams all were minus-2 in the loss.

"I was on the ice for 3 of their goals," Wisniewski said. "You have to prevent those. That can't happen. That's not acceptable."

The way the Hawks are sinking, it might be time for them to think about winning another draft lottery, not making the playoffs.

Another high pick could net the Hawks another scorer, which they so badly need with forwards such as Tuomo Ruutu, Rene Bourque and Martin Havlat making so little happen.

Ruutu has gone 21 games without a goal, last scoring on Dec. 12 against Los Angeles. Bourque has 5 goals in 31 games and Havlat 6 in 23. Even Patrick Sharp has scored only 1 goal in the last 11 games.

Jonathan Toews and Jason Williams both could be back in the lineup in two weeks, but by then it might be too late to matter.