Hawks suffer bit of a letdown
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Six games down, 4 wins.
The Blackhawks will take it.
Despite suffering a lopsided 7-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place on Saturday night, the Hawks can't be unhappy with a 4-2 record on their eight-game road trip.
The Hawks failed to complete a sweep of Western Canada, losing big to the Canucks in a game that was over early after they fell behind 3-0 in the first period.
The Canucks took a 6-0 lead before the Hawks battled back to get close.
The Canucks got goals from Henrik Sedin and Mats Sundin in the opening three minutes with goalie Cristobal Huet having no chance on either of them.
Sedin's goal came 53 seconds into the game when he beat Jonathan Toews to the net to tap home a pass from his brother Daniel.
Sundin had a wide-open net on a power play at 3:02 with Ben Eager in the penalty box for tripping.
Ryan Kesler's power-play goal later in the period went in off James Wisniewski.
The Hawks outshot the Canucks 14-9 in the first period.
Huet was pulled to start the second period, but Nikolai Khabibulin fared no better. The Canucks got 3 goals off him in the second, 2 on power plays.
Steve Bernier beat Khabibulin on a rebound at 2:08 after which the Hawks started a parade to the penalty box. Daniel Sedin's power-play goal with two Hawks in the box at 5:41 made it 5-0 and the rout was on.
Alex Elder's slap shot through Khabibulin at 13:19 on a power play put the Hawks down 6.
Kris Versteeg's short-handed goal late in the second made it 6-1, but in all the Hawks were short-handed eight times through the first 40 minutes.
It was Versteeg's 15th goal of the season.
Adam Burish scored seven minutes into the third period for his fifth goal in the last 15 games.
Moments later Martin Havlat scored on a power play and it was 6-3, but a Duncan Keith turnover led to Kessler's second goal.
The Hawks probably were due for a letdown after strong efforts in wins at San Jose, Edmonton and Calgary in the last week. Theys are off until Wednesday when their trip continues in Atlanta after two days at home.