Costly turnover leads to Blackhawks shootout loss
The Blackhawks were left with some unfinished business after they failed to hold a pair of leads Wednesday night at the United Center.
A win would have clinched fourth place in the Western Conference, but instead the Hawks must head into the weekend looking for 1 point in their two games with Detroit after losing to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout.
The Hawks led 2-0 after the first period and 3-2 going to the third, but a turnover in the offensive zone by the line of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Martin Havlat led to Rick Nash's tying goal with 5:30 remaining in regulation.
The Hawks' top line was a combined minus-6.
"We have to realize what time of the game it is and the score of the game," Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "You read off that and make the right plays or sometimes it costs you."
The point gave the Hawks 100 for the first time since the 1992-93 team finished with 106 and for just the seventh time in franchise history.
There's still a chance the Hawks could drop to fifth in the West, which would cost them home ice in the first round of the playoffs, likely against either Vancouver or Calgary.
The Hawks will have two chances to nail down fourth either Saturday at Joe Louis Arena or Sunday against the Red Wings at the UC, unless Calgary or Vancouver loses before then.
The Hawks took a 2-0 lead on first-period goals by Brent Seabrook and Dave Bolland, but the Blue Jackets scored twice in a span of 2:23 in the second period to make it 2-2.
"I thought we made some mistakes," Seabrook said. "What's been making us successful, for whatever reason, we forgot about it tonight."
The shootout was a disaster after the Hawks failed on a power play for the final 30 seconds of overtime.
Toews was stopped by Columbus goalie Steve Mason, but Kane lost control of the puck on his attempt and Dave Bolland missed the net.
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville elected to go with Bolland over Havlat, who scored his 29th goal, giving him 17 points in the last 12 games.
Bolland now is 0-for-3 in shootouts this season, the same as Havlat.
Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin got lucky when Nash hit the post in the shotoout. Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin scored the only goal.
The win allowed Columbus to clinch a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history.
Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock sounded happy he likely won't have to face the Hawks in the first round.
"When you have a skilled team that has learned how to check like they have under Joel, it's scary," Hitchcock said. "They don't get pushed off the puck anymore.
"When everyone starts to play on the right side of the puck, you start to get that feeling. They have that feeling now, and they're looking like a team that's a bit scary. Whoever gets them in the first round, it's going to be really hard."
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