Anaheim makes every shot count as Hawks fall 3-1

For the second night in a row, the Blackhawks found a bizarre way to lose a hockey game.

After blowing a 4-goal third-period lead in Saturday's loss at Minnesota, the Hawks tied a team record Sunday night by holding the Anaheim Ducks to just 12 shots on goal.

But it came in a 3-1 loss at the United Center.

The Hawks outshot the Ducks 43-12 but ran into a very good goaltender in Jonas Hiller.

"Their goalie didn't give up any loose stuff around the net," said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. "He was smothering a lot of pucks and whether that was a lack of traffic or him just being really velcro-ish, he was really effective.

"You're not going to win every game. I'm still not complaining how we're playing."

It's the Hawks' first two-game winless streak since late November. Only once this season have they dropped two games in row without getting at least 1 point.

The Hawks still are 12-4-1 in the last 17 games and 3 points up on San Jose for first place in the Western Conference, and 11 ahead of Nashville in the Central Division.

"We've been rolling pretty good and sometimes you get some hiccups," defenseman Brian Campbell said.

The Hawks were a bit flat early and fell behind 2-0 in the first period. Corey Perry scored on a power play at 7:29, then Saku Koivu beat goalie Antti Niemi at 16:39.

"By scoring first on the power play they got to do what they wanted to do all night, which was get in that defensive mode and counter punch," Quenneville said. "I still thought we did what we had to do to try to get ourselves back in the game."

The Hawks outshot the Ducks 18-4 in the second period and 16-2 in the third. But it was all Hiller, who lost his shutout when Duncan Keith scored on a power play with 4:53 to play.

"Hiller stepped up and single-handedly won us the game," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said.

Anaheim added an empty-net goal in the final minute with Niemi pulled for an extra attacker.

"We didn't do enough tonight," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We worked hard, but sometimes you need a little extra on the second efforts to get one by a goaltender like that.

"It's frustrating to see how many shots we had on net. In other games we've found ways to wear other teams down and usually by the third period those pucks start going in for us. Tonight they didn't. It's going to happen sometimes."

The Hawks played without Marian Hossa, who suffered a lower body injury at Minnesota. It's an injury the Hawks don't consider serious, however.

Quenneville didn't believe his team's slow start had anything to do with what happened in Minnesota, where a 5-1 third-period lead turned into a 6-5 loss in a shootout.

"It was a chance at redemption from (Saturday) night's game, but maybe there wasn't the energy across the board that we sustained over a lot of this stretch," Quenneville said.

"It was the end of 15 games in 26 nights, but I thought we still battled and worked."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p>

<p class="breakhead">Three stars</p>

<p class="News"><b>1. Jonas Hiller, Ducks:</b> Was the difference, stopping 42 of 43 Hawks shots.</p>

<p class="News"><b>2. Corey Perry, Ducks:</b> Scored a power-play goal, had 2 hits and 2 blocked shots in 20-plus minutes.</p>

<p class="News"><b>3. Brent Seabrook, Hawks:</b> The defenseman had 8 shots on goal, 5 hits and 2 blocked shots in 24 minutes.</p>

<p class="breakhead">On a roll</p>

<p class="News">The Ducks have won four games in row since general manager Bob Murray's team meeting that threatened changes if things didn't pick up.</p>

<p class="breakhead">Add 'em up</p>

<p class="News">Jordan Hendry was the only Hawk who didn't register at least 1 shot on goal.</p>

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<h1>More Coverage</h1>

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<h2>Stories</h2>

<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=349880">Hiller of an effort sinks Hawks <span class="date">[1/10/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=349876">Hawks: Hossa's injury not serious <span class="date">[1/10/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=260647">Imrem: No need to panic over two-game blip <span class="date">[1/10/10]</span></a></li>

</ul>

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