Stars blank Hawks
If Thursday night's game against the Stars in Dallas was supposed to be so pivotal for the Blackhawks, a lot of them apparently didn't get the memo.
Looking more like a team skating through a game in November than one in a heated race for a playoff spot in the final weeks of the season, the Hawks didn't put up much of a fight in a 5-0 loss at American Airlines Center.
“It looks like we all picked the same night to (bleep) the bed,” captain Jonathan Toews told reporters.
“It was a tough one to explain,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. “We're disappointed about how we played and how we competed and the results. There was nothing good about that game.
“I don't have a real good answer. We didn't see it coming. We were OK (down) 1-0, then all of sudden the game changed and we became not smart and we didn't compete. The importance of the game was gigantic. We didn't respect the urgency that was needed tonight.”
Not only was it a rare quiet night for the top line of Toews, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane, goalie Corey Crawford was pulled for the second time in the last five games.
Quenneville replaced Crawford after it was 3-0 but didn't blame his rookie goalie for what happened.
“Crow, he got a breakaway and two empty-netters,” Quenneville said. “We were very generous on the type of goals they scored and how they scored them. They were all gifts.”
The game went downhill quickly after the Hawks got caught napping defensively in the first period and let Steve Ott cherry pick to score on a breakaway.
The Stars busted it open with 3 goals in a little less than three minutes early in the second period. Jamie Benn scored the second goal and set up the third by Brenden Morrow.
It was the fourth straight road loss for the Hawks, whose next game is Sunday against the Coyotes in Arizona.
“We're going to Phoenix now and we know we have to be better across the board and have to prepare better,” Quenneville said. “Let's get right back in action here.
“We should all absorb some responsibility for how bad we were today knowing we can never let it happen again.”
There was a hint before the game that it could be a tough night for the Hawks when left winger Bryan Bickell was unable to play because of the flu. Because the Hawks were carrying only 20 healthy bodies they had to face the Stars one player short with 17 skaters.
Quenneville said Bickell's illness happened too late for the team to recall another forward from Rockford.
Bickell sat out the morning skate but told Quenneville he felt better.
“He was fine this morning,” Quenneville said. “I asked him if he was ready to go and he said he was, then he presented real sick before the game. It can happen like that.”
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