Toews leaves hurt in Blackhawks' loss

The Blackhawks would have been better off getting snowed in back in Chicago because their trip to Nashville on Saturday was a waste of time.

Shaky goaltending by Corey Crawford and a sluggish effort by his teammates at both ends of the ice added up to a 5-2 loss to the Predators.

Making matters worse was Jonathan Toews leaving the game in the second period with an apparent injury.

Toews may have aggravated the injury he suffered Friday against Florida when he took a slash on his left arm or hand from Panthers defensemen Erik Gudbranson. He was able to finish that game.

All Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said after Saturday's loss was Toews is considered day to day with an upper body injury.

“We'll know more over the next day or so,” Quenneville told reporters.

Marian Hossa scored both goals for the Hawks, giving him 20 for the season.

It was 1-1 after the first period, but the momentum changed dramatically at 5:15 of the second when Kevin Klein's hard dump-in from the neutral zone took a crazy bounce past Crawford and into the net.

“Obviously you lose a little momentum after that type of goal,” Quenneville said. “We didn't have a lot of juice tonight, but that definitely was a turning point.”

Crawford said the puck “took a funny bounce,” adding: “I probably could have come out and played it.”

Colin Wilson's backdoor goal at 11:14 made it 3-1 after a Nick Leddy turnover.

The Predators capped a 3-goal second period at 16:03 when Sergei Kostitysn beat Crawford on a drive to the net.

If Klein's goal was a tough break, Kostitsyn's was plain ugly. Crawford froze on the play and fell forward as Kostitsyn made a move around him.

Quenneville pulled Crawford after the fourth goal and brought on Ray Emery, who may be in line to get Tuesday's start in the rematch with Nashville at the UC.

Hossa's second goal 48 seconds into the third period cut the deficit to 4-2, but Patric Hornqvist answered with the clincher minutes later.

While Crawford didn't have a great night, his teammates didn't have much jump in front of him after a rough night of travel following Friday's win that started in snow and ended in thunderstorms. The Hawks didn't arrive in Nashville until 3 a.m.

“That's nothing,” Quenneville said. “We've been later than that.”

The Hawks mustered only 22 shots on Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, just 2 in the first period.

With Detroit and St. Louis winning again, the Hawks dropped to third place in the Central Division and are only 4 points ahead of fourth-place Nashville.

The Predators are 16-5 in their last 21 games thanks largely to great goaltending from Rinne, who has allowed 2 or fewer goals in seven straight outings.

Meanwhile, Crawford's save percentage dropped to .902 with the loss. That ranks 43rd in the NHL among goaltenders with 10 or more appearances.

tsassone@dailyherald.com