Hawks’ commitment to defense severely lacking

It raised a few eyebrows around the NHL when Joel Quenneville switched the roles of Mike Kitchen and Mike Haviland last year.

After all, Haviland ran the defense when the Hawks won the Cup, but Haviland now has the forwards, and many wondered how that might affect a young player like Nick Leddy and an emotional one like Duncan Keith, especially since the defensemen seemed to like Haviland so much personally.

Hard to say how much, if anything, it has to do with the Hawks’ deficiencies on the blue line this season, but it’s a fair question under the circumstances.

Either way, the Hawks right now are adrift, lacking confidence and making the same mistakes night after night.

Each game feels similar, with the opposition hanging around, and then a combination of bad defense, goaltending and puck support leading to the Hawks being outscored 9-1 in the third period of their last three games.

“We’re tied going into the third and we give up a goal right off the bat on something we just talked about,’’ Quenneville said after the loss to Colorado on Tuesday night. “It’s disappointing.’’

Against a team having a hard time scoring, the Hawks had a 1-0 lead early in the second when Patrick Kane carried the puck over the blue line and stopped. His options were to throw it at the net with Viktor Stalberg busting down the slot, go behind him to Sean O’Donnell heading along the boards toward the corner, or simply get it deep.

Instead, he went to Jonathan Toews just inside the blue line, and snakebit as the Hawks are the puck hit Toews’ stick, bounced to Colorado, and the Avs were off on a 2-on-1 and a tie game.

A half-minute later, Keith couldn’t handle a bouncing puck at the blue line and it was 2-1 Colorado.

At 2-2 early in the third, Stalberg was 3-on-4 when he turned the puck over at the Colorado blue line instead of getting it deep, creating a 2-on-2 the other way, which Brent Seabrook was late reacting to, and it was 3-2 Colorado.

Still 3-2 with eight minutes left and the Hawks getting good pressure, O’Donnell pinched to keep a puck in and got it deep. Andrew Shaw was down low and Niklas Hjalmarsson moved in to keep up the assault.

Michael Frolik and Marcus Kruger were in perfect position to support the defense and cover their points, but they didn’t recognize the numbers or the situation.

Colorado chipped the puck out for a semi-break. O’Donnell got back to force David Jones wide, but his shot beat Ray Emery and it was 4-2 Avalanche.

“I want to stop both those last ones,’’ Emery said, “but guys make good shots.’’

Both shots should have been stopped, but then again, neither play would have occurred if Hawks forwards had been responsible defensively.

When you’re going bad, the power play stinks, the bounces bad, the goalies shaky, the defense careless and the forwards reckless.

The Hawks are a team lacking confidence, and the best thing they can try to do is keep the other team off the board.

But that takes a commitment to getting the puck deep that they’re not willing to make at the moment, and that’s precisely why they’re losing.

Too many men

You know every NFL coach was thinking the same thing after the Giants were flagged for 12 men on the field late in the fourth quarter Sunday.

With only 17 seconds left in the Super Bowl, the Giants took eight seconds off the clock and were penalized 5 yards at the Pats’ 44. And while it appears to have been an accident, it worked out nicely for New York, which had an extra defender and killed valuable ticks on an incomplete pass deep down the sideline.

Since the offense can be penalized in the final minutes with seconds run off for various infractions, you know the NFL saw that penalty on the Giants and immediately began wondering if the opposite should be true and the offense awarded time back.

Don’t be shocked if that becomes a topic of conversation this off-season when the rules committee gets together.

Make me laugh

Some of David Letterman’s Top 10 things overheard in the Patriots’ locker room after the Super Bowl:

Ÿ“We should have Tebowed.”

Ÿ“When’s Game 2?”

Ÿ“President Bush is on the phone.”

Ÿ“Why is Bill Belichick naked?”

Ÿ“Who cares that we lost — I’m married to a supermodel.”

Ÿ“Well, at least we don’t have to go on Letterman.”

Good hands

CBS’ Craig Ferguson: “Madonna came into the Super Bowl halftime show carried by muscle-bound men. It’s a good thing she wasn’t carried in by the Patriots, because they would have dropped her.’’

Super shape

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, on supermodel Gisele Bündchen: “She really wanted the Super Bowl ring so she could wear it as a belt.’’

And finally …

Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi: “I’m not saying Madonna is getting old, but she appears to have had so much work done on her face that she should open up the Super Bowl Halftime Show with ‘Like a Surgeon.’’’

brozner@dailyherald.com

ŸHear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.