Hawks on wrong side of key numbers

There were a lot of ugly numbers coming out of the Blackhawks’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild Thursday in St. Paul.

Numbers like the Hawks going 0-for-4 on the power play, with a total of 6 shots over 11 minutes with the man advantage.

Or how about being able to muster only 2 shots on goal over the final 25 minutes of regulation, including just 1 in the entire third period?

Or coming within three excruciating minutes of recording the team’s first shutout of the season instead of being at 81 games and counting?

Despite the story the numbers tell, the fact is the Hawks should have closed the book on this one early.

Instead, the Wild rallied to tie the game in the final minutes on Cal Clutterbuck’s power-play goal and won it when Devin Setoguchi beat Corey Crawford for the lone goal in the shootout.

The Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Jamal Mayers scored his sixth goal of the season midway through the first period.

In the waning minutes of the period, Mayers took a head butt from Minnesota’s Nate Prosser that drew blood, got Prosser tossed from the game, and gave the Hawks five minutes with the man advantage extending into the second period, but they could draw no blood of their own.

“You lose a little momentum there,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. “We had a good game going up until that point. We had a couple more (power plays) right after that, too.

“We didn’t generate quality chances at all in that area. I thought we got a little bit too casual.”

The fact that the game went beyond regulation was perhaps the least surprising aspect of the evening. For the Wild, Thursday’s shootout marked the fifth straight game they’ve gone beyond 60 minutes.

By earning 1 point Thursday, the Hawks still have a chance to grab the No. 5 spot in the conference with a win over Detroit in regulation on Saturday.

A victory in the Motor City would ensure a Hawks-Nashville matchup to open the playoffs. Otherwise, the Hawks would take on the winner of the Pacific Division, which is still to be determined.

“It’s still up for grabs,” Quenneville said. “We’ll go into Detroit on Saturday and see what happens.”

Toews update:

Jonathan Toews will practice with the team Friday and coach Joel Quenneville said there was “no change” in his status.

“We’ll see how he is,” Quenneville said when asked if Toews might play Saturday.