Blackhawks not done yet despite OT loss to Jets
It's not over yet for the Blackhawks.
But Corey Crawford wasn't about to paint a rosy picture after a 4-3 overtime loss to Winnipeg on Monday that all but eliminated the Hawks from the playoff picture.
"Obviously it doesn't look good," Crawford said. "We've let a lot of points go, especially late. Keep playing hard, but we'll see."
The Hawks (34-33-12) remain 6 points behind Colorado with three games remaining for each team. They are also 4 points behind Arizona and 1 behind Minnesota, meaning coach Jeremy Colliton's team would need to complete the equivalent of three Hail Marys to qualify for the postseason.
"A lot of games slipped away from us and it's tough to make the playoffs when that happens," Crawford said.
Monday's wasn't necessarily one of those as the Hawks battled back from a 3-1 deficit, successfully challenged a Mark Scheifele goal that would have made it 4-2 with three minutes remaining and tied things up at 3-3 on Dylan Strome's second goal of the game with 2:20 on the clock.
Crawford was sensational in overtime, making 4 saves on high-quality chances, but Kevin Hayes notched the game-winner on a nifty backhand-forehand move from in close with 1:22 remaining.
Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist, giving him a career-best 78 points and a career-tying-best 34 goals.
The Hawks will be officially eliminated if Colorado earns a point against Edmonton on Tuesday.
Duncan Keith said he'll be watching, knowing full well that his team could have been in a better spot if they'd executed more consistently the past couple of weeks.
"We put ourselves in that situation," Keith said. "That's the tough part, knowing that we're in this hole. But there's nothing we can do about it now. Hopefully they lose, and hopefully we win the next game."
Caggiula fight:
Drake Caggiula, in just his second game back since suffering a concussion against Anaheim on Feb. 27, got into a fight with Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien with 13 seconds left in the Hawks' OT loss Monday. Caggiula absorbed several big hits to the head from the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Byfuglien.
"Buff's a big guy and (Caggiula) plays a hard-nosed game," said Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith. "We don't ever want to see a player - especially on our team - getting hit in the head like that. But he brings a lot of energy and feistiness to our team and we need that."
Coach Jeremy Colliton said he thinks Caggiula will be OK.
Hayden returns:
After sitting 11 straight games as a healthy scratch, John Hayden returned to the lineup against Winnipeg. Brendan Perlini, who was scratched at Los Angeles on Saturday, also returned.
Chris Kunitz, David Kampf and defenseman Slater Koekkoek all sat out. Kampf is still recovering from taking a puck to the face against the Kings that required major dental work.
Slap shots:
Erik Gustafsson assisted on all 3 Blackhawks goals against Winnipeg on Monday, running his season total to 42. Gustafsson is just the third Hawks D-man to record 40-plus assists since 1996-97. … Patrick Kane played in his 900th game and Artem Anisimov played in his 700th. ... Scott Foster, who made 7 saves in an emergency role last season against Winnipeg on March 29, 2018, was at the United Center and received a nice ovation when he was shown on the scoreboard in the first period.