Blues 'want it more' to earn victory

ST. LOUIS -- The Blackhawks didn't give themselves much of a chance to win Tuesday night.

And they didn't.

A sleepy offense combined with some bad penalties in the third period resulted in a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues that snapped the Hawks' winning streak at three.

The Hawks took a quick lead on Martin Havlat's goal 65 seconds into the game, but it was all Blues after that.

"They wanted it more than we did," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "They won lots of battles, they battled for loose pucks, they blocked shots -- it wasn't our best effort, no question.

"Give them credit, but I know we're a better team than that. For whatever reason, we just didn't battle hard enough tonight. They were physical, and we didn't match their physical play. Usually we do, but tonight we didn't."

Savard said he planned to address Tuesday's poor play prior to tonight's game against Minnesota at the United Center.

"This is playoff hockey now and they've got to bear down and recognize what's at stake," Savard said.

The Hawks were outshot 37-20 but were still in the game near the midpoint of the third period, trailing 2-1 when penalties by Tuomo Ruutu and Adam Burish proved costly.

Ruutu already was getting a high-sticking penalty when he boarded David Backes from behind near the boards, earning a second minor at 7:36. The Blues cashed in on the extended power play with Lee Stempniak scoring at 11:04 to make it 3-1.

"I don't like to whine," Ruutu said. "I'll have to see the replay."

Burish drew a penalty for slashing Keith Tkachuk just as the goal was scored and the Blues got another power-play goal from Tkachuk at 12:26.

Game over.

"I didn't think it was any different than you normally do killing a penalty," Burish said. "Usually you get a little leeway, but I'm not the one making the decision."

It was the second game in a row in which the Blues scored 3 power-play goals. They came into the night with the worst power play in the NHL.

"They're last?" said an unbelieving Brent Seabrook. "They were clicking tonight. Penalties hurt us. We were in the box too much."

The Blues were 3-for-6 on the power play, while the Hawks went 0-for-5. Savard said after the game that Jason Williams would return from the injury list tonight against Minnesota, largely to help what still is a terribly inconsistent power play.

"We were in the top seven at the start of the year with him," Savard said. "He's going to give us some offense, too, which we need."

Havlat knocked in his own rebound at the 65-second mark for his third goal in the last four games.

"I thought Havlat was our best forward by a country mile," Savard said. "He battled and worked hard. Other than that there wasn't much of any positive. We've got to bounce back (tonight) and see what we're made of."

While the Hawks' power play fizzled in the first period, the Blues tied it at 10:48 on a power-play goal by Barrett Jackman. They went ahead to stay 2-1 at 8:03 of the second period on Brad Boyes' 32nd goal of the season.