Avalanche of goals buries Hawks 4-1
The captain is sick of seeing lethargy, at times, from the Blackhawks.
Jonathan Toews didn't mince words in the silence of the Blackhawks' locker room Friday night at United Center. Following another disappointing home loss, a 4-1 defeat in which the Colorado Avalanche scored three times in the third period, Toews didn't hold back.
The Hawks are now 2-1-3 in a season high eight-game homestand and have just two games left to salvage a decent showing.
"We should expect every team's best game," Toews said. "Not to blow any smoke in our favor, but it's what we expect every game, especially against a division team that's chasing a playoff spot, and it's on its last legs and has to win to survive. We're in that position, too. We have to think much the same. I don't know why we're so comfortable playing a team like that tonight."
Even with the win, the Avalanche have 61 points and four teams to catch just to get the second wild card in the Western Conference. The Blackhawks, who've been up and down since late December, are trying to catch the St. Louis Blues for second in the Central Division while holding onto third.
They've scored just 1 first-period goal in the past 10 games and aren't getting nearly enough offense from all four of their forward lines. Kris Versteeg scored a big one to tie it 1-1 at 9:05 of the second Friday night, but that was all Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov allowed against 28 shots.
Varlamov posted a 54-save shutout in his previous trip to Chicago and is now 6-0-0 in his past seven starts against the Blackhawks, who have only beaten the Avalanche the past two seasons when somebody else starts in net.
This time, the game melted down at 10:44 of the third, when Niklas Hjalmarsson and Patrick Sharp were called for separate interference penalties on the same play. The infractions led to goals by Gabriel Landeskog during the 5-on-3, followed by defenseman Tyson Barrie's second goal of the game to make it 3-1 just 24 seconds later.
"It was a frustrating situation, but we got to deal with it quickly and just move on and get past the call we don't agree with," Toews said. "I don't know if we were too frustrated or too ticked off at the call (that) we didn't focus on the job. Even giving up one goal on the 5-on-3, that's one thing. We've got to move on and get the kill 5-on-4. We weren't even close to doing that."
Corey Crawford was close to stopping the game's final goal, scored off Brad Stuart's dump-in from center ice, but he didn't. It was the perfect capper to a forgettable third period and game for the Blackhawks, who face the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon.
"There's no way I should ever play the puck like that, that close to the net," Crawford said. "It took a hop and it was just a stupid play on my part. It should never happen, but it was just a dumb play and I'm just going to forget about it."
As for the team, Toews said it's time to start playing with more desperation.
"It's that stretch," he said. "We always say after the all-star break it gets more and more like a playoff game every day. We're feeling it right now. We're not answering. No more time ... no more excuses."