Hawks do little right in loss to Hurricanes
Over the course of a long NHL season there are going to be games like the one the Blackhawks played Friday night.
It was a real stinker.
Goalie Corey Crawford came to play, but there was little energy or emotion from most of the other Hawks in a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center.
“We got dominated in all areas of the game and we weren’t very good tonight,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “They were a more determined team, and it was clear from the outset. I didn’t like how we played.”
Crawford and Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward both made 30 saves on a night when the Hawks’ offense looked uninterested and a step behind. The Hawks, who had their seven-game points streak snapped, didn’t make Ward work very hard for the victory.
“We definitely had too much perimeter and not enough direct or ugly,” Quenneville said.
“We were too much on the outside and not a whole lot of traffic and maybe a few too many silly passes trying to be cute out there,” Patrick Sharp told blackhawks.com. “Sometimes simple is the best. Any goalie in the league, especially a goalie like Cam, is going to make those saves from the outside.”
The Hurricanes got a goal from Tim Brent off the skate of Hawks defenseman Nick Leddy and a second from Brandon Sutter on a breakaway straight out of the penalty box when Brent Seabrook lost him.
“Usually when you step out the last thing you expect is a chance like that,” Sutter said. “I saw Seabrook coming, I just managed to chip it over him and then I knew I had a step on him.”
Ward’s toughest save came against Jonathan Toews on a clean breakaway in the second period.
Crawford’s best stop was on Eric Staal’s penalty shot in the second period — a gift from referee Eric Furlatt, who called something on Seabrook when the Hawks’ defenseman did nothing but tap Staal with his stick.
The Hawks’ power play got worse instead of better, failing to generate much of anything even with the first unit of Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Sharp and Seabrook getting extended shifts.
The power play was 0-for-4 and is 4-for-34 for the season.
“We had a couple looks on the last one there prior to giving up the goal (by Sutter),” Quenneville said. “But we still need more, generate some chances and zone time. The other two weren’t very good.”
Quenneville tried shaking up his lines, going with Toews, Kane and Sharp in the third period, but nothing was working on this forgettable night.
Ward does own a Stanley Cup, but the Hawks made him look like a Hall of Famer. They usually do on those rare occasions they face the Hurricanes. Ward improved to 3-0-1 lifetime against the Hawks with a save percentage of over .980.
“We’re not letting ourselves off the hook, saying we were due for a bad one,” Toews told blackhawks.com. “That’s not the case at all.
“When you have momentum, you’ve got it. You’ve got to keep it and hold on to it. Hopefully we can get back to the way we were playing (tonight).”
tsassone@dailyherald.com