Bad for Blackhawks from start to finish
And you thought Friday's loss at Calgary was bad.
That was nothing compared to the egg the Blackhawks laid on Saturday night. The Edmonton Oilers hit the Hawks with 5 goals in the first period and went on to spank them 9-2 at Rexall Place.
The Hawks embarrassed themselves in every way possible.
Ray Emery started in goal but was pulled by coach Joel Quenneville and replaced by Corey Crawford 7:32 into the first period after it was 3-1.
Emery returned for the start of the second period and finished the rout.
While Emery wasn't sharp, his teammates were awful in front of him, starting with defensemen Duncan Keith and Steve Montador.
Keith was minus-4 in the first period alone, and this was coming off a minus-4 performance in Friday's 5-2 loss to the Flames. Keith finished the night minus-4 and was on the ice for 7 of Edmonton's 8 goals and in the penalty box for the eighth.
“Myself, I can be a lot better,” Keith said after the loss in Calgary. “It starts on the back end there.”
That's where the disaster in the first period started Saturday, with Ales Hemsky blowing around Montador (minus-4) to beat Emery just 48 seconds after the opening faceoff.
After Patrick Sharp tied it with a power-play goal, Emery let Ryan Jones beat him with a backhander from a horrible angle.
It became 3-1 moments later when Sean O'Donnell's clearing try was muffed by Marcus Kruger along the boards. The puck wound up with Jordan Eberle, who fed Ryan Smyth for the tap-in past Emery.
Taylor Hall's power-play goal with Keith in the penalty box made it 4-1. Eberle got the fifth goal of the period after Keith was beaten down the ice.
The Oilers got 3 more power-play goals in the second period — from Tom Gilbert, Hall and Shawn Horcoff. Two of them came with Patrick Kane in the penalty box. Gilbert's goal came during a 5-on-3 with Kane off for high sticking and Dave Bolland for holding.
Horcoff's goal that made it 8-2 came with Kane serving a penalty for yapping at the referee. Hall finished with a hat trick and rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 5 assists.
The Hawks played without defenseman Brent Seabrook for the third straight game, and he was missed again. Quenneville said Seabrook skated Saturday, making the chances of the defenseman returning Wednesday at San Jose a strong possibility.
Michael Frolik also sat for the second straight game with a shoulder injury.
Despite losing two games in a row, the Hawks did fly to Las Vegas after Saturday's game. Former general manager Bob Murray once canceled a scheduled Vegas stop during a long road trip because of poor play, but there never was any chance of that happening this time.
The Hawks still are first in the Central Division with a record of 12-6-3 at the quarter point in the season.
tsassone@daiyherald.com