Blackhawks admit they clearly let one slip away

It didn't matter to the Blackhawks that they faced a healthy Detroit Red Wings team Sunday for the first time since early in the season.

The Hawks still felt they let a great opportunity to win slip away with their own poor play.

"It doesn't matter who's in the lineup, they play the same way, they play the right way," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said after the 5-4 loss to the Red Wings, who scored 5 times in the second period to wipe out a 2-0 deficit.

"It goes back to the second period," Toews said. "You can say if we would have showed up to play in that period it would have been a different game, not having to play from behind against that team."

The Hawks scored twice in the third period to make it close.

"We had a strong effort for 40 minutes, but we seemed to stop playing in the third period, and against a team like Chicago that is probably the quickest and deepest in the league, you can't let up," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski felt the Red Wings got momentum from the goal the Hawk had disallowed in the second period that would have put them in 3-0 hole.

"The non-goal call early in the second gave us momentum and then we were able to tie the game up," Rafalski said. "Chicago's a very tough team."

The win assured the Red Wings of keeping the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference for at least another day.

"Detroit is still the team to beat in the West," Hawks winger Andrew Ladd said. "I don't care what anyone says, they've still got the lineup to do it."

Praising Keith: Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom, who will go down in history as one of the greatest defensemen of all-time, had nothing but good things to say about Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith.

"He's a lot better skater than I am, a lot faster, a lot quicker on his skates," Lidstrom said. "I think he's been improving every season. We've faced him a lot the last few years and he's really been improving both offensively and defensively.

"He's a matchup D, plays against the top line all the time, but he still produces points."

Keith's goal on Sunday was his 13th of the year, establishing a new career high.

Bad number: Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet's save percentage dropped to .898 after he allowed 4 goals on 17 shots before being pulled by coach Joel Quenneville.

Huet's save percentage is the worst among all the goalies considered the No. 1 guy on their team.

Loose ends: According to general manager Stan Bowman, if the Hawks were to recall Nick Boynton from Rockford the defenseman would need to clear re-entry waivers.

Boynton was acquired March 2 from Anaheim.

Defenseman Jassen Cullimore, signed as a free agent last month and playing at Rockford, would not need to clear waivers, Bowman said.

Tip-ins: John Madden's 2 assists gave him his first points since Jan. 14- Patrick Kane extended his points scoring streak to nine games with an assist -

Adam Burish was activated off injured reserve but did not play Sunday. Burish is expected to make his season debut on Wednesday against Los Angeles- Detroit lost Todd Bertuzzi in the second period to a lower body injury suffered in a collision with Ben Eager.