Toews unfazed by Blackhawks' loss to Blues
If you think the Blackhawks are depressed, demoralized or in complete panic mode after a 3-2 loss to the Blues in Game 3 of their opening-round series at the United Center on Sunday, well, guess again.
Sure, the momentum has shifted. Sure, the Blues completely stole this one. Sure, the bounces didn't go the Hawks' way.
But when posed with the question of the team's mood afterward, Jonathan Toews actually shrugged.
"Well, yeah. They swayed it (the momentum)," Toews said. "It's 2-1."
It's 2-1 ... as in, big deal.
This is, after all, a team that has come back from six series deficits over the past three seasons.
Yes, six. In 10 series wins.
So the fact that St. Louis prevailed thanks to a Jaden Schwartz power-play goal with 6:38 left in a game that the Hawks dominated for most of the first two periods won't shake the confidence of the defending champs.
"We did a lot of good things," Toews said. "We created a ton of offense. There were a lot of chances where maybe we're trying to get a little bit too pretty. We should be just be putting everything on net."
Schwartz's goal came 91 seconds after Patrick Kane was whistled for a double minor when his stick caught Alex Pietrangelo in the face and drew blood.
Vladimir Tarasenko carried the puck into the zone. Instead of shooting from the middle of the ice, he wheeled to his left and gave the puck to David Backes. It would eventually come back to Tarasenko from Kevin Shattenkirk, and again to Backes, who popped it to Schwartz in front of the net and - bang - it was 3-2 Blues.
"I was trying to lift the guy's stick there and got it up," Kane said. "You see there's blood there and you know it's not a good thing. Just got to be smarter in that situation.
"Obviously can't take a penalty at that time of the game. ... Take responsibility for that one, for sure."
The Hawks took a 2-1 lead into the third period thanks to a power-play goal by Brent Seabrook just 2:18 into the game and an Artem Anisimov tally 64 seconds into the second period.
Still, it seemed like the Hawks should have led 3-1 or even 4-1 considering they had 3 power-play chances in the first 7:46 of the game, and they peppered Brian Elliott with 24 second-period shots. One of those was an Andrew Ladd wrister that went CLANK-CLANK off the left post, then the right with 6:15 left.
"Sometimes those go in, sometimes they go out," said Elliott, who made 44 saves. "It was on our side tonight."
Those missed opportunities came back to haunt the Hawks when Patrik Berglund unleashed a shot from just inside the blue line that clipped Michal Rozsival in the leg and bounced past Corey Crawford at 5:15 of the third period.
"We were in control of that game," Crawford said. "That's a tough one. A wicked, wicked bounce."
Said Berglund: "It doesn't matter how they go in."
The Hawks hadn't lost when they were leading after two periods since a 6-2 setback to the Kings in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on May 21, 2014. Since the start of last season, they were 70-0-4 coming into Sunday.
"Obviously, after today, we wish we were in a better position, but it is what it is now," said Kane, who is still without a goal in the series and has just 2 in his last six vs. the Blues. "We have to bounce back. Obviously we know how important Game 4s are when it's 2-1 in the series.
"Could be a big swing either way."
Elliott has been outstanding in this series, stopping 103 of 107 shots for a .963 save percentage. Crawford's also been solid, allowing just 6 goals and compiling a .929 save percentage.
"Give their goaltender credit. I think he played a great game," Toews said. "At the same time, so did ours.
"Even though we outshot them, we gave up too many scoring chances. Those games could go either way. Unfortunate turn of events in the third."
Events that put the Hawks in a 2-1 series hole. Shrug.
• Follow John on Twitter at @johndietzdh.
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3 stars of the game
1. Brian Elliott, Blues. Goaltender made 42 saves, 24 of which came in second period as he kept his team in the game.
2. Vladimir Tarasenko, Blues. Started the play that led to game-winning goal, plus fired 13 shots (7 on goal) during his 16:33 on the ice.
3. Corey Crawford, Blackhawks. Was incredible during crazy sequence in second period in which he made 5 saves in 24 seconds, all at point-blank range.
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Comeback kids
The six series the Blackhawks have come back to win over the past six years when falling behind:
• Down 2-1 to Nashville in 2010 - win series in 6.
• Down 3-1 to Detroit in 2013 - win in 7.
• Down 2-1 to Boston in 2013 - win in 6.
• Down 2-0 to St. Louis in 2014 - win in 6.
• Down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to Anaheim in 2015 - win in 7.
• Down 2-1 to Tampa Bay - win in 6.