Blues come back to claim 5-2 victory over Blackhawks

As season openers go, it doesn't get much uglier than the display of hockey the Chicago Blackhawks put on for 21,000-plus Wednesday night at the United Center.

Myriad things that went wrong in a 5-2 loss to St. Louis, but most damning had to be the blunt and honest postgame comments from captain Jonathan Toews.

“Our energy and our speed and our work ethic wasn't quite there,” Toews said. “We've got to regroup and try to come with that energy in the next one, and obviously play a little bit smarter, too.”

Perhaps we should have expected the Hawks to look out of sync considering they played without the suspended Niklas Hjalmarsson and also trotted out a lineup that included six rookies. Still, that hardly excuses a team with Toews, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin to be sitting at 9 shots on goal after two periods.

“When we play St. Louis, it seems like that's the game,” Joel Quenneville said. “It's tough trying to get shots through. We didn't do a good enough job of getting entries and getting pressure on the forecheck.”

Despite the lack of chances, the Hawks were clinging to a 2-1 lead thanks to goals by Richard Panik (4:38 of the first period) and Ryan Hartman (13:57 of the second).

Then the Hawks were whistled for 3 penalties in a 94-second span, and it was quickly game, set, match.

The first call was the most damaging as Toews was whistled for what he deemed to be a “weak” slashing penalty at 17:54 of the second. Toews' stick did slightly wrap around Colton Parayko's body, but it didn't impede the Blues' defensemen that much.

“Well, maybe I'm wrong,” Toews said. “I guess in the heat of the moment you always argue if you think it's a weak call. But can't take it back.”

Toews felt Parayko lost his edge and felt the play should have continued.

“I think sometimes it looks incriminating when you get the puck back and you're about to get a scoring chance,” he said.

Thirty-seven seconds later, Artem Anisimov was called for hooking, and that was all of an opening St. Louis needed.

Not only did Vladimir Tarasenko cash in on the 5-on-3 power play with 32 seconds left, but Duncan Keith was hit with a high-sticking penalty that extended the Blues' two-man advantage into the third period. The Hawks killed off one infraction, but Paul Stastny scored with Keith still in the box to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead 55 seconds into the third.

“We knew that it was a crucial point in the game to really kind of step on their throats and keep them down while we had them there,” Kevin Shattenkirk said. “And we did just that.”

Tarasenko and Scottie Upshall added empty-net goals in the final 66 seconds, which sent the Hawks to a second straight season-opening loss.

Said Toews: “If you're not playing at the highest speed, winning your races, winning your battles, eventually you're going to take penalties, eventually you're going to give up scoring chances. There was a lot of that tonight.”

Hopefully for the Hawks, there won't be a whole lot more of “that” in the coming days, weeks and months.