Blackhawks struggle to score again in 2-1 loss to Kings
If there was ever such a thing as an easy victory for the Blackhawks, it should have come Friday against an L.A. Kings squad that sported a 5-11-1 record and started a goalie with just 36 minutes of NHL experience.
But it was not to be.
The tentative and defensive-minded Hawks generated precious few scoring chances in the first two periods and ended up falling 2-1 in a shootout at the United Center.
The Kings won when Ilya Kovalchuk and Anze Kopitar converted on their shootout attempts; Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane failed on theirs.
Brandon Saad scored the Hawks' only goal at 2:39 of the third period.
"We want better," said coach Jeremy Colliton, who is 1-2-2 since taking over for Joel Quenneville. "We've got to keep getting better, we've got to keep improving. It's not going to be perfect.
"Development doesn't go in a straight line. There's going to be ups and down. Hopefully we can take steps forward as a team."
The Hawks were handed three power-play opportunities in the second period over a seven-minute span, but failed to cash in. Not only that, but Tyler Toffoli gave the Kings a 1-0 lead just 19 seconds after Michael Amadio's holding penalty expired.
"We're trying to set certain things up," said Patrick Kane. "We're not really trying to force anything, trying to be patient. We had a couple good looks. Probably review it and see what we can do better."
If you want some silver linings, look no further than Corey Crawford, who has stopped 59 of 60 shots in the last two games. The biggest of his 31 saves against Los Angeles came with 1:21 left in regulation when he deflected a Jeff Carter blast as Carter caught the Hawks in a bad change.
Another bright spot was the play of Saad. Colliton's move to play him with Toews and Kane paid instant dividends when Saad tied things up early in the third.
"Saad was probably our best player, certainly up front to that point so we're just trying to put him with a couple guys who can makes plays," Colliton said.
In the big picture, the Hawks are playing much better team defense under Colliton, but they have managed just 7 goals in his five games as coach and are 1-for-11 on the power play.
It's also a tough pill to swallow that they couldn't get more than one puck past goalie Calvin Petersen, who was making his first NHL start.
"Maybe we're overthinking, still getting used to situations," said Saad, who now has 5 goals. "But when we let loose a little bit, have fun and get the motor going, we play in their end all night.
"It's just bringing it a full 60 minutes as a team."
One thing's for sure: With Minnesota (12-5-2), Washington (9-7-3), Tampa Bay (13-5-1), Winnipeg (11-5-2) and Nashville (13-5-1) on the docket over the next two weeks, they'd better start doing that on a nightly basis if they want to improve upon their mediocre 7-8-5 record.