Blackhawks can't capitalize on power play in loss to Blues

You can't say the Blackhawks didn't have their chances against St. Louis at the United Center on Sunday.

You can say, however, that they did an abysmal job of cashing in on them.

In addition to 4 failed power plays in the first two periods, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Saad, Drake Caggiula and Dylan Strome all narrowly missed glorious opportunities and it ended up costing the Hawks in a 2-0 setback to the Blues.

"It's tough missing those opportunities and letting points slip away," said DeBrincat, who had 8 shot attempts, 4 of which were on goal.

The Hawks' fourth power play came after Oskar Sundqvist laid what coach Jeremy Colliton called an "unnecessary" elbow to the head of Adam Boqvist. The blow felled the Hawks' rookie defenseman and left him lying face down in the defensive zone.

A wild scene ensued with the remaining eight skaters locked in various scrums near the penalty box. After about 10 seconds, Drake Caggiula and Vince Dunn broke off and went toe-to-toe, with both players landing numerous blows.

Caggiula, who has missed significant time the last two seasons with concussions, revved up the UC crowd with multiple arm waves on his way to the dressing room.

Neither Caggiula (right hand) nor Boqvist returned, and the short-handed Hawks ended up getting swept by St. Louis for the first time in franchise history.

"There's nothing wrong with finishing your check, but there was no reason for the contact to his head," Colliton said. "It was totally unrelated to the play. It was late and he was trying to get him.

"He did and we end up losing an important player for the rest of the game."

Sundqvist was originally given a major penalty, but officials changed it to a two-minute minor upon review.

The Hawks' only shot on goal - not on just that power play but on all of them - was a Kane blast in which the puck settled between Jake Allen's legs. Saad was there for the Hawks, but he couldn't react quickly enough and Alexander Steen cleared it.

Jonathan Toews didn't get a great look at Sundqvist's hit, but the Hawks' captain loved his team's response.

"Caggi's not our biggest guy and he's in there every single time," Toews said. "(Duncan Keith) got in there (too). That's what all these guys are about in this room is playing for each other and I think that was a good response right there."

The Blues (41-18-10) got goals from defensemen Robert Bortuzzo at 6:41 of the second period and Alex Pietrangelo at 5:37 of the third. The Blues have shut the Hawks out twice at the UC, the only team to do so this season. Allen was in net in for both games.

Corey Crawford started for the ninth straight time for the Hawks and made 24 saves.

Kane's best opportunity to score came with just more than six minutes remaining in the second period. Skating the puck from the wing to the middle of the offensive zone, an uncovered Kane could have fired from 25, 20, 15 or 10 feet away. He kept charging, though, and Allen stuffed the forehand-backhand move with his left pad.

The Hawks' playoff chances are now on life support, but that won't change how they approach the remaining 13 games.

"We're here to win," Colliton said. "We've been developing guys all year, we've been playing guys in big situations all year - young players - and that won't change either.

"But part of what we're doing is we want to have winning habits and we're going to fight to the end."