Discombobulated Hawks fall 4-1 to last-place Red Wings

Before this season began, nobody gave the Blackhawks a chance to qualify for the postseason.

So what did they do? Came out and proved everybody wrong by playing a hard-nosed, winning brand of hockey that has them on the cusp of a playoff berth.

Expectations were equally low for the Detroit Red Wings, but in their case they lived up to them by losing 20 of their first 27 games.

A funny thing happened in mid-March, though - Detroit began playing the spoiler role to perfection by beating Tampa Bay, Carolina, Dallas and Columbus a combined eight times.

The Hawks were the latest victim to fall prey to the Red Wings, dropping a 4-1 decision Thursday night in Detroit.

"It's funny when people write you off and count you out," Colliton said beforehand. "A lot of times that chip on your shoulder can help you perform at a higher level."

That's exactly what happened during the second period as Detroit scored three times in just 6.5 minutes to take a 3-1 lead.

"Obviously the loss sucks," said forward Dylan Strome. "Two huge points were up for grabs and we couldn't manage to get it done."

The Hawks played a solid first period, taking a 1-0 lead on Duncan Keith's second goal in as many games. They also hit the post twice in three seconds on back-to-back shots by Keith and Kirby Dach.

Things seemed to be headed in the right direction, but everything changed when Kevin Lankinen allowed a soft goal to defenseman Troy Stecher at 4:49 of the second period. The defenseman's long blast deflected up and over Lankinen's blocker and into the net.

The Red Wings took the lead when Jakub Vrana, who was coming out of the penalty box, scored on a breakaway at 8:55. Connor Murphy was late in reacting after jumping on the ice.

Stecher made it 3-1 less than 2.5 minutes later when he sneaked in on the backside and tucked in a shot after taking a perfect pass from Danny DeKeyser.

After that, Detroit locked it down defensively, had a few long shifts in the offensive zone and went on to claim another victim.

"They capitalized on their chances and got 3 goals pretty quick there," Strome said. "We couldn't really turn the momentum back."

The Hawks fell to 20-19-5, but did not lose any ground to fourth-place Nashville, which lost to Carolina.

Adam Boqvist (concussion) and Calvin de Haan (hip pointer) were unable to go for the Hawks, whose lineup included Riley Stillman, Brett Connolly and Vinnie Hinostroza - three players who weren't with the team two weeks ago. Ian Mitchell also returned for the first time in three weeks.

The lack of chemistry was evident at times, but some of that can be attributed to the fact that the Hawks were behind for over half the game.

Despite the uneven play, Colliton actually painted a fairly rosy picture afterward.

"Thought we created more than enough to score more than one," Colliton said. "We had the opportunity to create even more. Just missed a couple plays in transition. There was some rebounds lying around; obviously missed the net a few times. But got no complaints with work ethic. ...

"We had plenty of chances in the third. If we score one, maybe that's the boost we needed to get back in the game.

"It's, of course, frustrating, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to prepare for the next one."

Which comes at Detroit on Saturday.