Blackhawks blanked by Bruins
The tough turnaround proved to be too tough for the Blackhawks.
A night after grinding out an emotional overtime win at Detroit, the Hawks had little left in the tank and lost 3-0 to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday at TD Garden.
The Hawks survived the first period thanks to goalie Corey Crawford, but they let the game get away late in the second period when the Bruins got goals from Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk 2:20 apart.
Nathan Horton's third-period goal sealed the deal for the Bruins, who lead the Northeast Division.
Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith said having to play back-to-back games in two of the toughest buildings in the league was no excuse for the loss.
“If it's too hard to play two games in a row then we probably shouldn't be in the NHL,” Keith told reporters. “That's no excuse.”
How bad a night was it for the Hawks? Jonathan Toews was minus-3, and there was little offensive pop from anyone.
“I don't like to make excuses,” defenseman Brian Campbell said. “We had a big game last night. I think everyone felt great going into tonight, so I don't necessarily use that as an excuse. We need to compete a little harder for pucks and win some more battles, especially early on.”
The Hawks remained in eighth place in the Western Conference, missing an opportunity to move past Anaheim into seventh or catch sixth-place Nashville, which lost at home to Vancouver.
Bruins goalie and MVP candidate Tim Thomas made 32 saves for his ninth shutout of the season, but he didn't have to work particularly hard for it.
“I don't think he's ever been bad for us this year,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “He's been good sometimes, but he's been great most of the time.”
The Hawks changed their travel plans and returned home following the loss instead of heading for Columbus. Coach Joel Quenneville thought the team has been spending too much time on the road and could use a day at home Wednesday and a practice Thursday before departing for Ohio.
The Hawks play the Blue Jackets on Friday at Nationwide Arena.
“Every game is a huge 2 points,” Quenneville said. “You've got to value every 2 points. There's a big premium on these points right now. We can't be happy. We just got to be excited about Friday and move on.”
The Bruins finished the game without Shawn Thornton, who was accidentally cut by Fernando Pisani's skate during a collision behind the net. Thornton, who needed 40 stitches to close the cut, paused in front of the Hawks' bench on his way off the ice when he said someone “chirped” at him.
“I'm going to find out who it was and deal with it on my own way,” Thornton said. “The referee heard it and was (ticked). He didn't know who it was either. Those guys chirp a lot.”