Flat Blackhawks blown away by Hurricanes
By Ben Meyer-Abbott bmeyer-abbott@suntimes.com October 28, 2011 10:58PM
Jiri Tlusty sneaks the puck past a sprawling Corey Crawford for the Hurricanes’ final goal. | Karl B. DeBlaker~AP
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Updated: November 30, 2011 8:10AM
RALEIGH, N.C. — Maybe the Blackhawks were due for a down game after such a hot start, but Jonathan Toews wasn’t buying it.
The Hawks’ captain was not happy with how his team came to play and brushed aside any notions of an inevitable off night after a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center that snapped a streak of seven games with at least one point.
“We’re not letting ourselves off the hook by saying we were due for a bad one,” said Toews, who had a breakaway attempt in the second period saved by Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward. “When you’ve got momentum, you got it. You’ve got to keep it and hold on to it.”
Coach Joel Quenneville also was decidedly less than enthused about the Hawks’ first loss of the season by more than one goal and specifically upset about how his team competed.
“We got dominated in all areas of the game, and we weren’t very good,” Quenneville said. “They were the more determined team, and it was clear from the outset.”
It was clear from the outset and continued throughout the game as the Hawks settled for shots from the outside and weren’t making the kind of decisions Toews said could put them in position to score.
“When we had guys at the net we tried to make plays instead of shooting the puck,” Toews said. “Other times we were just shooting it when no one was there. We’ve just got to be a better judge of when to let those shots go and get traffic at the net.”
Said Quenneville: “Too much perimeter, not enough direct or ugly.”
Despite being too cute or too fancy for Quenneville’s liking, the Hawks trailed 1-0 before the Hurricanes’ Brandon Sutter came out of the penalty box to score 5:39 into the third on a breakaway off the final clearance of a Hurricanes’ penalty kill.
It took until the third opportunity with Duncan Keith quarterbacking the power play in place of Brent Seabrook — who took only three shifts in the third period — for the Hawks to show the signs of life Quenneville was hoping for when he installed Marian Hossa on the top unit. But even then, the overall results weren’t what Quenneville was looking for.
“We had a couple looks on the last one there prior to giving up the goal, but we still need more,” Quenneville said. [We need to] generate some chances, zone time. The other two [power plays] weren’t very good.”
Before the game, Patrick Sharp called Ward — who made 30 saves to record his first shutout since April 6 against the Red Wings — one of the most underrated goalies in the league and said the Hawks did Ward’s job for him by not getting traffic on net and keeping their shots to the outside.
“Any goalie in the league, and especially a guy like [Ward], is going to make those saves from the outside,” Sharp said. “You shoot from the outside, you make it easy on them.”
The Hawks allowed the first goal for the first goal for the third consecutive game after Marcus Kruger lost a defensive zone faceoff and Tim Gleason’s shot deflected off the skate of Tim Brent before also deflecting off Nick Leddy’s skate and past goalie Corey Crawford.
It was an unfortunate bounce for Crawford, who was also beaten on a breakaway and a 2-on-1. He stopped 30 of 33, and an Eric Staal penalty shot, in another strong performance.
“[Crawford] played really well again,” Sharp said. “The guys in front of him can be better to put some pucks on net and score some goals for him.”
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