WINNIPEG, Manitoba — For a team that hadn’t lost in regulation in 11 games, the Blackhawks have been answering a lot of questions about how they’re not really playing all that well, how they’re leaning too heavily on Corey Crawford, how they’re escaping with timely third-period goals.
Patrick Kane hoped that Sunday’s win over the league-leading Montreal Canadiens would answer those questions once and for all.
“You look at that Montreal game, I thought we played really well in that game,” he said Tuesday morning. “That was probably our best game of the season. It was 3-2, but we had plenty of chances to make it 4-2, even 5-2 in the third period. We played the way we wanted to in that game, and that’s kind of a good trend going forward. Keep trying to get better.”
Instead, the Hawks fell back into bad habits — sluggish skating, sloppy passing, squandered opportunities. And for once, they paid the price for it.
The Hawks stumbled at the start of their seven-game, 13-night circus trip, losing 4-0 to the Winnipeg Jets in an uninspired performance. The Jets scored three goals in a four-minute span in the third period — including two goals in 11 seconds — to chase Crawford for the first time this season. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves for the shutout.
The Hawks had been 9-0-2 in their last 11, with their most recent regulation loss coming Oct. 21 in Columbus. Given the way the Hawks had been pulling out some of those victories over the past few weeks, the performance was as inevitable as it was disappointing.
“I know we’ve had a high percentage with those [types of wins], but the percentages aren’t great with you,” defenseman Brian Campbell said.
Crawford tried to absorb the blame by saying the Hawks played well in front of him, while Campbell said the Hawks didn’t have “our best game.” Joel Quenneville was much more blunt.
“It wasn’t good,” he said. “It wasn’t good from the start. … Across the board, I don’t think we should be too happy with that one.”
It didn’t help that Vinnie Hinostroza was knocked out of the game by a big hit by Josh Morrissey late in the first period — the hit looked clean, if dangerous, but Hinostroza’s head hit the boards on the way down. Hinostroza was up and about after the game, and Quenneville said he should be “all right,” but that he’d know more on Wednesday.
With Ryan Hartman scratched in favor of Jordin Tootoo, that left the Hawks hurting for offense up front. Nick Schmaltz took Hinostroza’s spot on the top line and had a couple strong shifts, but the Hawks rarely threatened Hellebuyck.
After Josh Morrissey gave the Jets a 1-0 lead with his first NHL goal at 6:26 of the first period, they gave the Hawks every opportunity to tie it up, including a 67-second 5-on-3 power play early in the second period. But the Hawks — as they did for a 96-second 5-on-3 against St. Louis last week — stood around and passed the puck with little sense of urgency. In fact, they came up empty on three straight power plays that period. They have only scored on two of their last 25 power plays.
“I don’t think it helps,” Campbell said of the wasted 5-on-3. “We’re all pros, we can’t be deflated. But it’s a big opportunity there and we’ve had some tough luck with the 5-on-3. We’ve got to find ways to capitalize on those situations.”
Things fell apart quickly in the third period. Chris Thorburn made it 2-0 at 4:41 when he surprised Crawford with a turnaround slap shot from the half-boards. Then rookie Patrik Laine — the No. 2 overall pick in June — scored his league-leading 12th goal at 11:17, following up a Dustin Byfuglien rebound. Eleven seconds later, Nic Petan scored off a nice Marko Dano feed to make it 4-0 and send Crawford to an early exit for the first time this season. He finished with 18 saves on 22 shots. After giving up just 10 even-strength goals in his first 13 games, he gave up four on Tuesday — including three in a four-minute span.
But while Crawford was the sole reason for a handful of Hawks wins, he was hardly the sole reason for this loss.
“That was a team loss,” Quenneville said. “It’s not how you want to start [the trip] at all. We have tougher games as we keep going. They keep getting tougher and tougher and tougher. There’s no easy games on the road anymore. We’ve had a favorable schedule here and we know we have to play much better.”
Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com
Twitter: @marklazerus
