The Blackhawks carelessly stuffed this game in their suitcase as if they were rushing to catch a plane.
Along the turbulent trail, first place in the National Hockey League has fallen from their bag. Boston ascended to that summit Sunday by beating Quebec and going two points ahead of the Hawks in the important duel for home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
The 3-1 loss to Hartford Sunday night sends the Hawks home Monday with quite a load of dirty laundry. They have dropped four of their last five games, this one their least competitive effort of all, and slipped on this trip with a record of 2-4.
Coach Mike Keenan admitted that the lapse has him concentrating harder on the possibility of working a deal. He has until the March 5 trading deadline to spark an offense in need of more fire.
”When you have a series of games like this,” Keenan said, ”you come to realize you don`t have the best team in hockey.
”The last month people have been touting us as the Stanley Cup favorite. It`s quite obvious we`re far from that. We have a lot to learn as a club.
”We weren`t prepared to play for the most part of this trip. Tonight, we weren`t committed or hungry for a win. They showed no enthusiasm for the game the first 50 minutes.”
After previously avoiding the dead period that overtakes every team during a long season, the Hawks find themselves in their worst slump of a season in which their longest losing streak remains two games (four times).
Before this current tailspin, the worst span for their season was three losses in four games (Oct. 14-20 and Nov. 21-Dec. 1). They returned as conquering heroes from a six-game journey last November, winning five of those games.
But now, they face the gloomy prospect of having St. Louis jump over them into first in the Norris Division. That would happen if the Blues-now one point behind the Hawks-win in Edmonton Tuesday.
”We`ve gotten away from playing strong team defense,” winger Steve Larmer said. ”We`ve gotten into bad habits in our end, and if we`d play better there, we`d get out of it and attack more at the other end.”
Sunday`s first period was an ominous start for the Hawks, who were outshot 10-4 by the Whalers and were fortunate to trail just 1-0. Hartford wasn`t playing especially well, either, and needed a turnover to score its first goal.
Mike Peluso couldn`t control the puck as he cut across the top of the Hawk zone. As he and defenseman Trent Yawney failed to corral the puck, Kevin Dineen was able to tip it loose for an onrushing Carey Wilson.
Wilson continued up the slot with no defense in his path and flicked it past goalie Ed Belfour, who started his 17th consecutive game.
Former Penguin Rob Brown continued his rebirth as a Whaler. He scored two goals within 12 seconds in the second period to widen the lead to 3-0. Brown has 12 goals in 21 games since being traded to Hartford.
In contrast, the Hawk offense has fizzled in the last three games, even though one was a 8-3 victory in Montreal. Consider that in the last nine periods, the Hawks have reached double figures in shots in just two periods. They had 14 shots in Boston in the second period and 10 in the third period against Hartford, where the Hawks are winless in their last six games (0-5-1). Jeremy Roenick took advantage of a puck misplay in the third period between goalie Peter Sidorkiewicz and defenseman Sylvain Cote to at least avoid a shutout by scoring his 29th goal.
Another Hawk center, Adam Creighton, was a minus-three Sunday along with his wingers-Peluso and Jocelyn Lemieux. What was Creighton doing lined up with these checkers?
”I didn`t feel Creighton`s been contributing, and I wanted to try something else,” Keenan said of playing winger Tony McKegney at center on some shifts with former Creighton linemates Wayne Presley and Steve Thomas.
Keenan admitted he could decide to shake up the club with some minor-league recalls. ”It`s not out of the question, but that`s not going to solve the problem,” he said.
