Fittingly, the Blackhawks’ oh-fer road trip to open the season ended Saturday night on a power play. An unsuccessful power play.
The unsightly power-play totals in a 3-2 loss to San Jose were 1 of 10. In Wednesday’s season-opening 6-2 loss at Phoenix, the Hawks went 1 of 8.
“The second period (Saturday) we had all kinds of chances on it,” coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We got one. We’ve just got to keep working on it. It’s too early for anyone to get down and frustrated.”
“We could have had a couple (of goals) in the second period, but it was a matter of bounces or inches,” defenseman Chris Chelios said. “Those are some positives, but the bottom line is the puck has to go in and we have to work harder.”
They controlled the play against the Sharks, but a bouncing puck corraled by Marco Sturm turned out to be the difference.
With the score tied 2-2 on goals by the Hawks’ Tony Amonte and Ethan Moreau and the Sharks’ Bill Houlder and Alexander Korolyuk, Sturm came storming out of the penalty box and Marty McSorley kicked the puck ahead to him. Sturm blew past defenseman Eric Weinrich and beat Jeff Hackett for the winning goal at 15:39 of the second period.
Hackett sprained his ankle trying to make the diving stop and left the game. His status is day-to-day.
Bright spot: Hartsburg said rookie center Todd White played “fine” in his NHL debut Saturday. White’s presence in the lineup allowed Moreau to move back to his natural left wing position. Moreau responded with a solid effort.
“Back on left wing,” Hartsburg said, “I thought he looked real comfortable.”
