The NHL record for consecutive losses on the road is 38, so even though it’s quite possible the Blackhawks will not win another away game this season, the schedule will deny the Hawks a run at the record until 2004-05.
Mercifully, the Hawks have only 13 road games left.
The streak is now 19 after Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The Hawks have the fourth-longest road losing streak in NHL history, behind Ottawa (38), Washington (37) and the old California Golden Seals (24).
Showing a knack for making even the worst special teams look great, the Hawks’ power-play unit didn’t score and gave up two short-handed goals–the 10th and 11th this season to tie Pittsburgh for most in the league.
Shawn Horcoff’s goal, in which Hawks goalie Craig Anderson poked the puck to a diving Bryan Berard, who kicked it into the Hawks’ net, tied the game in the second period.
The Hawks had taken the lead 45 seconds into the game when a Berard shot went off Kyle Calder’s skate and past Edmonton goalie Tommy Salo.
The Hawks could have gone into the dressing room after the first period with a bigger lead were it not for the play of Salo.
Salo dived and batted a shot from Steve Sullivan out of the air before it could go into an empty net midway through the first period, then made another fantastic save to deny Mark Bell in the final minute.
Salo also made a great stop off Berard early in the second period. He also got a little lucky. Jason Strudwick had a rare short-handed breakaway and flipped a shot off the post.
Thursday was Strudwick’s first game since injuring his knee Jan. 18 against Los Angeles. With Strudwick back in the lineup, rookie defenseman Lasse Kukkonen was scratched and is likely to head back to Norfolk soon.
After tying the game, Edmonton took control with a pair of goals in a span of 1 minute 6 seconds. Ex-Hawk Ethan Moreau skated unmolested through the middle of the ice, then flipped a backhand that Georges Laraque deflected past Anderson for his first goal of the season.
Horcoff then got his second when he tipped a Ryan Smyth shot over Anderson to make it 3-1 going into the third period.
The Hawks–as they often do–pulled to within one midway through the third when Berard’s shot from the high slot went through Salo’s pads. But Fernando Pisani scored off a Hawks turnover in the neutral zone four minutes later to kill any hopes.
Center Scott Nichol was scratched again with an injured groin, which gave Shawn Thornton another game in the NHL.
Whether Thornton doesn’t know that most players avoid fighting Laraque or he just doesn’t care, he tangled with the 6-foot-3-inch, 243-pound Laraque and actually held his own against the player many people regard as the NHL’s toughest customer.
The bout finished off a chippy first period in which there were 34 penalty minutes and five power plays.
