CHICAGO _ Disparate times have called for desperate measures for the Blackhawks.
Shakeups, shakedowns _ Hawks boss Joel Quenneville is willing to try just about anything to shake out of the funk that has left his team in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in his 10 seasons here.
A pair of uninspired losses bookended the Hawks' five-day break, resulting in a lot of changes before their 2-0 loss, their third in a row, against the Lightning on Monday night at the United Center.
Forward Tomas Jurco was assigned a spot in the lineup for the first time this season after watching five games as a healthy scratch since he was called up from Rockford on Jan. 8.
Center Artem Anisimov returned to the lineup for the first time since he was put on injured reserve with an upper-body injury Dec. 29. Defenseman Gustav Forsling, once part of a shutdown defensive pairing with Jan Rutta but now devoid of confidence, was sent to Rockford.
Rutta also was absent Monday, a healthy scratch for a team in an unfamiliar situation in last place in the Central Division.
"The inconsistency of our season happens in games, and that's part we'd like to shore up as a coaching staff _ being way more predictable, reliable," Quenneville said Monday morning. "That's probably why we made more adjustments to our lineup and to the lines, because it hasn't been nailed. That's the challenge and we'll keep looking to do whatever we can."
That whatever also included fourth-line staples Tommy Wingels and Lance Bouma sitting as healthy scratches. Jurco joined Vinnie Hinostroza and David Kampf on the fourth line.
Jurco, who had a goal in 13 games with the Hawks last season, said nerves are part of the equation, but not too big a part. The team's position, though, hasn't been lost on Jurco, despite his lack of playing time.
"The pressure's getting bigger," he said of the playoff race. "We're trying to keep it a little easier on us. Don't put too much pressure on. Then it's way harder to play.
"I think all of us still think we're going to make a good push and make the playoffs."
While the Hawks played better Monday than they had the previous two games, the bounces didn't go their way early.
Just after a five-on-three advantage turned into a five-on-four in the second period, Patrick Kane hit the post on a perfect pass from Jordan Oesterle, but after bouncing off the back of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, the puck was swatted away inches from the line by Dan Girardi.
The bad bounces continued for the Hawks late in the second. The Lightning's Chris Kunitz banked a shot off the back of goalie Jeff Glass and into the net while the Hawks were on a four-minute power play to make it 1-0. Yanni Gourde scored the Lightning's second goal with less than two minutes remaining.
Despite all the changes, which included Michal Kempny and Connor Murphy as the third defensive pairing, one constant remained _ the uncertainty, at least publicly, of goalie Corey Crawford's health.
Crawford has been on the shelf with an upper-body injury since Dec. 27 and is "getting better," according to Quenneville. But there is "no change on the timeline," whatever that might be, though Crawford was spotted in a hallway outside team's locker room before Monday's game.
"Getting better," Quenneville said. "No change on the timeline, though."
