March 12--From the start of Friday's 5-2 loss to the Stars, the Blackhawks looked heavy. The Stars, even though they were down three defensemen and winger Patrick Sharp, were faster and more determined than the Hawks, who fell to third place after the loss and the Blues' victory over the Ducks.
Here are some notes from the loss:
Hawks lack energy
Captain Jonathan Toews did not quite know why the Hawks came out and played as flat as they did.
"We ran into a team that was sitting there ready for us," Toews said. "We didn't have the speed and the work ethic and battles in the corners we needed. We ended up taking penalties and hurting ourselves."
But that seems to be a troubling theme for the Hawks when they play the Stars. The Hawks have lost three of their four matchups to the Stars this season. The Stars have won two of those games by three goals, another by two. In other words, you can tell when the Hawks might have that extra jump against the Stars -- they had it in a 5-1 victory on Feb. 6.
But once the Hawks failed to score on two power plays and the Stars converted on their first, you could sense where the night was headed.
Third line produces
One of the few positives to emerge from Friday's blowout was how the Hawks scored their two goals. Both came from the third line of Tomas Fleischmann, Teuvo Teravainen and Dale Weise (Fleischmann and Teravainen had the goals). The line was playing together for the first time. Fleischmann and Teravainen have played together since Fleischmann came over with Weise in a trade with the Canadiens and have flashed signs of good chemistry. Weise and Fleischmann played together for a time with the Canadiens. That line bears watching.
Anisimov OK
Artem Anisimov did not play much of the third period -- his last shift of the game ended with 15 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. But Quenneville said Anisimov was taken out just as a precaution and that Anisimov should not miss any time
Corsi look
The Stars have handed the Hawks some of their worst Corsi numbers of the season. Friday the Hawks outshot the Stars 61-52 overall and 38-26 during 5-on-5 play, but the Hawks were behind three goals for more than half the game. Taking into account score effects, the numbers skew better for the Stars. Across all situation adjusted for score, the Hawks outshot the Stars 53-51.3. The line of Weise, Teravainen and Fleischmann led the Hawks in Corsi plus-minus -- another notch in their belt.
