Hawks' losing streak hits eight
The Blackhawks' awful losing streak has hindered their confidence and many are hanging their heads low in the locker room. They look dazed and downtrodden.
But the players insist they're still having fun and the locker room isn't turning on itself. The Hawks have been doing their best to stay positive.
"You can nitpick things here or there, but it's still the same atmosphere around the room," forward Patrick Kane said. "Everyone is still having fun and happy to be around the rink.
"We've had a lot of meetings and talked about different ways to get out of this skid we have, but it comes down to what we do on the ice as players. It's kind of nice to have the same atmosphere around here."
But without question, it's getting harder and harder to do that. On Saturday, the Coyotes extended the Hawks' losing streak to eight games with a 3-0 shutout of them at Jobing.com Arena on Saturday. Mike Smith made 38 saves for the Coyotes and Radim Vrbata, Boyd Gordon and Kyle Chipchura provided the goals.
The Hawks -- despite having offensive stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp on their roster -- have been shut out six times this season. Defensive lapses and turnovers continue to plague their game and their goaltending has yet to deliver a shutout this season or steal a victory. Ray Emery allowed three goals on 27 shots Saturday.
"We just have to get out of it," Hossa said. "I know we've talked about it. But we can't put our heads down. We just have to battle through it."
The Hawks have three games remaining on their season-long road trip, starting with the divisional rival Predators on Tuesday. After that is a matchup with the Eastern Conference-leading Rangers and a game against the lowly Blue Jackets.
"We try to be positive when we're in (a) tough stretch like we're in right now and find ways where we can say that this is something we can build on," coach Joel Quenneville said. "But we still have a lot of work to do. We've got to reinforce that maybe it's looking at taking baby steps in certain areas, whether it's the depth of our forecheck in the offensive zone, neutral zone or playing our own end. They all have to be more detail oriented."
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