Loss to Blues bad enough ... concern now is injury to Toews
ST. LOUIS — An injury to Jonathan Toews only added to a forgettable night for the Blackhawks.
Toews suffered a suspected right-shoulder injury 13 minutes into the first period Tuesday, but even before that the Hawks gave every indication it would be a long and miserable night.
Only goalie Marty Turco's sensational 40-save performance prevented a 3-1 loss to the Blues from being a complete blowout.
The Hawks had no answer for the Blues' gritty and physical play. In fact, it was a hard check by Matt D'Agostini that sent Toews into the boards and out of the game.
“I'm not happy at all. I thought it was a terrible game. Brutal,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “From the start we got outworked, and it was very noticeable.
“We get (Patrick) Kane and (Marian) Hossa back and we think it's going to be easy again. What made us effective (was) we were hard, played simple and played for each other. And tonight, we've got to get rid of that cutesy stuff.”
The Hawks refused to reveal the severity of Toews' injury, which could be devastating if serious.
“We'll see how he's doing (Wednesday),” Quenneville said. “We'll know more (Wednesday). We're hopeful that it's not (serious).”
The only Hawk who showed much bite was John Scott, who had a lengthy fight with Cam Janssen early in the first period.
“We didn't work hard enough and that's what's going to happen when you don't work out there. You're going to get just manhandled like we did tonight,” Scott said.
“We didn't compete, we weren't battling for pucks, and we were losing 1-on-1 battles all over the ice. It's just embarrassing.
“We're going to play them a bunch in the future and we've got to be better than that.”
It was 1-1 going to the third period thanks to Turco, who made 30 saves through 40 minutes. Turco made 18 saves in the first period — 14 of them in the first nine minutes.
“Marty was great,” Quenneville said. “It was 1-1 going to the third period and that was a great spot to be in —not deserving of it at all.”
The Hawks took a 1-0 lead out of the first period on Jake Dowell's goal at 18:13, and might have led after two periods if not for Nick Boynton's turnover that resulted in Vladimir Sobotka's goal at 4:39 of the second.
Boynton sent a soft clear around the boards from behind the net with no teammate in sight. Sobotka got the puck inside the blue line and teed up a high blast that Turco had no chance to glove.
“That was a tough one to give up there,” Quenneville said. “They didn't really have zone pressure on us.”
Turco even made a great pass, springing Kane for a breakaway midway through the second period, but Kane slid a shot wide of the net.
The 43 shots the Hawks allowed were a season high.
“They created some chances, took advantage of some power plays, and we gave them a few, too,” Turco said. “We made some plays in our own zone we haven't been making. That was a huge game and it's disappointing the way it turned out.”
Tim Sassone's game tracker
Blues3, Blackhawks 1
<B>Three stars:</B>
1. Marty Turco, Hawks: Without his 40 saves, this one gets really ugly.
2. Matt D'Agostini, Blues: An assist and the big hit that knocked Jonathan Toews out of the game.
3. Vladimir Sobotka, Blues: Key first goal that wiped out 1-0 Hawks lead.
<B>No offense: </B>The Hawks got nothing from their top offensive players, with fourth liner Jake Dowell scoring the only goal.