Schuster: Blackhawks' Previous Sky-High Confidence Crashing To Earth
By David Schuster-
DETROIT (CBS) Talk about bad timing for the Blackhawks to have their first three-game losing streak all season.
With Thursday's 2-0 loss here in Detroit, the Hawks all of a sudden find themselves on the brink of elimination. It's not as if they have played terrible, but they certainly have not played anywhere near their best.
Offensively, they have scored just two goals in three games, and that wont beat anybody.
Just as in Game 3, the Blackhawks seemed to be dominating the first half of the game but could not put the puck past Jimmy Howard. Then the normally unflappable Jonathan Toews lost his marbles and drew three successive penalties and Detroit finally cashed in and scored the first goal on the power play.
After the game, Toews would not admit to losing his composure and said he disagreed with the calls by the referees. Losing his cool is bad enough but worse yet is the fact that Toews is now zero for the postseason in scoring goals. And when your leading goal-scorer fails to dent the net, you know you are in trouble.
The Hawks also proved to be unlucky as they hit a total of five goal posts/crossbars during the two games in Detroit.
So it's back to Chicago for Game 5 on Saturday night, and though the Hawks talked bravely before boarding their bus, you have the feeling that their one-time sky-high confidence is quickly falling back down to earth.
Follow David Schuster on Twitter (@schumouse).
