Disparate times have called for desperate measures for the Blackhawks.
Shakeups, shakedowns — Hawks coach Joel Quenneville is willing to try just about anything to shake his team out of the funk that has left it in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time in his 10 seasons here.
And while the Hawks, with some revamped lines and pairings, played much better Monday night than they had during two uninspiring losses that bookended their five-day break, the result was the same: a 2-0 setback, this time against the Lightning.
“That hole’s getting deeper,” Quenneville said after his team dropped seven points out of the second wild-card spot behind the Avalanche, who won their 10th in a row Monday night.
And the bounces are getting more unfortunate for the Hawks.
Just after a 5-on-3 advantage turned into a 5-on-4 in the second period, Patrick Kane hit the post on a perfect pass from Jordan Oesterle. But after the puck bounced off the back of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, Dan Girardi swatted it away inches from the line.
The bad luck with the puck off a goalie’s back 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.
“Unfortunate bounce,” Glass said. “That has to be on me to track it and find it.”
And it will be up to the Hawks to find their way, however Quenneville assembles them.
Forward Tomas Jurco found himself 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, was sent to Rockford.
Rutta, too, was absent Monday, a healthy scratch for a team in an unhealthy, not to mention unfamiliar, situation — last place in the Central Division and with four teams ahead of them in the wild-card race.
“The inconsistency happens in games, and we’d like to shore (that) 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.”
Included in those adjustments were Tommy Wingels and Lance Bouma, who have been on the Hawks’ fourth line for most of the season. Both joined Rutta as healthy scratches, while Jurco joined Vinnie Hinostroza and David Kampf on the fourth line.
Duncan Keith knows there’s trouble,saying, “These are big points that we’re not getting.”
The defenseman is 0-for-111 on shots, including four Monday. His last goal was in March.
Despite all the changes, which included Michal Kempny and Connor Murphy as the third defensive pairing, another 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, though he was in a hallway outside the locker room before and after Monday’s game.
“Getting better,” Quenneville said. “No change on the timeline, though.”
Twitter @ChiTribSkrbina
Paul Skrbina’s three stars
1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning: 40 saves assured goalie of his league-best seventh shutout.
2. Chris Kunitz, Lightning: Banked one off Jeff Glass’ back for first goal.
3. Yanni Gourde, Lightning: Late goal iced victory.
Up next: Vs. Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. Wednesday, NBCSN.
@chicagotribune.com
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