Fourteen seconds.

Fourteen Goddamn Seconds.

That's all it took for the Chicago Blackhawks to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory tonight in the United Center, as the Edmonton Oilers scored twice in that span to win for the second time in ten games, beating the Hawks 2-1. Needless to say, their only other win in the last ten also came in the United Center.

Let's get to this:

THE GOOD:

Corey Crawford. Even with the craptastic 3rd period meltdown, he looked solid in net, with good lateral movement and looking confident. I've never been a big Crawford fan, but his game seems to be improving.

John Scott. Edmonton's Zack Stortini decided he wanted dance with the MURDERSAURUS, and Scott teated him like a stick shaft, pummeling him soundly. While we all lament Scott's lack of fisticuffs this season, since that's the main reason the Hawks got him, the fact is that there are few players either dumb or crazy enough to decide they want to drop gloves with this behemoth. Unlike Stortini, most men get to a point where they decide discretion is the better part of valor.

Fernando Pisani. He scored the Hawks' lone goal and looked solid on defense all night. When the Hawks got him, it was with the idea that he would be the replacement for John Madden. At least that's going well.

The Return of Marian Hossa. He was on ice for the disastrous 14 seconds, and wasn't really hitting on all cylinders. But the Blackhawks are a better team with him than without him. The team is almost completely intact now.

THE BAD:

Nikolai Khabibulin isn't exactly a rookie in this league. Everyone knows the way to beat him is to get traffic down low and look for rebounds. So what did the Hawks do? Get a scoring rush where the carrier/leader of the rush shoots from above the circles when there's nobody down low yet. The Hawks gave Khabi an easier night than he should have had.

The line of Jonathan Toews with Patrick Kane and Viktor Stalberg. Stalberg is the wrong man for that line. Unless you like the idea of Toews having to to all the banging night in and night out. Stalberg is a blur on skates, and has decent hands, but he's not a good fit for that line. Hopefully once Dave Bolland comes back, Stalberg can get on that line, and Bolland can put up some very nice numbers just setting the kid up. Troy Brouwer belongs with Kane and Toews.

THE UGLY:

The Hawks were unable to kill Niklas Hjalmarsson's penalty, allowing an Edmonton goal 8 second into it. Quenneville left most of that unit (Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Hossa) on the ice for the faceoff, added in Tomas Kopecky and Patrick Sharp, and there went the game. Worst part is, it wasn't even the much-touted trio of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Magnus Paajarvi who did them in. It was Kurtis Foster and Sam Gagner. Guh.

Next up for the Hawks is another game in the United Center, where they've now lost 4 of their last 5, against the Coyotes. No word on whether they'll ask the league for a road game.