Cripes.  The Hawks were coming off a nice win in LA, so what did they do?  Completely shit the bed.  I'm not sure what has to happen, but the inconsistency of this team has become maddening, and it can't all be blamed on injuries.  The defensive effort simply isn't there each night.  Joel Quenneville can keep scratching bottom 6 forwards and juggling his lines, but eventually that act is going to wear thin. 

On last night's Puckcast, I said I wasn't real impressed with Quenneville's decisions this year, and he needs to sit down with Stan Bowman and determine if help in some form is coming from outside the current roster (be it by call up or trade).  If Stan's determined that this is what the team is going with, then Q has got to start dressing his 18 best players night in and night out.  The Hawks margin for error is now too thin for any kind of bullshit head games. 

THE GOOD

Corey Crawford - there wasn't much good to report, but it was a credit to Crawford that the Blackhawks weren't blown out in the 1st period.

THE BAD

The First Period - Holy shit, what a disaster the first 20 minutes were.  The Hawks mostly just stood around and got completely blitzed by the Stars.  The Hawks took 2 penalties and gave up several odd man breaks.  They were lucky to only be down 2-0 after that one.

Penalty Kill - This thing is still hot garbage.  Dallas was 3 for 3. 

Other Shit - File this under coaching or morale or whatever you want.  Jake Dowell and Jack Skille were both scratched.  I have no idea why, but both are better hockey players than John Scott who Quenneville has so much faith in that he played almost 4 full minutes tonight.  Scott's presence was such a deterrent that Adam Burish actually laid down on Corey Crawford for about 35 seconds at the end of a play.  Not a single Blackhawk touched him.


THE UGLY

What could be uglier than Viktor Stalberg's luck?  Poor guy has a chance to bust out of his goal scoring slump with a penalty shot in the second.  So Stalberg beats Kari Lehoten with a beautiful backhander that manages to hit both posts and the crossbar without going in.