Mike Smith.

Mike Motherfucking Smith.

The Chicago Blackhawks faced a Tampa Bay Lightning team that played yesterday, only dressed 11 forwards, and lost one of their best ones, Vincent Lacavalier, early in the first period. Oh, and they faced Tampa Bay's #3 goalie, the Great Mike Smith, he of the gaudy 3.11 Goals Against Average and .888 save percentage.

So what did they do? They threw 31 mostly low quality shots at Smith, never forced Tampa to try keeping up with them, and basically appeared to loaf through the entire game, losing to Tampa Bay 2-0 in the United Center.

Let's get to this:

THE GOOD:

Corey Crawford. He allowed one power play goal by Lacavalier, and that was it. He managed to keep the rest of the high-powered Lightning offense, including Steven Stamkos, off the board. Everyone on the Blackhawks needs to turn their backs to Crawford, grab their ankles, and allow Crawford at least one swat to each of their asses with his goalie stick.

THE BAD:

Everything else. Dumb penalties, never taking their shots on the power play, never putting bodies in front of Smith, piss-poor puck movement all night. This sure as hell didn't look like a team who has yet to lock into a playoff spot and wants to take control of their own destiny.

Now I won't pretend to know what's rattling around in these guys' heads, or what is going on in the clubhouse. I also won't pretend to know who is hurt and who is healthy. But they can't all be hurt, and at some point someone needs to, as Denis Savard once said, commit to the Indian. Right now these aren't the defending Stanley Cup Champions, because they aren't defending anything. They're just looking to hand it over, as if there's a term limit of one year for Stanley Cup Champions. Their anemic offense, particularly their forwards, is ensuring them their quickest trip to the golf course in three years. If they've got any pride left, this would be an outstanding time for it to start showing.

THE UGLY:

Steve Konroyd's monotone analysis on TV. As much as Ed Olczyk's calling every game as if his hair is on fire and running down his checklist of cliches and catchphrases can drive us all nuts, Konroyd sounds lost with Pat Foley. As LFork said during tonight's game, "Why do they call him a color man, when his only color is beige?"

Next up for the Hawks is Tuesday night against the Canadiens in Montreal. Let's see if they extricate their heads from their body cavities by then.