Blackhawks play better, but Toews remains a no-show

During the ninth inning of Saturday’s Brewers-Cubs game at Wrigley Field, Chicago broadcaster Jim Deshaies wished the city’s hockey team well in Saturday’s game against the Golden Knights.

He said the Blackhawks were facing elimination in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

He was off by one game. But the former left-hander’s slip of the tongue said a lot about the hockey vibe in the Windy City before Game 3 inside the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble.

These were the bulleted items from the Chicago side heading into the pivotal third game, things that probably had to happen if the Blackhawks were to get back into the series against the heavily favored Knights:

— They had to get Jonathan Toews going again.

— They probably had to focus on stretching the ice rather than forming a gauntlet in front of veteran goalie Corey Crawford.

— They could ill afford another defeat, because that would have reduced their chances of coming back from a 2-0 series deficit from 13.6 percent to 2.1, according to Lord Stanley’s hockey history book.

Alas, Toews was a nonfactor again. And although the Blackhawks picked up the tempo and edged the Knights 27-26 in shots on goal, resurgent Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all but one in Vegas’ 2-1 victory.

All for nothing

So a second consecutive gritty effort was wasted, leaving Chicago in a 3-0 hole heading into Sunday’s Game 4.

Toews was coming off a sublime play-in series against the favored Edmonton Oilers in which he scored four goals and added three assists.

But that series was much more freewheeling than this one. The Blackhawks’ captain had just one assist in the first two games against the more defensive-leaning Knights, who seemed to get in his head, or at least place a bounty on it.

Jonathan Marchessault and Toews engaged in a wrestling match in front of the VGK bench in Game 1 before Tomas Nosek and Ryan Reeves tag-teamed the Chicago star in the face-off circle in the second game. The Blackhawks still were complaining about the lack of an interference call the next day.

Toews managed only one shot Saturday, gave the puck away three times and was on the ice for both Knights goals. He made a deft pass to set up Kirby Dach in the first period only to have Fleury snuff the shot attempt; in the second period, he was caught from behind by Nate Schmidt nullifying a semi-breakaway.

Execution song

Hawks coach Jeremy Collition said his team almost played well enough to win, or at least force another overtime, without a contribution from their star center. who appeared frustrated during a TV shot in the third period.

“Tough defeat obviously, desperate situation, but probably the only thing missing was execution,” said Collition, whose team has yet to lead any of the three games. “Left some plays on the table at times but did a lot of good things away from the puck and put ourselves in good situations to create offense.”

The beneficiary in many of those situations was Alex DeBrincat, who peppered Fleury with eight shots. But none went in and the Hawks forward, who scored 18 goals in 70 regular-season games, still is seeking his first one since entering the playoff bubble.

Patrick Kane, Batman to Toews’ Robin for the Hawks, skated double shifts during much of the night and logged 24 minutes, 41 seconds of playing time — five minutes more than any Chicago forward.

Kane didn’t score, either, and missed a wide open net on a one-timer from close range in the first period. But he was all over the ice again, just as you’d expect from a guy who passed Bobby Hull as the Hawks’ all-time playoff point-getter with assists on all three Chicago goals in a 4-3 overtime loss on Thursday.

“I thought we played hard and created enough chances to score more than one goal,” a subdued Colliton said on the Zoom call. “Just couldn’t find a way to get the second one. So in our situation there’s nothing left to do but rest up, regroup, put everything we have into (Sunday’s) game and see what happens.”

Deshaies probably will wish him and the Blackhawks well again from Wrigley Field, although this time it may be too late to matter.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.