Those two mistakes by the visitors -- a lapse on the penalty kill allowing Colorado to execute a set play Chicago saw on film and a coverage mistake along the wall that allowed Mikko Rantanen to beat Marc-Andre Fleury alone in tight -- proved the difference on the night.
With a standings deficit to erase if the team wants to have a shot at the postseason over the back half, moral victories are tough to swallow. But there's something to be said for holding the league's second highest-scoring offense at over four goals per game to just a pair on the night. Chicago trailed in 5-on-5 scoring chances by just a 25-22 margin, and tied in high-danger looks among those at 11-11.
What isn't clicking right now for Chicago is finishing chances. The team now has just six goals in their last four games, just four of those at 5-on-5 play.
"Absolutely," Kane said of the frustration on the offensive side. "We need to find a way to produce a little bit, create a little bit more O-zone time and keep the puck a little bit more."
"It's frustrating as a coach and I know as a player how it can be frustrating and it can creep in," King said. "We've just got to keep these guys, their energy up, keep their heads up. There's no 'Poor me' here, we just continue to build. We're doing a lot of good things out there. Especially against these good teams, I think we raise our game. It's trying to keep that raising the game to that level and we'll get there. It doesn't matter who we play. We'll build from it and hopefully we go into Detroit and get some points going here."
