Blackhawks enter five-day break on down note

CHICAGO -- Coach Joel Quenneville has given this warning before, the one in which he reminds his Chicago Blackhawks not to get too complacent in their last game before a break. And the early start to their game against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday was no excuse.
"We practice at this time almost every day, so we should be ready," Quenneville said prior to the game, which officially began at 11:39 a.m. "The focus, mentally, should be in the right place."

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Apparently, it wasn't. Much as they did entering the Christmas break, the Blackhawks needed a strong finish before their upcoming five-day NHL-mandated break. But much like their last game before the Christmas break, a 4-1 loss at the New Jersey Devils, the Blackhawks didn't get that on Sunday, losing 4-0 to the Red Wings. So instead of making a little more headway in the Central Division, the Blackhawks remain in sixth place and enter another break frustrated.
With so much on the line, how did the Blackhawks come into the game so unprepared?
"Good question," captain Jonathan Toews said. "Trying to figure out why that is, why we weren't prepared for today. There are moments throughout the season where, I don't want to say they're deciding moments but they're key moments where we need to keep playing hard and keep playing the way we've been playing when we're stringing wins together. A game like today; we know we need to have an effort, play like veterans and play like pros. We weren't prepared to do that."

It would've been one thing for the Blackhawks to lose, but it was the way they did that was even more frustrating for Quenneville. The Blackhawks looked listless throughout the afternoon, from sloppy passing to poor puck management to their powerless power play (0 for 9 in its last three games) that drew groans from the crowd early in the third period. The sharpest part of the Blackhawks' game was their penalty kill, which went 4-for-4 and is 22 for its last 23. But that was little consolation.
"That was tough to watch," Quenneville said. "Could use the word brutal [but] that may be complimentary. Out to lunch? Use them all. But that wasn't good enough. Nowhere near good enough."
The Blackhawks have struggled with inconsistency all season, and this weekend was a microcosm of those struggles. They were sharp in a 2-1 victory against the division-leading Winnipeg Jets on Friday, only to follow with a lifeless loss to the Red Wings. Players are at a loss as to why the team can't build off strong games.
"If we knew, we would certainly find a way to not have it happen again," forward Tommy Wingels said. "It's completely on us. We as players knew this game was here; we knew the magnitude of this game. We knew how important two points are. We know the standings across this league, everyone's so close right now. We knew we had a break coming up and we have to sit with that result for the next five days before we have another chance to get it back, and that's on us."
The Blackhawks will go their separate ways before reconvening for practice Friday. By the time they host the New York Islanders on Saturday, they could very well be in seventh place; the Colorado Avalanche, currently in seventh, are one point behind the Blackhawks and have games Monday (against the Anaheim Ducks) and Thursday (against the San Jose Sharks).
The Blackhawks had a chance to enter their break on a high note. Quenneville was asked if he and general manager Stan Bowman will talk about whether this roster could use something else. But for Quenneville, the biggest thing the Blackhawks are missing right now can't be acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline.
"Certainly, the most important ingredient of our game is competing, and if you don't compete you don't have a chance," he said. "And today, we had no chance."