Peter Budaj makes 24 saves to help Avalanche end 6-game losing ...

Peter Budaj made 24 saves and Marek Svatos and Ryan Smyth each had a goal and an assist to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 on Sunday and end a six-game losing streak.

[Tony]

Chances are that the Trib will flush the early comments so i'll just sum it up with one word....Pathetic.

[BFM]

Lets just hope Havlat was taken out because of illness.
I will say that Havlat took an awkward spill into the boards behind the net against Anaheim. He got up kind of awkwardly and looked a little uncomfortable. He finished the game then played Saturday so I figured all is good.

[Tim - Hockey Rules]

It was a bad game, actually this was one that I left before the game ended. Yes I did just that cause I was so upset with the way that they played. I will say this that they lost as a TEAM! They did not play well at all.

I do hope that Havlat is ok, I really do but thanks to the NHL we fans have no idea what is wrong with him only a time table that will be given to us in a few days.

[eddie shore]

When I played and your effort was poor we skated at practice without pucks until 2 forwards and 2 defenseman puked. No puck practice time Q

[Micah]

It may not be " Panic Button " time, but J.Q. better see that the Hawks turn this around. Losing to the top team in the East - the Bruins in Boston was not all that bad although the Hawks only played about 10 minutes of hockey, but being humiliated 5-1 at home by the last place Avs should be a wake-up call.
Vancouver is only 5 points behind and gaining fast. The hawks may find themselves in a dog fight for a play-off spot after all, if they don't start winning these HOME games.

Carolina is coming to town and they are playing their best hockey of the season, so LOOK OUT Hawks.

I hope Nicolai returns soon. Huet hasn't looked good lately.

If the Hawks slip to ninth after the season they've had to date, it will be as bad as the Cubs losing 3 straight in the play-offs two years in a row.

Get it together boys.

[Chico17]

Not a whole lot of positives that can be taken from that game. The Avs wanted to end their losing streak and the Hawks appeared to be coasting. The regular season finish line is in sight. We have to hope they come out of this funk and are hot going into the first round. No doubt a healthy Bulin Wall is needed about now. Hang on boys for an interesting finish.

[Chico17]

Micah: Good post. They will be in the playoffs for sure. We need to hope they do get home ice advantage. However, the way they have played at home recently, maybe they would be better off on the road. They won't slip to ninth. Too many teams bunched up and knocking each other off for that to happen. It is possible to slip to 5th in my opinion. Hey, it's a lot nicer position to be in than last season at this time. I remember how we were posting on here and hoping to make that 8th spot!

[Tony]

This was definitely a team effort...

[Tony]

90pts should secure a playoff spot...

[Jay Vee]

They are a young team and this is grind it out time since you have a playoff appearance pretty much locked up. But keeping the 4th slot is imperative if they want to go past the first round.

Huet has been shaky lately and they aren't scoring, that's a bad recipe. They have 12 home games left, need to have that UC advantage and secure teh 4 spot.

Maybe now's the time for Q to show some tough love and get these guys back on track so they go into the playoffs with some consistency and confidence.

[MI hawk fan]

Team confidence is waning, defensively they have been awful lately. It seems like without the quick early goal the offense sputters. I can't EVER remember the Hawks playing good in afternoon games.....unfortunately there are afternoon playoff games.

[Tony]

Need to get healthy...I don't see anything from Rockford helping us.

[Chris]

A couple of bad bounces in front of our net in the first (Bolland actually deflected the high shot right to Arnanson who then tipped it over for a wipe open net on the second goal) and we could never really recover after that. We will be alright, the other top teams have had a little lull lately as well, look at Detroit and Calgary getting blown out recently. A little rest and we will be ready for a hot Carolina team Wednesday, hopefully Havlat is OK.

[WrecksAlwaysSux]

Well well well, another -3 showing from Campbell that stands out from an overall dismal team performance. Could've resigned Wiz with some of that money from the albatross contract to a half-a-dimensional "defense-man". Barker got paired with him for the first two periods and came out -2. Then Quenneville put Walker back with him in the third, and he prompted became -1l.

[paulh]

WrecksAlwaysSux wrote:

Well well well, another -3 showing from Campbell that stands out from an overall dismal team performance. Could've resigned Wiz with some of that money from the albatross contract to a half-a-dimensional "defense-man". Barker got paired with him for the first two periods and came out -2. Then Quenneville put Walker back with him in the third, and he prompted became -1l.

Well, we knew that Campbell wasn't a physical defenseman. I just didn't know that he would trun away from contact. With his reusal to muck it up and chase down dump in's, he's cost his team a bunch of goals the last few games. First other teams began to copy the Wings with the constant pressure on the puck - now, getting physical with Campbell. The smallest Hawks will go into the corner, Campbell has got to do the same. Also, I'm not enjoying the Hawks playing the entire game along the boards. Zero attack up the middle, what's going on?