Steve Poapst

Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter wouldn't have flunked a lie-detector test Sunday after saying, "Five on five, we were a better hockey team." But the outcome of the game at the United Center was determined by what the St. Louis Blues did in the first period...

Never at a loss for a rustic simile, Brian Sutter likened coaching the Blackhawks to riding a horse before they fell to the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 Tuesday night in the Skyreach Centre. "You've got to understand the type of horse you're riding," said the...

Firing a puck into your own net four minutes into a four-game trip and falling two goals down after five minutes isn't exactly what the Blackhawks had in mind Thursday. Yet that's the situation they faced after defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev fired a...

An old saying—the first game of a road trip is your last game at home—was making the rounds in the Blackhawks' locker room before Sunday night's game against the Rangers. If that's true, the next two weeks will be quite a ride for the Hawks. On the eve...

Considering the terrible defeat at Minnesota on Wednesday night, and the fact the Blackhawks were back at it Thursday, rookie goaltender Michael Leighton figured he would be a spectator when the Hawks played host to the Calgary Flames. Instead,...

I read a lot about a "trapping defense." What exactly is it? --Jeff Butler, Skokie, Ill. Jeff, a "trap" is when all five skaters collapse into the neutral zone. Normally a team will have one or maybe two forwards pressure the opposition in their own...

It's a fear. Not a "shaking in your skates, paralyzed" type of fear. But a fear nonetheless. That's how Jocelyn Thibault explains the Blackhawks' success against the class of the NHL the last few seasons and their most bitter rival, the Detroit Red...

As the Blackhawks boarded their charter flight to Chicago on Monday night, they thought not of the three out of four points they collected in two games in Florida, but of the fourth point they thought they should have had. "This feels like a loss,"...

If the sign of a good team is winning on nights when it doesn't play its best, then Friday's 2-1 Blackhawks victory over the Nashville Predators should be cause for optimism. "That was the sign of a team that has come a long ways in a couple months,"...

The team that may make the most noise come spring might be the one the Blackhawks faced Saturday at the Staples Center. Despite being decimated by injuries and enduring a marathon road trip, the Los Angeles Kings have kept their heads above water....

Michael Leighton "deserved a better fate," in the opinion of Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter. Leighton stopped 46 shots, but the rookie goaltender's destiny was to lose to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 Wednesday night in the United Center on Eric Cole's goal...

In a young season that already has had its share of ugly losses, the one Wednesday night might have cracked a mirror. "It's probably one of the ugliest I've played in," Blackhawks defenseman Jon Klemm said of the unsightly 6-2 defeat to the Calgary...