Due to their roller-coaster start, the Blackhawks are on the outside of the postseason race looking in, making each game that much more important. That is why Tuesday's loss stung as the Flames are a team the Blackhawks are chasing in the Western Conference standings.
"At the end of the day, when everybody knows we need the points and we know what the standings are like and where they're at and where we are, it's tough to lose these two points," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "(We) have to have some awareness of our situation. It's going to be a tight one all the way."
Colliton said he's not exactly living and dying with each out-of-town score, though he is keeping tabs on things.
"I think everyone's aware of it, but it doesn't do a lot of good," Colliton said. "We've just got to focus on the game in front of us and having a good effort, starting on time. I think we've been playing better. Our habits are better. We're giving ourselves a chance to win for the most part most nights and we'll need to continue to do that. The second part of our focus needs to be on improving. I think we're a better team now than we were a couple months ago and look a month down the road we need to take further steps as being more consistent, play at a higher level all the time, control the game more than we are and that will help us get to where we need to go."
Added defenseman Olli Maatta: "Right now, our goal is to make the playoffs. We just have to keep getting better every game and we'll be fine. At the end of it we'll see where we're at."
