CALGARY, Alberta -- By all accounts, the Chicago Blackhawks tightened up their defense on Friday night. Yet they still lost the game and still gave up three goals, falling 3-1 to the Calgary Flames.

It’s come to this. Taking solace with keeping a team under eight or nine goals.

“We were better than [Thursday] night but it didn’t take much to do that,” Jonathan Toews said sarcastically afterwards. “We played solid early on. We stuck to the little things we wanted to do. We wanted shorter shifts, smarter changes, more physical. Keep our feet moving, all those little things we talk about that add up and make a difference for us. It slowly deteriorated and those bad habits slowly crept up in our game later on.”

By clogging the neutral zone and back-checking properly the Hawks did play it tight, but did it cost them at the other end? Their normally dangerous offense took a back seat to their attempt at playing proper defense.

“We had to play a tighter game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville emphasized. “I think we know there is going to be some offense there. Playing a little more responsible in all areas is something we have to build on.”

Defenseman Steve Montador echoed the very same thought.

“It helps it out overall,” he said. “I think the tighter we play defensively we should get enough chances to score goals.”

So where were the chances? Other than a Brent Seabrook goal and a couple of other decent looks, Miikka Kiprusoff had a relatively easy night.

The notion of sacrificing offense for defense is an important point. The last time the Hawks really bore down and focused on defense was in a 1-0 loss to San Jose in November. Again, good defense but no offense and a defeat.

If Quenneville is preaching that playing well in the Hawks’ end will lead to offense, and victories, yet it doesn’t play out like that, what is the next logical step? The Hawks will abandon their defensive ways and go back to running and gunning.

Mentally, they seem a mess right now. When they play to their strength, they lose and when they shore up their weaknesses, they lose. The balance and ability to play great and consistent hockey isn’t there.

“The way we’ve been playing lately we don’t deserve to win,” Toews said. “We’ll find a way out of it and things will start looking better for us soon.”

They better, because their tough stretch on the road in February is just beginning. Next up are three games out west and then three more out east.

“Stretches like this get your attention,” Quenneville said. “As a team you learn from this. We really haven’t had a challenge like this all year.”

Any Hawks fan knows that’s not completely true. This is at least their second such stretch and maybe their third. Either way they need to find that balance that great teams have -- play good defense and be opportunistic on offense. That balance has eluded them all year. Frustration is creeping in.

“It’s up there, but it doesn’t mean you stop work or stop trying,” Toews said.