Amonte Is Chicago’s Go-To Guy

Tony Amonte may be having the best season of his career for Chicago, but it didn’t feel that way for him Friday after a 2-0 loss to the Mighty Ducks that gave the Blackhawks a two-game losing streak.

Amonte, whose 16 goals this season rank second in the NHL, is on pace to score more than 50 goals this season. That would far surpass his previous best, 35, with the New York Rangers in 1991-92, when he finished as runner-up for the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year).

Amonte scored a goal in Chicago’s 3-2 loss at San Jose on Wednesday before the Ducks shut him out at the Pond to end his five-game point streak.

“I don’t really consider a good year [to be about] personal stats,” Amonte said. “It’s a team game. Our main goal right now is to get back winning.”

It was the second time this season that the Blackhawks were beaten 2-0 by the Ducks.

“I’m not sure that it’s any one particular thing, but they have played very well against us two games in a row,” Blackhawk Coach Craig Hartsburg said.

The Blackhawks lost such big scorers as Bernie Nicholls, Joe Murphy and Jeremy Roenick in the off-season, so the key to the Ducks’ success against them has been controlling Amonte.

He finished with two shots on goal. Chris Chelios, Alexei Zhamnov and Eric Daze each had four. Few of the Blackhawks’ shots, however, came from dangerous areas.

“I thought Amonte didn’t get a lot of chances from the middle of the ice,” Hartsburg said.

Amonte credited the Ducks for that.

“They play a pretty good defensive style. They really keep their third man back so you don’t get many odd-man rushes,” Amonte said.

But Amonte also pointed the finger at himself.

“[I have] the chance to play with [Zhamnov] and we’re getting plenty of ice time so we have to go out there and make things happen,” he said. “Unfortunately tonight we didn’t make enough happen. [The team] seemed a little flat out there.”

Forward Murray Craven tried to absorb some of the blame.

“We can’t wait for Tony Amonte and Alexei to score all our goals,” Craven said. “We need production from players like myself, Kevin Miller and Eric Daze. Lately, we seem pretty one-dimensional.”

It’s easy to rely on Amonte. He has reached the 30-goal plateau three times since being picked by the Rangers in the third round from Boston University in 1988.

He has played especially well lately, with 10 goals in his last 12 games.

“He has had a good start and he’s got a lot of confidence,” Hartsburg said.

Amonte’s confidence probably won’t be shattered by one bad game.

“I think tonight we got on the right track, we just have to keep on going,” he said.

Hartsburg agreed.

“Right now, we’re working but we’ve got to find another level of work in us. We’ve got to find another level of work and ways to compete,” Hartsburg said. “There are no easy ways out of it, just work our way through it and make second and third efforts and get some lucky bounces out of that and once we score a dirty one, maybe we’ll be off to the races.”