Chicago Blackhawks

It’s been a frustrating week for fans of the Chicago Blackhawks. They advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and learn that they are facing the seventh seed Detroit Red Wings. Easier said then done. The Red Wings have taken a stranglehold on the series thanks to a Game Four win at the Joe Louis Arena on Thursday evening. With the league’s best team down three games to one, things are starting to look a little bleak. However, that may not be the case. Here’s why you shouldn’t put that jersey away for the summer just yet; May 18, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (right) celebrates with center Patrick Sharp (left) after scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings in the first period of game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports Babcock Has Out-Coached Quenneville So Far, But It Will Not Continue Comparing Mike Babcock to Joel Quenneville is not easy. Both coaches are among the elite in the hockey world, and they both have years of success, and championships, under their belt. Babcock has out-coached Coach Q in games two, three, and four, matching lines, and squandering the Blackhawks top weapons with their Detroit equals. Henrik Zetterberg was on the ice for thirty-seven of Jonathan Toews‘ forty shifts in games Three and Four, holding him to no points and a -1 rating. Babcock could do this all day, but unfortunately, he will soon find out that his players cannot. The Red Wings are aging. They played 2 more games than the Blackhawks, and had to fight their own way out of Round One to get to this point in the first place, while Quenneville and the Blackhawks got rest, but stayed sharp. The conditioning of the young guns on the Hawks will pay dividends in this series, and this will start on Saturday night. Toews, Kane, Saad, Bickell, and company will be able to sustain a high intensity level for all 60 minutes, while Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Kronwall will all start to feel the effects of two long, drawn out series’, on top of an already tough season. Their coverage will start slipping, and the Blackhawks’ offense will get back to regular form. These players on the Red Wings will not be able to play that much ice time, and it will burn them in the end. Starting lineup for Game Four, where they scored 0 goals: 29-19-88 10-26-81 20-65-25 16-36-67 Starting lineup for March 16th vs. Dallas, where they scored 8 goals: 20-19-81 10-36-88 25-65-29 67-16-52 Moral of the story: If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It. Those lines from the Dallas game went through minuscule changes during the season, and those included the games against these very own Red Wings. Now is not the time to turn away from the combinations that brought the President’s Trophy to Chicago, just because they are under pressure from a team. For the Hawks to be successful, they need to keep Toews and Kane on separate lines, and have trust in the top lines to wipe out the Red Wings power, and the bottom six to burn them with the depth that killed all the other teams the Blackhawks faced this season. Streaking Is In Their Blood It’s true that the Blackhawks will have to win three straight games to punch their ticket to the Conference Finals. It seems daunting to any NHL club, but the Hawks might have an advantage. They did attain a 24 game point streak that got a little bit of publicity… inside that was an eleven game win streak. To put that in perspective, the Blackhawks only need 11 more wins to win the Stanley Cup. There were five times in this shortened season where the Blackhawks went streaking, earning 3 or more straight wins. With some help from the Blackhawk faithful at the United Center on Saturday, the Blackhawks could blow the doors off, and take this series and flip it on it’s head, and even continue that into the next round. The Stars Are Starting To Li

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports In the wake of last night’s shutout loss, the fury from Chicago Blackhawks fans was immense. They called for Ray Emery to take Corey Crawford’s place. They even demanded that everyone in the front office should be fired, from general manager Stan Bowman down to the assistant coaches. But in their rage, they’re failing to realize a painfully obvious point: firing people won’t fix what’s wrong on the ice. I’m seeing so much go wrong with the Blackhawks, things that they made look so effortless in the regular season. They had their way with the Minnesota Wild and their goalie troubles, but now they’re up against a Detroit Red Wings team that has nothing to lose and a goaltender that has frustrated them. The most frustrated of them all seems to be Jonathan Toews. It’s Toews who has the C on his chest, the one who is supposed to lead this team every night. But lately the guys are playing like they have no leader. Toews has no goals to his credit in nine games and has been losing faceoffs. You can see the frustration he feels in the scrums between whistles. On Thursday, it bubbled over and cost the team six minutes of shorthanded ice time, two of which resulted in a power play and broke their streak of 30 consecutive penalty kills. Brent Seabrook even had to go over to the penalty box and tell Toews to calm down for fear the frustration would spread over the rest of the team. If Toews really wants to help the team, he needs to put his words into action. It’s not enough to give fans and the media lip service by saying that they’re optimistic and need to focus on one game at a time. Toews needs to show the team itself how to handle being down three games. The biggest way he can do that is through discipline. If Toews steps up his game and handles himself like the captain he is, the others will follow suit. That’s especially important to his younger teammates like Andrew Shaw, who’s been rather hotheaded in this series. We can call Toews one of the best captains in the league, but that means nothing if he can’t lead his team through this series. His failures reflect on them and affect their play and attitude, and that in turn comes through on the ice. If he truly wants to win the next game, he’ll have to fix what’s wrong with himself first.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks don't have to look too far back to recall a time they faced an uphill battle in a playoff series like they are now. In 2011, the Blackhawks dropped their first three games to the Vancouver Canucks in a Western Conference quarterfinal series. The Blackhawks rallied to win the next three games and ultimately fell in the series when they lost 2-1 in overtime in Game 7. Now down 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in their Western Conference semifinal series, the Blackhawks said Friday they hope to draw from that 2011 experience to assist them this season.

CHICAGO -- As dire as it looks for the Chicago Blackhawks, it would be foolish to count them out of their playoff series with the Detroit Red Wings even though they're behind 3-1 in the series. And it would be very foolish to count them out of Game 5 on Saturday night at the United Center. You may not think it but Thursday's Game 4 gave hope for a comeback in the series. The Hawks are slowly climbing back up the ladder after bottoming out in their Game 2 loss.

CHICAGO -- Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Brent Seabrook and Nick Leddy had little to say Friday about their lack of ice time in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals the day before. Leddy, who averaged 17:25 of playing time in the regular season, played a season-low 8:32 in the 2-0 loss on Thursday. Seabrook, who averaged 22:00 in the regular season, played a season-low 12:03. Seabrook steered clear of answering most questions about his diminished playing time.

CHICAGO -- Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews plans to be optimistic until the end. That end could come Saturday, but Toews is still hoping the Blackhawks can regain their form and rally from three consecutive losses and a 3-1 series deficit to the Detroit Red Wings in their Western Conference semifinal series. "What's there to be down about?" Toews said on Friday. "We're obviously not where we want to be in the series, but dwelling on that and feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to do anything.

Jonathan Toews and the Blackhawks will practice at the United Center on Friday in an attempt to regroup and rediscover the regular-season magic that has disappeared in their playoff series with the Detroit Red Wings. The Hawks are in an unenviable position -- only 20 of 229 teams that have fallen behind 3-1 in a Stanley Cup playoff series have recovered to win the series. The last team to do that was Philadelphia against Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference finals -- on their way to losing to the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals. On the other hand, they still are the Blackhawks, a top-seeded team that set the pace in the regular season with 77 points in 48 games and earned the President's Trophy. They have two games at home, meaning they still only need to win one road game if they can hold serve at the United Center. And though it so far has rung hollow, Jonathan Toews is still Jonathan Toews, a renowned leader with a sterling reputation for being a winner. Three penalties in one six-minute stretch and a heated rant at an official from the penalty box (''No [bleeping] way!'') erases that. ''We're all frustrated. It's not about one guy,'' Hawks forward Patrick Sharp said after Thursday night's 2-0 loss to the Wings at Joe Louis Arena that dropped them into a 3-1 hole in their Western Conference semifinal series. ''We're a whole team team in here. Jonny's the first one to say that. We're all frustrated. We're not happy with the situation we're in. But no one's going to feel sorry for themselves. It's a tough task to find our way out of it.''

May 23, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) is brought down by by a hook from Detroit Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg (40) in front of goalie Jimmy Howard (35) in the second period in game four of the second round for the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports It’s NOT over yet!! There is a reason the series is a 7 game series and not a 3,4,or 5 game series!! Yes this isn’t Animal House but it’s time to take over what is ours and show the Detroit Red Wings that this Chicago Blackhawks team will never lay down and a desperate team is the worst team to face in the playoffs.  Here are some things momentum changing things for the Hawks to do heading into Game #5. 1. Shave The Beards!- Yes this is drastic for you traditionalists, but I’m pretty sure that 15 teams go home every season and shave off unlucky beards.  Start a new tradition and shave the heads and beards.  Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews beards look ridiculous anyways so this will be an added benefit to them.  Be a leader not a follower and 30 years from now people will ask when the totally shaved tradition started and we all can look back at the 2013 Hawks team down 3-1 to the Red Wings that began something new. 2. Throw in a Rockford youngster- Switching up lines confused Mike Babcock for all of one shift when he thought Byran Bickell was out on the third line.  Put youth into the lineup remember that the 2010 team was full of 21 and 22 year olds that were not just hungry but starving to win and play hard.  I don’t care who it is from Brandon Pirri, Jeremy Morin, or playoff hero from 2011 Ben Smith.  Look at the jump in the skates the Hawks had when Drew LeBlanc played a regular season game now imagine the jump in the skates Marian Hossa or Patrick Sharp would have playing with someone who could keep up with them instead of trailing them every play like Michal Handzus. 3. Make Them Leave The UC Hearing Chelsea Dagger In Their Sleep- One way to change momentum in a 7 game series when down 3-1 and having home ice advantage is blowing the doors off the team in Game 5 and changing the tide in the series.  The Hawks need to win a 4-0 or 5-1 game Saturday night, regain confidence, and show the Red Wings they will have to play perfect hockey in Game 6 or 7 to even have a chance to eliminate the Hawks.  The Red Wings have had three straight perfect game plan and executions with all the bounces go their way.  The Hawks need to eliminate the need for bounces and make everyone wearing Red and White from Detroit duck everytime Chelsea Dagger is played. This has been a special regular season team in 2013 but if they want history to remember them they will need to get out of their own ways and take back this series in Game 5! It’s not over and let’s keep it that way!!! ONE GOAL!!

What a difference eight days makes. A week ago Wednesday, the Blackhawks were flying high and feeling very confident after a 4-1 beating of the Red Wings in Game 1. Three games and just two goals later the Hawks are left frustrated and look lost. Mike Babcock has thoroughly out coached Joel Quenneville in the series and it shows on the ice. The Hawks were a team that cruised through the 48 game regular season without much trouble. Now they have the look of a team that is falling apart and it is starting at the top. The Blackhawks, for the third time in four games, played a solid 1st period. They had once again turned the Wings into a turnover machine, much like they did in Game 1. The problem was, after 20 minutes the game was still scoreless. Then the Jonathan Toews shit show started in the 2nd period. Tazer took 3 straight penalties in less than 5:30 minutes and looked horrible doing it. When Captain Serious starts being a bonehead, things are really bad. Jakub Kindl cashed in during the 2nd of the three Toews penalties to give the Wings the only goal they would need. Daniel Cleary added an empty net goal in the final seconds to seal the deal. So where to the Hawks go from here? They need to win three games in a row, starting tomorrow night on home ice. This is a team who put together extended winning streaks of 6, 4, 11, 3 and 7 games during the regular season. But this is not the team we saw in the regular season. Those streaks were made by a team firing on cylinders, with the stars producing and playing at a high level. Right now the Hawks top players are hot garbage. The Blackhawks have been heralded for their great depth all season long. Depth means nothing when your best players are ghosts. The Hawks can still win this series, but it cannot be done without our goal scorers getting pucks past Jimmy Howard. Q is going to have to pull something out of his bag of tricks as well, and I mean more than just shuffling up his lines. Babcock has taken away his bread & butter play of the stretch pass. As soon as a Hawks defenseman touches the puck, the Wings are bringing up 2 fowards between the circles, and a forward and a defenseman along the boards. This is not allowing the Hawks to gain the zone with ease and use their speed. The Hawks are being forced to become a dump and chase team, which is not what they want to do. I have yet to see anyone on this team wants to pay the price and consistently win board battles for the puck. This will need to change if the Blackhawks want to extend their season past Saturday night. * Signs things are not going your way: Michal Handzus and Dave Bolland lead your team in shots on goal. Our top 4 stars, Marian Hossa (1), Patrick Sharp (1), Jonathan Toews (3) and Patrick Kane (2) combined for seven shots on goal. This must improve. * Never thought I would ever type the words that I am disappointed in Jonathan Toews, but there it is. His meltdown in the 2nd period was a shame and embarrassing. I get you are frustrated with taking a beating and not getting many calls your way. That is no excuse to take 3 straight bad penalties and then cry about all of them. Be a better captain and lead by example. Not one of Johnny's bright spots in his career, that's for sure. Henrik Zetterberg and the Wings have done an amazing job getting in Tazer's head and off his game, much like they did with Corey Perry in the 1st round. Detroit is laying out the blueprint on how to shut down Toews for years to come. Time to man up and overcome it. Q needs to figure out a way to get Toews away from Zetterberg on Saturday. * The power play.......It cost Mike Haviland his job last year and it's gotten worse this year. It's not a personnel issue at this point, its a philosophical problem. And Q is getting too smart for his own good. No more Michal Rozsival or Brent Seabrook on the power play, please. The Hawks got a power play with 4:45 left in the game. They had

May 23, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) defend a shot by San Jose Sharks center Joe Pavelski (8) the third period of game five of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Staples Center. Kings won 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports Three Stanley Cup Playoff Games Last Night New York Rangers-4 Boston Bruins-3 Boston leads series (3-1) Tuukka Rask and the Bruins defense stole this defeat from the jaws of victory with some of the softest goals of all-time which led to Chris Krieder’s Overtime goal to extend the series at least one more game as the unexpected win by the Rangers forces Game 5 in Boston. (Boston Globe)  (New York Post) Detroit Red Wings-2 Chicago Blackhawks-0 (Detroit leads series 3-1) The Red Wings in four games have made both the Captain and the Coach lose their minds.  Will they get them back in time to save the series? (Hockee Night) (The Committed Indian) (Octopus Thrower) Los Angeles Kings-3 San Jose Sharks-0 (Kings lead series 3-2) Anze K0pitar scores the game winning goal and Jonathan Quick stops all 24 shots he sees in the Kings shutout of the Sharks as the home team has won every game of the series. (Blades Of Teal) (Rink Royalty) (LA Times) Tonight’s Only Playoff Game Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins 6:30pm (Penguins lead series 3-1) Will Daniel Alfredsson‘s premise be correct? Are the Pens too deep to mount a comeback or will the Senators shock the Pens and force a Game 6 back in Ottawa? (Ottawa Sun) (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)