This Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Minnesota Wild through the playoffs on Thursday night using a 5-1 victory at that United Center to get their first-round series in five games.
Even although the box score would indicate the other, the Blackhawks did never play anywhere near their best hockey in this series against a substandard Wild team with many young and inexperienced competitors.
We saw a similar situation during the 2009-10 playoffs when the Blackhawks did not play at their highest level inside first round against the Nashville Predators, but according to their superior skill together with depth, they were in a position to win the series in six games.
Realizing they required to find another gear to attain their goals, the Blackhawks woke upward and finished the playoffs which includes a 12-4 record that culminated while using Stanley Cup.
For the Blackhawks to be able to celebrate the 2013 season inside the same fashion they did eighteen months ago, this team must follow the blueprint that this 2010 squad used.
The offensive production with the team's first line of captain Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad has to be better in the North west Conference Semifinals.
"It's easy to get frustrated in situations in this way, " said Toews just before Thursday's game (per CSN Chicago) when asked about his line's performance inside the first round.
"At this aspect we all understand that we're spending so much time for quality scoring opportunities... When we get our chances we find a way to capitalize with them. As a line by means of [Hossa], [Saad] and myself we understand that once one goes into we will get that confidence that they'll all go in again. "
This trio played its best game within the playoffs on Thursday by using six points, including a pair of goals scored by Hossa together with two assists from Toews.
The next challenge for this line is to generate offense and cash in on on scoring chances routinely, and judging by their past success within the playoffs, there's no reason to trust Toews and Hossa will neglect to be more productive.
With the Blackhawks' second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks in 2010, Toews has been almost unstoppable with 12 ideas in six games. The captain led that team in scoring during its championship run 24 months ago, and Chicago will all over again need his offensive production to arrive the Western Conference Finals.
From lackluster performance offensively from this year's first-round series, Toews will be highly motivated giving his team some more scoring in round a couple, especially since he played at a point-per-game level for the first time in his career through the regular season.
The Blackhawks' penalty kill was great this year when it finished together with the fourth-best percentage among most 16 teams. The team's penalty kill has become even better this season as the only unit that continues to perfect (17-for-17).
"You require a great goaltender to kill off as many penalties as we need in [the first round], [Crawford] been doing his job practically he possibly can... We have some fellas that are stepping looking at shots, forwards especially, normally our [defense] tend to take that responsibility usually but everyone is chipping around. We understand that it's a critical part to winning this series and winning activities. "
Special teams was a significant weakness for this company last season (27th with NHL), and its improvement in this field of the game is one of main reasons why Chicago dominated opponents with the regular season.
Since head coach Joel Quenneville has so many forwards and defenseman competent at excelling on the consequence kill, he doesn't have to tire his best players like Toews by playing them a lot on special teams in addition to their normal 17-23 minutes of even strength snowing conditions time. If the Blackhawks continue to kill penalties with wonderful consistency, much like they did this season, it's going to come to be incredibly difficult for opposite teams to win that special teams battle.
You should definitely power play, this is certainly an area that needs to be more effective. Chicago has scored only one time in 11 opportunities while using the man advantage, and only Minnesota has fewer success relating to the power play among playoff matchups.
The Blackhawks needed a good power play in 2010 due to the fact their goaltending wasn't virtually it is right today, but the team's deficiency of success with the man advantage from this year's playoffs is still a concern. Chicago doesn't need some sort of dominant power play to help win the Stanley Glass, but failing to establish enough quality scoring chances is unacceptable.
Toews and Kane didn't score a particular goal in the primary round, yet the Blackhawks still scored 3. 4 objectives per game, which was compared to their season average (3. 1 goals/game). For the 13 forwards that played inside the first-round series versus a Wild, only Daniel Carcillo and Brandon Bollig did not tally a point.
Chicago's bottom-six ahead, including Michael Frolik (three points), Bryan Bickell (four points), in addition to Andrew Shaw (four points), played a leading role in the team's offensive success inside first round.
Getting this sum of production from role players is important for the Blackhawks simply because teams will put a lot of effort into shutting lower their top-six. If competitors like Toews, Kane, Hossa and Patrick Sharp struggle inside the later rounds, Chicago will be needing its bottom-six to yield more offense than typical, just like it made against Minnesota.
The 2010 team previously had seven forwards that finished the playoffs with more than 10 points, plus the Blackhawks will need this same amount of production to win some other title, especially from a Western Conference that's full of teams along with quality goaltending.
The Detroit Red Wings and also the San Jose Sharks are definitely the two most likely second-round opponents with the Blackhawks, and both advisors play well defensively, kill penalties consistently and now have great goaltending. Without more than enough scoring depth, Chicago would risk appearing upset by either one example of these teams, both of which have plenty of playoff encounter.
Crawford has been outstanding in the playoffs thus far, which will give the Blackhawks a lot of confidence in the after rounds because goaltending has been a bit of a weakness for this team because it last won the Container.
During that championship work, Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi (currently with the Sharks) gave the team a reliable presence in net.
Niemi is one of two goaltenders since the 2004-05 lockout to help win a Cup by having a GAA above 2. 20 together with a save percentage below. 915, however , to his credit, he made giving her a very saves late in next periods and overtimes this kept the Blackhawks because of losing close games. Crawford has been doing the same throughout that shortened season, which is why Chicago is 20-3-6 within one-goal games.
Unlike last season, Crawford has a lot of confidence at the end of the first round. His teammates confidence him and earning their first ever playoff series win will relieve slightly off the pressure he's under in such a postseason.
Just like two years ago, the Blackhawks have become good goaltending in the postseason whenever they need it most. The difference is that will Crawford could realistically play in the level that makes him the candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy for the reason that playoff MVP if Chi town wins the Cup. He's currently leading the playoffs inside save percentage and GAA.
The Blackhawks don't dominate opponents at home during their championship run two in years past, but this lack of success in the United Center didn't avoid the team from being successful because it went 9-2-1 on the highway.
Luckily for the Blackhawks, they are going to have home-ice advantage overall four rounds as Presidents' Trophy winners. But for this company to win another Stanley Cup, it will have to play well out of the house.
This shouldn't be an issue for Chicago since it had the very best road record in the league (18-4-2) during the regular season, and was probably only two teams with more than 15 road gains all the perks (Pittsburgh was the other).
With a veteran gang of players that understands the importance of winning while traveling in the playoffs, the Blackhawks' success out and about will continue and create them the most difficult team to beat on the path to the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.
Nicholas Goss is really an NHL Lead Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter. He was a credentialed reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final and 2012 NHL playoffs with Boston.
No comments:
Post a Comment