| March Madness: What Happened to the Blackhawks? | ||||
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The Chicago Blackhawks continue their March slide down the rankings of the Western Conference. Their once solid, double-digit lead over the fifth place Vancouver Canucks is down to one point (thanks in part to Wednesday's overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets otherwise it would be tied) with Vancouver having the opportunity to claim fourth place all to itself when they face St. Louis Thursday night. Falling out of the playoffs no longer looks unthinkable, the Edmonton Oilers are in eight place with 75 points, only nine points behind the slumping Blackhawks.
March was supposed to be the month where the Blackhawks proved themselves, nipped at Detroit's butt, and solidified the respect they deserved. After spending much of February on the road, the higher ups in the NHL gave the Blackhawks one of the friendliest playoff run schedules. 11 out of 15 games are at home this month, 13 out of 16 counting the last week of February. Early in the season this looked to be an advantage, the United Center was one of the most feared buildings in all the league. The Blackhawks dominated, only having one regulation loss before the disappointing Winter Classic, and that was against the San Jose Sharks. Mid-January saw home ice advantage slide away when the Hawks lost two home games in a row (January 19 against the Minnesota Wild and January 21 against the St. Louis Blues). Since then the Hawks have only won four games at home out of ten. If home ice is not an advantage, maybe the Hawks are better on the road? This too was once true. After the All-Star break, the Hawks won eight out of 11 games on the road, one against the San Jose Sharks. Their losses came against L.A., Vancouver, and St. Louis, all teams the Blackhawks must face in the coming weeks. What happened to the Blackhawks? Since the All-Star Break, the Hawks have suffered countless injuries, most notably Patrick Sharp and Nikolai Khabibulin. Sharp suffered a knee injury in the first minute of the game against the Dallas Stars on February 14. He has yet to return to the line-up. Sharp's 23 goals rank him third for the Blackhawks, and that is without playing for an entire month. When the top goal producer is out of the line-up, it is easy to see where the problem begins. Top goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin missed just over a month of play when he suffered a lower body injury in the final minute of the game against Atlanta on February 11. Cristobal Huet did a great job at first, taking on the burden of full-time goaltender, but along with the rest of the team, he grew tired. Khabibulin's return was welcomed with an ovation when his name was announced prior to the start of the game against the worst team in the league, the New York Islanders, on March 15. Unfortunately for Khabibulin, he returned to a team much different than the one he left. He has lost both the games he has started in; once against the Islanders and once against the New Jersey Devils. The Blackhawks' bench has dried up as well. Prior to the slump, the score sheet showed a myriad of names who participated in the scoring onslaught of the evening. Now, much of the burden has fallen on Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Martin Havlat. Toews, who scored only twice in the first 19 games of the season now leads the Blackhawks with 29. Had Kane not snapped out of his goalless slump (he scored only one goal between December 26 and February 17) who knows where the Hawks would be now. The home life ahead does not look promising for the Blackhawks. The other teams in the league have studied the tape and have found a kink in the Blackhawks' armor. They are taking the Hawks deeper into the game and forcing the Hawks to play longer and harder (two out of their last three wins have been decided in overtime). Five out of their next six games are against playoff level teams, two against teams contending for the lead in their respected conference (San Jose and New Jersey), two against teams fighting to stay in the playoffs (Edmonton and Montreal), one against L.A., and one against Vancouver. In a past life, Friday's game against the Edmonton Oilers would have been considered a cakewalk. In their three match-ups thus far, the Hawks have outscored the Oilers 15-3. But that was in a past life, the Hawks were much better then and the Oilers were much worse. The Oilers are now fighting for the unexpected while the Hawks are letting the expected affect their game play.
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