The Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Minnesota Wild through the playoffs on Thursday night with a 5-1 victory at your United Center to gain their first-round series inside five games.
Even although the box score would indicate the other, the Blackhawks did never play anywhere near their full capacity hockey in this series against a substandard Wild team with many young and inexperienced competitors.
We saw a similar situation within the 2009-10 playoffs when the Blackhawks never play at their highest level inside first round against your Nashville Predators, but in line with their superior skill together with depth, they were in a position to win the series around six games.
Realizing they wanted to find another gear to accomplish their goals, the Blackhawks woke upward and finished the playoffs with a 12-4 record that culminated while using the Stanley Cup.
For the Blackhawks to be able to celebrate the 2013 season in the same fashion they did two years ago, this team must follow the blueprint that your 2010 squad used.
The offensive production with the team's first line involving captain Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Brandon Saad ought to be better in the Traditional western Conference Semifinals.
"It's easy to build frustrated in situations like this, " said Toews just before Thursday's game (per CSN Chicago) when ever asked about his line's performance inside first round.
"At here we all understand that we're working hard for quality scoring opportunities... When we get our chances we should instead find a way to capitalize about them. As a line by means of [Hossa], [Saad] and myself we all know that once one goes into we will get that confidence that they will all go in all over again. "
This trio played its best game with the playoffs on Thursday using six points, including several goals scored by Hossa along with two assists from Toews.
The subsequent challenge for this line should be to generate offense and monetize on scoring chances regularly, and judging by their past success within the playoffs, there's no reason to consider Toews and Hossa will neglect to be more productive.
With the Blackhawks' second-round series with the Vancouver Canucks in 2010, Toews is almost unstoppable with 12 tips in six games. The captain led that team in scoring in its championship run 24 months ago, and Chicago will again need his offensive production to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Looking for lackluster performance offensively within this year's first-round series, Toews will be highly motivated to give his team a lot more scoring in round two, especially since he played in the point-per-game level for the first time in his career over the regular season.
The Blackhawks' penalty kill was great truly when it finished along with the fourth-best percentage among many 16 teams. The team's penalty kill may be even better this season being the only unit that is perfect (17-for-17).
"You should have a great goaltender to kill off as much penalties as we have got in [the first round], [Crawford] been doing his job pretty much he possibly can... We have some boys that are stepping when in front of shots, forwards especially, normally our [defense] usually take that responsibility in most cases but everyone is chipping inside. We understand that it's a very important part to winning that series and winning matches. "
Special teams was an essential weakness for this team last season (27th in NHL), and its improvement in this area of the game is certainly one of main reasons why Chicago dominated opponents inside the regular season.
Since head coach Joel Quenneville has so many forwards and defenseman able of excelling on the fees kill, he doesn't have to help you tire his best members like Toews by playing them considerably on special teams in combination with their normal 17-23 a matter of minutes of even strength winter snow storms time. If the Blackhawks continue to kill penalties with great consistency, much like they did truly, it's going to be incredibly difficult for rival teams to win this special teams battle.
Straightforward power play, this is certainly an area that really must be more effective. Chicago has scored a particular time in 11 opportunities along with the man advantage, and only Minnesota has fewer success on the power play among playoff matchups.
The Blackhawks needed a superb power play in 2010 considering their goaltending wasn't pretty well it is right at this moment, but the team's lack of success with the man advantage in this year's playoffs is still a problem. Chicago doesn't need some dominant power play to help win the Stanley Mug, but failing to generate enough quality scoring possibilities is unacceptable.
Toews and Kane didn't score only one goal in the primary round, yet the Blackhawks always scored 3. 4 objectives per game, which was greater than their season average (3. 1 goals/game). For the 13 forwards that played with the first-round series versus your Wild, only Daniel Carcillo and Brandon Bollig did not tally a point.
Chicago's bottom-six forwards, including Michael Frolik (three points), Bryan Bickell (four points), and Andrew Shaw (four points), played an essential role in the team's offensive success within the first round.
Getting this number of production from role players is important for the Blackhawks because teams will put a lot effort into shutting straight down their top-six. If people like Toews, Kane, Hossa and Patrick Sharp struggle inside the later rounds, Chicago require its bottom-six to create more offense than typical, just like it made against Minnesota.
The 2010 team possessed seven forwards that finished the playoffs to comprehend than 10 points, plus the Blackhawks will need this same level of production to win a further title, especially from a Western Conference which can be full of teams using quality goaltending.
The Detroit Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks could be the two most likely second-round opponents for the Blackhawks, and both advisors play well defensively, kill penalties consistently and have absolutely great goaltending. Without enough scoring depth, Chicago would risk appearing upset by either one such teams, both of which have plenty of playoff working experience.
Crawford has been outstanding inside playoffs thus far, which will give the Blackhawks a huge amount of confidence in the later rounds because goaltending has been a bit of a weakness for this team considering that it last won the Glass.
During that championship work, Blackhawks goaltender Antti Niemi (currently in the Sharks) gave the team an honest presence in net.
Niemi is 1 of 2 goaltenders since the 2004-05 lockout so that you can win a Cup which includes a GAA above 2. 20 as well as a save percentage below. 915, however , to his credit, he made giving her a very saves late in next periods and overtimes that kept the Blackhawks out of losing close games. Crawford has been doing the same throughout that shortened season, which is why Chicago is 20-3-6 inside one-goal games.
Unlike past season, Crawford has a plethora of confidence at the end in the first round. His teammates also believe in him and earning her first ever playoff selection win will relieve a bit off the pressure he's under with this postseason.
Just like 2 years ago, the Blackhawks are getting good goaltending in the postseason when they need it most. The difference is this Crawford could realistically play at a level that makes him a highly regarded candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy since playoff MVP if Chicago wins the Cup. He's currently leading the playoffs with save percentage and GAA.
The Blackhawks did not dominate opponents at home throughout their championship run two in years past, but this lack of success with the United Center didn't avoid the team from being successful because it went 9-2-1 while travelling.
Luckily for the Blackhawks, they are going to have home-ice advantage in every one four rounds as Presidents' Trophy invariably winners. But for this power team to win another Stanley Cup, it will have to play well away from home.
This shouldn't be a difficulty for Chicago since it had the most effective road record in the league (18-4-2) through the regular season, and was considered one of only two teams a lot easier than 15 road victories (Pittsburgh was the other).
With a veteran gang of players that understands the importance of winning on the highway in the playoffs, the Blackhawks' success out and about will continue and cause them to the most difficult team to beat with respect to the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.
Nicholas Goss can be an NHL Lead Writer in Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter. He was a credentialed reporter at the 2011 Stanley Cup Final and 2012 NHL playoffs around Boston.
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