Hawks Surging At The Right Time

By Staff in News on Mar 24, 2012 4:00PM

After Wednesday's overtime win against the hated Vancouver Canucks, the Blackhawks won their fifth game in a row and have now gone 10-4-1 without captain Jonathan Toews. Surprising since it was only a month ago when Hawks fans, including this one, were disappointed with the play on the ice and pissed about the lone deadline acquisition of Johnny Oduya. (Nice move Stan, by the way.) But now the feeling has gone from impending doom to jubilation and excitement for the start of the playoffs.

There are a lot reasons for the recent surge, first and foremost being the goalie play has drastically improved. But you can also point to a few things lying just below the surface, including Joel Quenneville re-emphasizing defense and assistant coach Barry Smith working with the power play units. Plus hockey is a fickle sport, just look at the amount of times players refer to the "hockey gods." Sometimes the puck just bounces your way.

You can also boil this streak down to the tired clichés that the team is playing as one and the stars are playing as expected. That’s an oversimplified view, but when players are willing to sacrifice and accept their role—we're looking at you, Bryan Bickell—and the Hawks get great play from Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa, they are going to win a lot of games. Even without Jonathan Toews.

If Toews is able to return soon (hockey gods willing) he should give the team a boost when they’re already playing at a high level. And in hockey, the team that wins isn’t necessarily the best but the hottest.

With six games left in the regular season, all against teams currently in playoff contention, if the Hawks keep up this level of play and get a boost from the return of Toews, they should hit the playoffs running. Maybe they’ll even get another shot at sending the Sedin sisters and their dirty-fighting friend Alex Burrows home early.

—Rob Winn