The Blackhawks' Third Quarter: Preparing for the Final Push

So yeah, the same thing that was of concern to me when I last talked about the Hawks is still of concern to me now, but nothing much more I can do now I suppose other than keep my fingers crossed and hope that everybody's healthy when I'm guessing that at least three of the guys the team sent over there are recovering from the Olympics final on a cross-country flight to resume the NHL season in Long Island.

But everybody's been saying the Blackhawks need this break—even though they've won their last four (last three all being shootouts). I'm sure most teams are appreciating the rest that their non-Olympians can get during this fortnight break, but you would have to think that our ongoing silly cries for a goaltending move (I thought we were over that!) before the trade deadline will almost certainly be resurrected as both Huet and Niemi adjust to having not played during the off-time. I guess I'll have to keep those fingers crossed for a few days after the Olympics about that as well, seeing as I'm more than content to play the hand the team's got right now and see how far it takes you when the playoffs start.

The move that the team did make in sending Cam Barker to Minnesota for Kim Johnsson and prospect Nick Leddy struck most fans I've talked to as well as most observers I follow as a definite win. As McClure over at Second City Hockey put it, "While Barker may turn out to be 'a thing,' it wasn't going to be here, and in return, the Hawks got real value for both this year's playoff push, and for the future."

Overall, I think the third quarter still went relatively well for Chicago. At 41-15-5, their 87 points is second to the Sharks, but they're 11 points ahead of No. 3 Vancouver in the conference and the closest team to them in the division is Nashville, 16 points back. So it would appear that there would have to be a truly epic collapse not to end up with one of those top two spots.

Looking back on that third quarter of season, the 5-3 performance over the eight-game road trip at the end of January certainly could have gone a lot worse. As big as the win over San Jose was, I actually think that it could be the game the Hawks pissed away to the Wild that they learn the most from heading into the post-season.

However, if one game really had that exciting atmosphere about it from last season's hella-fun playoff run, it had to be that shootout (yes, I know what I've said about those things) with Detroit:


Oh, and let's not forget VERSTEEG! mixing it up in that game, which was awesome too (although he's really been dogging it ever since, but ...).

The bottom line here is that the Blackhawks are only one point behind their total from what they accumulated over the course of an entire season two years ago. And really, in truth, this last leg of the regular season is hopefully one last chance to get the necessary momentum to begin plowing over Western Conference opponents on the way to the Stanley Cup. Here's a breakdown of the team's performance by quarters from the message board:

While the offensive numbers are improvements over that second quarter, the penalty minutes and (dare I say it?) the goals against are concerns—but still small ones, I say. Of my four Bs (Braves, Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks), it's the hockey team that's the only one I haven't seen win a World Championship in my lifetime. So forgive me for being anxious to get to the point where I can finally say that I've seen all four win it all. As we've been saying all year, "CUP OR BUST!"