Blackhawks Back On Track?
The Chicago Blackhawks have won three games in a row. But the impressive thing hasn't been the number of games, but the way they've won them.
"I though we got a lot of confidence after the last couple games, [Sunday's] especially," Blackhawks' defenseman Duncan Keith said. "I know it was against the [New York] Islanders and we were on a long road trip and it was the last game, but it still gave us confidence"
Sunday night's game was a 5-0 domination of the lowly Islanders, a team that the Blackhawks should have beat. But maybe for the first time all season, they looked like the team that won the Stanley Cup a year ago.
"Beating them like we did, showed that we can play a full 60-minutes, and we can create offense and play the right way," Keith said.
There might not be a better time than now for the Blackhawks to find their confidence and to start racking up the wins. With the second half of the season underway, the Blackhawks still have a chance to get a comfortable seed in the Western Conference Playoffs.
"The standings are so tight right now," Blackhawks forward Fernando Pisani said. "Every [standings] point matters. So I thought we've been playing well the last couple games."
Wins over the Ottawa Senators and Islanders won't get the Blackhawks where they want to be. They need to prove that they can beat the team battling for playoff spots.
"[Wednesday] night was a good test for us to measure up against a team in out division," Pisani said of the 8th place Avalanche, who, as of Thursday, sit one-point behind the Blackhawks in the standings. "They're a strong team and they move the puck well, they're a fast team. It was a good test for us."
