In huge game, Blackhawks finally find it
This one was more than merely make-or-break.
It might have been the difference between buy and sell.
The Blackhawks may yet be peddlers in advance of the trade deadline just 11 days from now, but their 3-1 victory over Minnesota at the UC Wednesday night was at least a stay of execution.
The 2 points did little to advance their cause, or their climb up the ladder in the Western Conference, but a loss — or even a tie against a team they're chasing — might have truly marked the end of their postseason hopes.
“We understood what this game meant,” said captain Jonathan Toews. “There's no time to waste. It's playoff hockey now the rest of the way.”
First game back from a long road trip is always tough, and the players had the added distraction of knowing head coach Joel Quenneville had been hospitalized Wednesday morning.
The Hawks' reluctance to disclose any information at all about Quenneville after a vague news release in the morning left players, fans and media no choice but to fear more tests are needed and that Quenneville's illness is a lot more serious than just the flu that has hit the team hard.
“We don't know anything,” Toews said. “We just hope he's OK.”
It might have been a factor in why the Hawks came out in their biggest game of the year with absolutely no energy, getting outshot 13-4 through the first 13 minutes before a power-play goal by Brian Campbell opened the scoring and got the engine started.
“The first 10 minutes, I'd like to have that back,” said assistant coach Mike Haviland, who ran the bench Wednesday. “(The Wild) came out desperate and it was a tough start for us, but that goal calmed us down and I thought after that we battled hard the entire game.”
Five games remain before the Feb. 28 trade deadline, and if the defending Stanley Cup champs don't find some reason to play 60 minutes — some utter desperation — between now and then, they can forget about competing again for the trophy they currently possess.
“We talked before the game about the importance of this game and how it's time to take a stand,” Haviland said. “We can't wait for tomorrow.”
The Hawks sit at 64 points through 57 games, and the average No. 8 team in the West since the lockout has put up 94 points.
That might not be enough this year, but if 94 is the number, the Hawks would have to play five games over .500 to get another 30 points in the last 25 games.
Can they go 15-10 or 13-8-4 down the stretch? Nothing they've shown thus far this season would indicate they have the desire or the ability, but they insisted Wednesday they have both.
“We know we're a good enough team and we have the talent to play well in big games,” said Troy Brouwer, who scored the game-winner 7:33 into the third. “I wouldn't say we put the whole season on this game, but we knew we couldn't fall 5 points behind a team we're chasing.
“These are all playoff games now, and that's something we have experience with. We're not going to win out, but we can't go win one, lose one the rest of the way. We've got to get points every night.”
The Hawks got 2 Wednesday, and just as important they kept Minnesota from getting even 1, something that was on their minds as they tried to hold a lead late in the third.
“We've put a lot of pressure on each other by putting ourselves in this spot,” Toews said. “But if every individual can find in themselves the same effort we all put in tonight, we showed we're going to be a pretty tough team to play against.”
When Duncan Keith kept in a puck at the point that led to Brouwer's go-ahead goal, he might have saved more than a game and maybe even the season.
It's possible he saved jobs for some players who might have otherwise been on planes out of town.
The Hawks still have time to salvage this season, but any serious slip-up and the trade deadline looms 11 days away.
Presumably, we'll have news on Joel Quenneville by then, and here's hoping it's all good.
brozner@dailyherald.com
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