Hawks' focus now on Canucks
Heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs there isn't a team under more pressure to deliver a championship than the Vancouver Canucks.
And there might not be a player under the microscope more than Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who despite some sparkling regular season has consistently come up short in the playoffs.
All this is good news for the Blackhawks, who could be the one team going into the postseason with nothing to lose and with the pressures of a grinding six-month regular season finally off their shoulders.
“It really feels like we have nothing to lose, especially after what happened with maybe be- ing out of the playoffs and now you get a second life,” Patrick Kane said Monday.
The Hawks came back from the dead Sunday, thinking their season was over after losing to Detroit at the United Center only to get a reprieve a few hours later from Minnesota's unlikely victory over Dallas.
“I honestly couldn't believe it,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “We can look at what happened yesterday as a sign that it's a second chance, that we can go on and really play that underdog role in this series.”
The expectations on the Canucks to win the Stanley Cup have been there since the preseason. Those expectations have only grown larger thanks a wonderful regular season in which they set franchise records with 54 wins and 117 points — 20 more than the Hawks.
But now the Canucks must prove they can beat the Hawks in a seven-game series, something they haven't been able to accomplish the last two springs despite being considered a Cup contender.
“We're certainly underdogs in this series,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It's a fresh series and it's a fresh year. They accomplished a lot by what they did in the regular season, but it's playoff hockey and it's one opponent and I think when we've zeroed in on one team the last couple years, we're pretty good at it.”
The pressure for the Hawks was simply getting into the tournament in a year when they faced one obstacle after another.
There were significant injuries to Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland and Brian Campbell and a turnover of nearly half the roster, but the biggest pressure on the Hawks came from their role as defending Stanley Cup champs.
The Hawks were required to be at their best every night because those were the games the opposition had circled on the calender. Some nights they met the challenge, some nights they didn't.
“I think everyone was gunning for us,” Kane said.
Now the focus is more narrow — one team, one game at a time.
“The biggest pressure is probably to get back to the playoffs,” Toews said. “What people don't probably realize at first is how tough it is to get back there.
“We talked all year about the changes that our team made over the off-season, the short off-season and all these little things that can affect your team a little bit.
“At the end of the day those things do take a toll and it wasn't an easy season or as smooth as it was last year, but we're here and I think all you need to go is get in. Whether you're one or eighth, it doesn't really matter.”
Luongo had a marvelous regular season with a record of 38-15-7, a 2.11 goals-against average and .928 save percentage, but can he get it done in the playoffs?
Even in Vancouver it's a huge issue, considering Luongo is 17-17 for his career in the playoffs and has never been past the second round.
The Hawks need to make Luongo's life miserable in front of the net, just as they have done the past two springs. The question on the Chicago end is do they have the guys to do what Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd did so well to get under Luongo's skin.
This is where Hawks such as Bryan Bickell, Troy Brouwer, Tomas Kopecky, Viktor Stalberg and Ryan Johnson must make a difference around the net.
You know Toews will be going there, but he can't do it alone.
tsassone@dailyherald.com