Storylines to watch in Blackhawks' second half

All in all, it was a good first half of the season for the Blackhawks.

Coach Joel Quenneville's squad - despite hitting a couple of rough patches of ice - is coming out of the all-star break at 30-15-2 and on pace for a 108-point season.

The Hawks deserve a hall pass if they fall into an occasional slump for numerous reasons, which include:

• The fact that nearly every team facing them is looking to knock off one of the NHL's best and most respected squads. The Hawks are getting their opponent's best shot each and every night.

• The season's a grind. No team can be at its best for 82 straight games.

• The Hawks have played plenty of extra hockey the last two seasons - 42 playoff games to be exact.

Come mid-April when the playoffs begin, nobody's going to remember that 7-6-2 start to the season or that 3-5 mark to begin play in 2015.

What transpires in the next 2½ months, though, should be entertaining as teams begin scratching and clawing for a playoff berth while others jockey for position.

As the Hawks get set to embark on a six-game road trip, beginning Wednesday with the defending champion Kings, here's a look at some intriguing second-half storylines.

Kane MVP?

Unlike last season, when Sidney Crosby won the Hart Memorial Trophy in a landslide (128 out of 137 first-place votes), there's no clear-cut front-runner to this point.

Among the top candidates, there's no one hotter than Patrick Kane. After a slow start, Kane has 18 goals and 23 assists in the Hawks' last 41 games and is probably playing the best hockey of his career.

So who is Kane's top competition?

• The Flyers' Jakub Voracek (56 points) and Stars' Tyler Seguin (52 points) lead the NHL in scoring, but their teams will have a difficult time making the playoffs.

• The Penguins' Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are both tied with Kane with 51 points, but as teammates they may split a lot of votes.

• Of course, you never want to overlook the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin, a three-time MVP winner who is second in the league with 27 goals.

• Other candidates to this point have to be the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko (24 goals, plus-23 rating); Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf (50 points, plus-12 rating); the Rangers' Rick Nash (tied with Seguin with league-best 28 goals); and Steven Stamkos, who has 26 goals and has helped lead the Lightning to an Eastern Conference-best 64 points.

Kane deserves to be heavily involved in the conversation. The Hawks don't rely on any one player for their success, but Kane's play stands out and he deserves more recognition for it.

Division storylines

Nashville (65 points, first place) - The sprained knee suffered by goalie Pekka Rinne on Jan. 13 is expected to keep him out 3-5 weeks. Rinne leads the league in wins (29) and is third in goals allowed per game (1.96) and save percentage (.931). Nashville went 1-1-1 without Rinne, allowing 10 goals as backup Carter Hutton had an unsightly .876 save percentage.

Rinne figures to miss 5-11 more games - many of which come against some stiff competition - so it wouldn't be surprising to see Nashville in third place by mid-February.

St. Louis (62 points, second place) - Few teams are hotter than the Blues, having gone 7-0-1 over their last eight games while pumping in 37 goals (4.6 per game) in that span. Led by Vladimir Tarasenko, they have a deep roster in which five players have hit double-digits in goals and two more have 9 each.

St. Louis' goaltender situation seems to be more stable as Brian Elliott (.930 save percentage) has been decent after missing a month because of injury.

Winnipeg (60 points, fourth place) - Speaking of red-hot teams, how about those Jets? Winnipeg, which is getting big contributions from ex-Hawks Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, is 6-0-1 over its last seven games. Credit executive vice president and GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who was the Chicago Wolves' GM for 12 seasons and the Hawks' assistant GM in their Stanley Cup 2009-10 campaign, for helping turn around a team that finished dead last in the Central last season.

The Jets, who own 3 wins against the Hawks this season, have a firm grasp on a playoff spot for now.

Hawks' key games

Ten games Hawks fans should circle on the calendar:

1. at Los Angeles, Wednesday. Quenneville's squad should expect a fiery bunch of Kings as L.A. is trying to avoid the embarrassment of becoming just the fifth NHL Stanley Cup champion to miss the playoffs the following year. Carolina, the 2006 champion, was the last team to suffer this ignominy.

2. at Anaheim, Friday. There's certainly no easing into the post all-star break schedule. This tilt is against the West's top team to date.

3. at Winnipeg, Feb. 6. Jets 1, Hawks 0; Jets 5, Hawks 1; Jets 4, Hawks 2. And all at the UC. No team has owned the Hawks like the Jets have. This is a must-see affair.

4. at St. Louis, Feb. 8. This game against a fierce division rival closes out the six-game Ice Show Trip.

5. vs. Pittsburgh, Feb. 15. Anytime Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin come to town, it's a treat for the fans.

6. vs. Detroit, Feb. 18. This is the only chance fans have to chant their favorite Detroit chant all season, barring an unlikely Stanley Cup Final matchup. The Hawks will attempt to avenge a 4-1 loss in November.

7. at Tampa Bay, Feb. 27. More revenge on tap as the East's top team (to this point) will have the 3-2 shootout loss from Nov. 11 on its mind.

8. at Winnipeg, March 29. Another chance for Quenneville's squad to prove it can handle the Jets.

9. and 10. vs. St. Louis, April 5; at St. Louis, April 9. As tight as the West figures to be down the stretch, these two games could mean a two- or three-seed move for both the Hawks and Blues.