It's official: Hawks earn trip to playoffs

The Blackhawks are going to the postseason.

Let the playoff beards begin.

"I'll do my best," 20-year-old Patrick Kane joked after the Hawks' 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night at the United Center clinched their first playoff berth since 2002.

"I think we're going to have to go to the Cup Finals to maybe see the beard though."

Just a few years removed from some of the darkest days for NHL hockey in a city that had all but left the franchise for dead, the Hawks finally nailed down that elusive playoff berth on a night they sold out their 39th straight home game.

The Hawks have 42 wins and 95 points with five games still to play. They moved back into fourth place by 1 point in the Western Conference, which would mean having home ice for their first-round series that's set to begin either April 15 or 16.

"Getting to the playoffs is great and we're pumped about that, but I think our goal is to get into that fourth spot, or stay in that fourth spot and lock that down for home ice," Brent Seabrook said.

The Hawks will be keeping their fingers crossed that they'll have Patrick Sharp for the playoffs.

Sharp went down with what appeared to be another knee injury in a violent first-period collision with Predators goalie Pekka Rinne.

There was talk during the game that the injury might be more serious than the sprained left knee that kept Sharp out for 16 games recently, but Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said, "I don't know about that," when asked if the injury was worse.

"We've got a couple guys up front that I don't think it's long term, but we'll see," Quenneville said in reference to Sharp and Troy Brouwer.

As for Sharp specifically, Quenneville said: "Going to say day to day. We'll have a better idea, assessment (today) how long. Lower body."

The Hawks played a second straight strong, tight-checking, defensive game in front of goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who was terrific in making 25 saves.

Sammy Pahlsson scored for the Hawks in a 1-1 first period, but it was Jonathan Toews' 32nd goal at 12:26 of the second period set up by Martin Havlat that proved to be the game-winner.

Havlat added an empty-netter in the final two minutes.

"I think we're getting a pretty good taste right now of what the playoffs will be like," Toews said. "We know what we're capable of as a team, and the effort against Vancouver and Montreal definitely wasn't good enough.

"We're happy we stepped it up the last couple games, and it's time to get that consistent effort going every single night now. I think we're taking the necessary steps now to be successful."

Quenneville is a huge reason why the Hawks are going to the playoffs, taking over from Denis Savard after four games and keeping the team consistent to the point where it never had a losing streak of more than three in regulation.

"It's a great achievement," Quenneville said of making the playoffs. "That was our motivation at the start of the year. That was our No. 1 priority and objective. It's something to be excited about.

"Now getting fourth is something to continue to shoot for and not just be satisfied by making the playoffs."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=284092"><b>BARRY ROZNER:</b> Still long way to go, but Hawks deserve to enjoy this one <span class="date"> [4/4/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=284088">Pahlsson-Ladd-Byfuglien still together<span class="date"> [4/3/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>