Hawks staying positive despite one huge challenge

The Blackhawks have been the Comeback Kids since the playoffs started.

They proved that against Vancouver in the Western Conference semis when the Canucks scored first in five of the six games. The Hawks battled back and eventually won that series in six.

Well, the Kids are going to have to pull off a miracle this time because they have the Mount Everest of obstacles staring them in the face: trailing 3-1 to the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings with Game 5 on Wednesday in Detroit.

Heading into this year's playoffs, 229 teams trailed series 3-1; only 20 of them came back to win the series.

Ouch.

"This is the biggest challenge we've had to face so far," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews admitted after Detroit thumped the Hawks 6-1 Sunday. "The numbers will say everything's against us and we have no chance, but we don't think that way at all.

"As tough as it is to stay positive right now, that's what we've got to do. It's our only option. We've got to find a way to keep kicking."

They'll start by looking not at the big picture but the local focus.

"We're looking at it as just the one game," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've got to get there knowing that we've got to be better than we were today - fight our way back into this and who knows?"

The Red Wings, despite their commanding lead, aren't taking anything for granted.

"Let's not get carried away," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We won the third game here. You've got to win four in a series to move on.

"Obviously we're hopeful that we're going to be able to close out the Hawks. But they're a good team. They're going to bounce back and play us hard."

To do that the Hawks are going to have to cut down on their penalties. Way down. They were whistled for 16 penalties, and the Red Wings took advantage by scoring three times on the power play.

"We need to find a way to stop doing that," Hawks forward Patrick Sharp said. "I thought we gave their skilled guys a pretty easy game - they were on the power play all night long. You give those guys chances to score and they're going to put it in the net.

"It's 3-1 in the series. The series isn't over. We're going to have a big effort on Wednesday."

Sharp's teammates agree.

"We won in Detroit's building before and we feel we have the team to do it again," forward Troy Brouwer said. "They're a great team and it's not going to be easy, but we feel have the character and skill and grit in here that we can come back."