Rozner: Fast start would be nice change for Chicago Blackhawks

There are few players in the NHL that can compare to Duncan Keith when he's at his very best, when he's dialed it up and decided to take over a game.

When he is desperate.

Yeah, when Keith plays with desperation it is noticeable and demonstrable, with an ability to dictate play from goal to goal.

And when you see that Duncan Keith you know something has changed.

You know the Hawks have come to play.

The issue is the Hawks tend to start slow and finish fast, a scary trend that has marked their runs to the Stanley Cup, and those that have finished far short.

There was 2011, when the Hawks dropped the first three to Vancouver in the first round and won the next three before losing Game 7 in overtime.

There was 2013, when they fell behind Detroit 3-1 before winning the next three to stay alive through two rounds.

There was the Stanley Cup Final that same year, when they were down 2-1 on the road in Boston and had to win Game 4 in overtime. They won three straight to take the trophy.

There was 2014, when they fell behind St. Louis 2-0 in the first round before taking the next four, and were down 3-1 to the Kings in the conference finals before winning the next two and losing Game 7 on a bounce in overtime.

That cost them a three-peat because in 2015 they came back from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to defeat Anaheim in the conference finals and rallied from down 2-1 against Tampa to win the next three and grab their third Cup in six seasons.

And last season a 3-1 hole against St. Louis cost the Hawks dearly when they came back to force a Game 7 and lost on a single mistake by an inexperienced defenseman in the third period.

Desperation.

When the Hawks are desperate, they are a sight to behold, a storm on offense and a wall on defense, but finding their desperation at the start of a series has been a problem since the summer of 2010, when they lost half a team after winning their first Cup.

That team was so loaded that they could get away with something less than their full effort, and while the core remains almost intact, the parts around them will never be as good as they were that first year.

It's life in a salary-cap world.

So the trick is hitting the gas immediately, and nobody does that better than Keith.

It's a lot to ask because it's a long postseason, two months of brutal hockey, and no one plays more minutes than Keith.

Thing is, the Hawks' best hockey for two months in February and March was better than any team's best hockey this season, and that level of hockey is good enough to win it all again.

No series is easy. If the Hawks win four of them, they'll have undoubtedly earned their fourth Cup in eight seasons.

But they can save themselves a lot of trouble by getting started when the opposition does, especially a team like Nashville with nothing to lose, a team that doesn't figure to have much of a chance against the top team in the West.

The Hawks did their jobs during the regular season, making sure they got the top spot and avoiding Minnesota and St. Louis in the first round.

Their next job is finishing off Nashville quickly and saving their legs for what awaits.

Desperation will get it done.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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