Hawks need to soften up Coyotes defense

Pucks to the net, right?

That’s been the Blackhawks’ mantra for five games, and going into Sunday’s action the Hawks were leading the NHL in shots with an average of 40.4 per game.

“I think we need more traffic at the net,” said Hawks coach Joel Quenneville. “Yeah, we need more pucks at the net. We’ve kind of been beating that drum as we’ve gone along, but that’s the bottom line.

“We have to find a way and a willingness to get through the traffic and whether they’re going to box you out or not, you’ve got to get in there and you’ve got to hang around there.”

But while the Hawks are getting shots, too many have been easy looks for Phoenix goalie Mike Smith because the Hawks haven’t had enough bodies on him.

When they do it, when they’re willing to take the punishment for being in front, they’ve got a fighting chance — as when Dave Bolland cruised through the crease on Nick Leddy’s game-tying goal in the third period Saturday night.

There’s a bigger issue, however, and that’s the Coyotes’ ability and commitment to blocking shots. Prior to Sunday’s games, they were second in the postseason in blocks with a ridiculous 21.8 per game, frustrating the Hawks to no end.

So why have the Hawks been unable to solve Phoenix?

The Coyotes are creating a wall in their own end and the Hawks haven’t adjusted.

When a defense puts up a wall, you have to use the ice behind the wall, which means getting pucks behind their defense, chasing it down, and pounding the opposing defense.

Phoenix has done that to the Hawks, averaging a postseason-best 41.8 hits per game. It’s had an effect on the Hawks’ defense, which is not handling the puck anywhere near as well as it did in the regular season, when the hitting is not as consistent.

The Hawks have to soften up the Phoenix defense, and until they do the Coyotes will stand up inside the blueline with five men, negate the Hawks’ entry and block shots all night.

It means, sometimes, getting hit to possess the puck, but more important, it means pounding on the Coyotes until they start to soften up, mishandle the puck and give the Hawks opportunities.

But are the Hawks really built to play that way? Are they really built for a long playoff run?

Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Troy Brouwer are gone for financial reasons and they’ve been replaced by guys who don’t play that way.

Bryan Bickell seems to be one of the few willing to make it happen and he’s been one of the Hawks’ most effective players in this series, but there are too many passengers when it comes to the hard and physical work.

“It’s been a physical series and a hard-played series,” said Phoenix forward Mikkel Boedker. “They’ve got skilled guys and we just try to limit their chances and play on our chances, and so far I think we’ve done that.”

Phoenix is built to play that way, as is St. Louis, Nashville, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

It’s no guarantee of playoff success, but if you don’t have the skill to dance through five defenders — and the Hawks don’t have the level skill through four lines of a couple years ago — then you have to get pucks behind the defense, and make the defense play the puck and pay a price.

There’s also shot selection. Generally, the Hawks need to take more bad-angle shots down low. It’s a defenseman’s nightmare and it’s where so many goals come from in the playoffs.

Defensemen don’t expect that shot and it creates rebounds and scrambles galore. When there are no lanes from the dots to the boards, take the low-angle shots that are so hard to defend.

It’s not pretty but it is effective.

As for the woeful power play, it’s been the same story all season.

It’s very static and predictable. The puck has to move on the power play so the box moves. If defenders aren’t moving their feet, they can sit on your points and block shooting lanes.

The quicker the puck moves, the more the box rotates and the more open lanes are created for shooting.

So you can talk about pucks to the net, but if you can’t get a shot past the high men in the box, you’re not going to get pucks through, and that’s been a constant in this series.

Brent Seabrook is the best among the Hawks defensemen at getting his shot through, but twice in this series he’s been third in power-play time among the defense, and that should not happen again this postseason.

“We’ve had our opportunities to score,” Jonathan Toews said after Game 4. “We had our opportunities to take advantage, whether it was on the power play or whatever. We didn’t work hard enough for that offense. It seems like we get more motivated when we go down a goal or two.”

The Hawks are the more skilled team, but in this series they haven’t always been the more determined team.

Only a goal separates the two clubs after five games. Effort will decide which team advances.

brozner@dailyherald.com

Ÿ Listen to Barry Rozner from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score’s “Hit and Run” show at WSCR 670-AM, and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter.