How Hawks went from gloomy to happy last year

The Blackhawks are down 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings. Hmmm, on the verge of elimination from the playoffs — where have we heard this before?

Just last year, the Hawks were down 3-1 against the Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals.

Our own Barry Rozner wrote after Game 4 in that series, “The Wings have a 3-1 series lead, and if the Hawks aren't out, they are certainly down.”

He pointed out signs of hope amid the gloom.

“It's true that the Hawks won Game 5 down 3-1 in the series to Phoenix a year ago (in 2012), and they won three straight after being down 3-0 to Vancouver two years ago (in 2011), but in 86 years the Hawks have never come back from down 3-1 to win a playoff series.”

“In NHL history, only 8 percent of the time has a team trailed 3-1 and come back to win, though it has happened three times in the last five years.”

Well, guess what happened a fourth time in six years?

Here's how the Blackhawks went from gloomy to happy over the Red Wings series last year, in hopes it can happen again this year.

Hawks vs. Red Wings, Game 4 highlights -- or shall we say lowlights -- as Hawks go down 3-1 in the series