After winning four in a row and picking up at least a point in eight of nine games, the Blackhawks lost back-to-back contests in regulation against Carolina and Tampa Bay and strayed away from their winning habits in each of them. It's not the kind of momentum they wanted to carry into a crucial five-game stretch against divisional opponents, all three of whom (Dallas, Colorado and St. Louis) are above them in the standings.
"We weren't happy with how we played on the homestand, those three games," head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "Even though we beat Buffalo, I didn't think that was our best game. Our next two just weren't complete efforts, so that was an opportunity lost. Going into these games, we knew it was going to be a test and we've got to find a way to get points out of it."
So far, so good.
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The Blackhawks kicked off the Central Division gauntlet with consecutive games against the Dallas Stars, who went into the weekend with a 12-1-1 record in their past 14 games after starting the season 1-7-1. The Blackhawks went toe-to-toe with the hottest team in the NHL for 65 minutes on Saturday before falling in a shootout 2-1 and they gladly accepted the point on the road.
Three nights later, the Blackhawks awaited the Stars for a rematch at the United Center and they made sure to take care of business on home ice, although it didn't come as easily as the 3-0 final score indicated. Corey Crawford followed up Robin Lehner's 40-save performance in the first game against Dallas by stopping all 32 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career.
"It’s unbelievable," Connor Murphy said of the Crawford-Lehner tandem. "Both are veterans and kind of the presence they have every day being there for us is fun. It’s great as a D-corp and goalies [when] you feel like we all mesh really well and it makes it a lot more fun just to play every night with each other."
Last season, the Blackhawks weren't necessarily focused on their ceiling because they could outscore most of their problems. The emphasis was on raising their floor, which was pretty low if the offense wasn't clicking because they gave up the second-most scoring chances and most high-danger chances.
NHL
This season, the focus is on both, and Crawford and Lehner are capable of keeping the Blackhawks in every single game even when they're not at their best, which helps elevate both the floor and the ceiling. Look no further than these last two games against Dallas.
The Blackhawks gave up a season-high 16 high-danger chances during 5-on-5 play, according to Natural Stat Trick, on Tuesday but they outshot the Stars 38-32 and Crawford didn't let a single puck behind him. They gave up 15 high-danger chances at 5-on-5 on Saturday, and the only puck that beat Lehner went off a shin pad in front of the net.
The Blackhawks are going to be a bubble team all season long, but it's fun for Chicago to think about what the ceiling could be if only the Blackhawks could limit the high quality chances against and put themselves in a better position to win hockey games that's better suited for long-term success.
"It hasn't been perfect games, but we've played well," Colliton said. "Got to take that with us and continue to improve. We can't just keep this level — we need to keep getting better if we're going to get the points we need."
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