Blackhawks Need To Improve

Game 1 against Minnesota looked like it was going to be a snoozefest after Chicago grabbed a 3-0 lead.  But through a series of defensive miscues and bad luck, Minnesota tied the game.  The Hawks came back to win 4-3.  But they need to play a lot better than the they did in the final two periods if they are going to win the series.

How can they improve?

Randy Holt at Second City Hockey had this to say:

Whatever hope that fans of the Chicago Blackhawks fans had of their club decreasing the level of stress experienced in the first round series against the Nashville Predators went completely out the window on Friday night, as the Blackhawks opened up their series against the Minnesota Wild in Round 2. A tilt that started with promise quickly became marred by defensive miscued and soft goals. Nonetheless, the Blackhawks were able to escape with a large 4-3 win, and the 1-0 series edge to kick off the Western Conference Semifinals.

The first period wasn’t quite the dominating display that it may have appeared to be on the scoreboard, but the Hawks turned in an impressive opening frame nonetheless. In a period that led to about as good a start as you could’ve hoped for, the Hawks were able to grab a 3-0 lead after one.

Brandon Saad scored just 1:15 into the game, off of a wrist shot which left Devan Dubnyk with no chance. In typical Brandon-Saad-make-everything-look-as-easy-as-possible fashion, he skated right up to Dubnyk and flipped it past the Minnesota netminder. Patrick Kane added a tally about 12 minutes later, with his 99th playoff point coming in his 100th career playoff game. For good measure, Marcus Kruger added a bit dirtier of a goal, scoring off of a backhand shot right in front of Dubnyk.

Then the third period rolled around, and, perhaps as predictably as possible, things went sour.

To read the rest, including his observation on Crawford, click here.

Photo courtesy of Sarah Connors.