Playoff Time – Your Weekly Blackhawks Recap

Hawks vs. Blues Recap

Hawks – Wild Recap

Hawks at Blues Recap

Hawks – Avalanche Recap

The Hawks went 0-4 on the week, losing at home to the Blues and then Wild, then losing on the road to the Blues and then Avalanche. The offense really struggled before putting together a nice outing in Colorado despite Jonathan Toews getting the night off to rest for the playoffs. Defense and goaltending were fine; the team was just unable to find the back of the net. It’s worth noting that in each game, the Hawks had plenty of great looks that didn’t result in goals because the puck was rolling, or the shot hit the post, or the opposing goalie made an amazing save, so I don’t think it’s time to press the panic button yet.

The one area that really needs improvement if the Hawks are going to make any real noise in the playoffs is special teams. The team ended the regular season on a horrible note in that department, but remember, they were one of the best penalty-killing teams for most of the season, so there’s every reason to believe that they will get their issues worked out there. The power play, on the other hand, was inconsistent even with Patrick Kane, so some real work will need to be done there to improve.

Kyle Baun and Michael Paliotta made their debuts with the team this week, with Baun playing in the final three games and Paliotta in the finale against the Avalanche. I liked what I saw of both of these players, especially Baun, although three games really isn’t a big enough sample size to evaluate a player, and one game certainly isn’t.

The Hawks will play the Predators in the first round of the playoffs, and get seven home games despite being the lower seed.

Blackhawks 3 stars of the week:

★★★ Brandon Saad, LW (1 G)

★★ Bryan Bickell, LW (1 G, 1 A)

★ Patrick Sharp, LW (1 G, 1 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com