BLOG: Blackhawks Firmly in Postseason Race with Five-Game Win Streak

Almost lost in the raucous celebration of Patrick Kane's 1,000 career NHL point is that the Blackhawks won another hockey game on Sunday night.
That makes five victories in a row for the hottest team in the Western Conference and the left-for-dead Blackhawks of a month ago are suddenly knocking on the door of a postseason spot.

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Entering Monday's play around the league, the Blackhawks were tied with the Jets - whom they defeated 5-2 on Sunday night - for fourth place in the Central Division and were just three points back of a wild-card spot in the West.
Welcome to the postseason race, Blackhawks.
"We're right there and it's up to us how we play," coach Jeremy Colliton said. "We're not in a space where we can feel the job is completed as far as our evolution as a team. We have to continue to get better. The teams that improve as the year goes on, you give yourself a chance and I think we have. We're better than we were, but there's so much work to do and there's a lot, I think, of room to be better, more consistent. That's exciting."

What has made things exciting is 11 wins in their last 15 games that turned around a 13-16-6 record to their current 24-20-6 mark.
So what has been the difference between the Blackhawks of today and a month ago?
"Our habits are better and we're protecting each other with how we play," Colliton said. "That's a big thing. And with that, you gain confidence. You gain confidence that the guy beside you is going to do the right thing, there's a little bit of peer pressure as well to do it for him. We're improving, too. We have a bunch of guys who are getting better. They're developing, becoming more and more comfortable in the NHL or maybe it's an increased role in the NHL and with our team. Hopefully, that will continue."
Colliton is referring to the explosive development of winger rookie Dominik Kubalik, who has 21 goals this season, and defenseman Adam Boqvist, who has paired with veteran Duncan Keith to form a dynamic duo on the back end.
Other big factors for the turnaround are the sustained high level of play from the goaltending tandem of Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford as well as Kane and Jonathan Toews, a penalty kill that has gone from horrendous last season (29th in the league at 78.6 percent) to spectacular in 2019-20 (tied for fourth at 83.1 percent) and the coming together of a team that had significant turnover to the roster from a season ago.
"We're finally starting to full buy-in to the system - full effort level, doing the right things at the right times," Lehner said. "Fifteen games ago, we started playing good with leads, playing different, not backing up, just keep going at it.
"Everyone's just doing their job, and we're starting to feel (that) doing those things gets you rewarded," Lehner added. "It's a learning curve. You don't just step into this league and everything is going to click for you. It's very seldom very few players to do that. All of our young guys are starting to play really well. Every line, our 'D' pairs - everyone's just clicking and we're doing the right things. We've just got to keep that up, we can't deviate from it and just keep trying to stay consistent."

The architect of the Blackhawks' roster, Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman, said another big key has been the team's ability to play through myriad injuries, including season-enders to Brent Seabrook and Calvin de Haan along with the prolonged absences of forwards Andrew Shaw, Brandon Saad (who returned on Saturday) and Dylan Strome.
"We were missing a lot of players and sometimes when that happens and you're shorthanded your team can really slide or you can simplify your game and guys rise to the challenge," Bowman said. "We've been able to really play well without Seabrook, de Haan, Shaw, Saad and Strome - those guys missed a lot of time - and our team found a way.
"Certainly, Dominik has stepped up and has scored a ton of goals, Jonathan has been playing his best hockey of the year and Patrick all year has been great, so when you get some guys like that that really step up their game and other guys do their job, well then you can win some games and that's what we've seen."
While not to this extent, the Blackhawks have been here before this season where they appear to have figured things out. The problem last time was they followed that success with a regression. After their previous longest win streak of the season - four in a row in mid-November - the Blackhawks dropped six of their next seven games.
They know they can't afford to let history repeat itself.
"We've had trouble in a couple of these situations early in the year where we started playing better and then we take a step back," Colliton said. "And there will be a step back at some point but the best teams find a way to ride the wave when they're playing well and build momentum, and then when you do take that inevitable step back, turn it as quick as you can."
The Blackhawks hope to ride the wave of momentum into Tuesday's game against the Panthers at the United Center. It will mark the Blackhawks' final game before a 10-day break for All-Star Game festivities followed by the league-mandated bye week.
Emotions in the building should be running high with the return of former coach Joel Quenneville coupled with the Blackhawks' quest to continue their surge.
"Our team has been playing great," Kane said. "We have a lot of timely depth scoring right now and that's been helping us get these wins and kind of get on a roll here so we're in a good spot. We have one more game here before the break so it would be nice to get a win and enjoy the time off."