The prevailing wisdom is that the Blackhawks need to pile up points in a hurry to turn things around in the Central, something along the lines of, say, an eight- or nine-game winning streak, right?
"No - it's not the way it is," goaltender Robin Lehner said. "Things get bad when we start saying, 'we have to go win 10 in a row.' No, let's win two out of three for the rest of the season. Try to win as many of those three segments as possible. That will get us there. Instead of, 'Let's go win 10 in a row, do two out of three' because these are close games in this league and the puck might bounce the wrong way."
"Lose the first one and you know you have to win the next two," Lehner continued. "You win the first two and you're able to win three, that's good but you have to be able to have some perspective on it: There are a lot of good teams in this league and it's a heavy schedule. If we get on a roll, we get on a roll. But it has to be realistic and good consistency."
There's that word again: Consistency. A lack of it has been the one constant for the Blackhawks this season and Lehner said there is a reason for it.
"We're not playing the right way," Lehner said. "Consistency is going to come when we consistently play the right way."
Which is what, exactly?
"Not turning the puck over and letting up odd-man rushes all game long," Lehner said. "It's putting the puck in deep, stop turning the puck over at the blue lines and be more patient like we've been the last couple of games.
"When we dominate we take care of the puck, we cycle, we work hard, we dump it deep and we don't turn it over," Lehner added. "When we play bad we're just out there dangling and giving the puck away and give up odd-man rushes."
Colliton also pin-pointed the areas where the Blackhawks are lacking consistency.
"When we've given ourselves a chance with our habits and being sharp and starting on time and play away from the puck, then we've come through a lot," Colliton said. "Where we get in trouble is when we don't start on time and we get self-inflicted wounds and our shift lengths are too long and we turn the puck over."