Blackhawks Need Their Final Four

Tommie Lee
Jun 1, 2015
3 min read

Four more wins.

That’s it. First of all, if you’re a Hockey Fan, and you refer to it as the Stanley Cup Finals…stop. It’s singular, not plural. It’s the Stanley Cup Final, and Blackhawks Nation is all-in this year.

We’re back, baby! The team’s third consecutive Western Conference Final appearance went seven great games, and ended up a lot better than the one in the middle did. But that’s in the rear view mirror now. Now we shift away from Disneyland and look in the direction of one of Disneyworld’s neighbors, Tampa, Florida. The home of my favorite NFL team, the hapless Buccaneers.

Tampa’s no slouch. They dispatched a New York Rangers team that won the Presidents’ Trophy and had a front line every bit as scary as the one the Blackhawks just put down in Anaheim. Chicago overcame a thinning defense, an unpredictable goalie, an invisible Patrick Sharp, and more. The Blackhawks didn’t have the legs, were too old, and none of our trade deadline decisions were smart ones.

Then in the last two games, the defense got back to lending a hand to Goalie Gorey Crawford, who suddenly looked like a guy who had figured Anaheim out. Guys like Duncan Keith were skating stupid-long minutes and looking great late. Marian Hossa was doing his Play Like A Twenty Year-Old thing again. And Andrew Desjardins, one of those trade-deadline guys, was playing like a superhero and dominating at the dot. Game Seven never seemed to be in question from the moment Captain Toews netted that first goal early in the first period. All of the attention in the first five games of the Conference series was on how unstoppable the Great Dane Frederik Andersen was. And the Hawks got in his head and figured him out, to steal the series.

Did the team look less than impressive during the regular season? Yes. Do we care? No. There are just four games left to win. The hapless Hawks of February are a distant memory in the month of June. Just like they were in 2010 and 2013.

The Blackhawks faced Tampa twice in the regular season, beating them in a shootout in November and getting shut out hard (4-0) during the aforementioned February doldrums.

Ben Bishop is no joke in goal, he’s a clutch player who responds really well to must-win pressure situations. Captain Steve Stamkos is a sniper of the highest order and a great leader on the ice. And this a team that has something to prove, reaching the Cup Final just a year after being swept by the Habs in the first round of the playoffs. No one player has been the hero every round: The Bolts are deep enough to have seen different players play the big role when someone had to fill it. They’re also stupid deep on defense, and we still…aren’t.

That said, on paper we have the better team even though they have home ice advantage. And the way we dominated Anaheim on Saturday night has to give Tampa pause.

Quick thoughts: The team has hinted that a deal for Saad is a top priority. I think we can all agree that it needs to be. He’s been the star of the postseason not named Crawford, Kane, or Toews. He needs to be paid appropriately.

And for anyone who says this is some sort of “last run” for the Blackhawks…sit down and be quiet. I remind you that Teuvo Teravainen is all of 20 years old. Toews and Kane are 27 and 26, respectively. We have the rare opportunity to see a very good team be very good for a while yet. There’s a reason the rest of the league hates us. Heh.

The schedule is as follows (times Eastern) :

Game 1 – Wed 6/3 8p NBC in Tampa

Game 2 – Sat 6/6 7p NBC in Tampa

Game 3 – Mon 6/8 8p NBCSN in Chicago

Game 4 – Wed 6/10 8p NBCSN in Chicago

Game 5 – Sat 6/13 8p NBC (if necessary) in Tampa

Game 6 – Mon 6/15 8p NBC (if necessary) in Chicago