Good thing they don't have shootouts in the playoffs, huh? The Blackhawks really stink at them without captain Jonathan Toews in the lineup. For the second straight game, the Minnesota Wild beat the Hawks in a shootout, this time 2-1 Thursday night in St. Paul.
It's also a good thing for the Hawks their failure to take a second point out of this game mattered little in the Western Conference playoff race.
The Nashville Predators will finish ahead of the Blackhawks after their 2-0 win over the Dallas Stars Thursday night. They will have home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs if they win their final game against the Colorado Avalanche. They will face either the Hawks or the Detroit Red Wings to open the postseason.
Detroit lost 2-1 to New Jersey Thursday night, but it maintains the fifth spot in the West with 101 points. The Hawks sit sixth with 99 points, but they can move up to fifth if they beat Detroit in regulation on Saturday. The Wings will stay fifth if they either win the game, or lose to the Hawks in overtime or in a shootout. (Yeah, right, like the Hawks are going to win in a shootout. Ha, ha.)
If the Hawks and Detroit both finish with 101 points, Chicago wins the tiebreaker. The first tiebreaker is regulation and overtime wins. If the Hawks do win Saturday, both teams would have 39 such victories. So, it would go to the second tiebreaker, which is head-to-head competition. The Hawks are 3-0-2 against Detroit this year and have already clinched the season series.
For Blackhawk fans, the question is this: Do you want to win Saturday and play Nashville in the first round? Or would you rather lose, take the sixth seed and play whichever team survives the Pacific Division free for all?
And, of course, the Hawks beat the Wings in a shootout:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/recap;_ylt=AkxtctAyeX38f0AeXkzrw0F7vLYF?gid=2012040705
Shows what I know. The Hawks finish sixth in the West.
The Hawks will face Phoenix in the first round. Coyotes clinched the Pacific title with a win over Minnesota Saturday night:
http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400047839
I think I like facing Phoenix better than Nashville to open the playoffs. At least as long as the Blackhawks don't play like a bunch of dogs for the first three games like they did against Vancouver in the first round last year.
Don't know if it's wishful thinking that the Hawks have shelved Toews as a precaution and that he'll be fine for the playoffs. It must be because otherwise, you'd think they'd have gotten him some ice time to knock the rust off.
I don't know that I'd say Corey Crawford is "hot" in goal, but he's only really struggled against Nashville since the beginning of March.
FWIW, Toews practiced Monday and skated on the top line with Kane and Hossa.
http://espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/story/_/id/7792710/jonathan-toews-decide-thursday-play-game-1
Not sure yet what that means for Thursday.