The Blackhawks turned a hunch into a belief last night, when they came out for the second night straight and overwhelmed their opponent (at times at least) on the way to a 5-1 victory—unlike the previous outing where they lost 3-1.
A lot of that probably can be attributed to the fact that the Oilers are, today, a better team overall than the Sabres.
But either way, the Hawks are what we were beginning (anyway) to think they were: a team gelling toward the end of the season—and showing some encouraging signs for the playoffs.
Personally, though, I think it's way too early (and probably foolish) to assume you can get away with separating Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews in the playoffs—without backfilling the top line with a legitimate top 6 player at the deadline.
This may be what some fans want to believe—and what the Hawks themselves would like the rest of the league's GMs to think (to buttress their bargaining position) leading up to the trade deadline.
But the fact is, while Richard Panik keeps proving he's a very useful player in some role, he's still a lot closer to Richard Zednik than he is Rocket Richard. A rejuvenated Toews is driving that line, don't kid yourself.
Look no further than the contrast of Panik's numbers with Toews and when he's not. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but in terms of overall recollection, I suspect it's fairly compelling.
But I digress and somewhat unfairly to Panik whose effort and raw athleticism can't be questioned. Panik reminds me somewhat of Andrew Shaw: he's fearless, fairly versatile (though not as much as Shaw was)—and he also plays a little out of control at times.
Then again, like I said, Panik is also a superior athlete who makes an impact through getting to pucks and open space and creating opportunities off of that. I like Richard Panik. I just don't see him as a great player (not just yet anyway).
Funny, how perceptions of Hawk players work. Last year at this time, Toews was "done" and Hossa was a "third liner."
Hey wait, Hossa was on the third line last night, right? Right, where he was maybe the best player on the ice (not named Kane, anyway) driving production with two linemates whose games are purely defense. It's a nice luxury to have if you can get the kind of pressure and production out of Toews' line—like you had last night—in April, May and hopefully June.
See my point above.
The larger point is, the Hawks lost to a good team the other night and beat a not-so-good team last night. With some encouraging metrics in both games. So that's pretty good. But perspective, as always, is needed.
All this gets put to the test (as it so often does) Tuesday night in St. Paul against the Wild, who are now 7 points ahead of Chicago, still with a game in hand.
Hey, maybe there are no smoke and mirrors or correction for quality of competition, and the Hawks have truly vaulted from a really questionable and inconsistent team getting bailed out by stellar goaltending, to a well-balanced playoff team. Just for the sake of argument, let's assume that.
But why does that preclude Stan Bowman going out and still making the team better?
Because here's where another idiosyncrasy of Hawk fandom rears its meaty head: in spite of a desire to believe otherwise, there ARE a handful of really good, really deep teams out there who will not just throw their sticks on the ice in a playoff series versus Chicago.
Winning championships means: go big or go home, and don't get drunk on your own bathwater.
But, there are a lot of reasons to feel good about where the Hawks are heading—and one of those may be an even stronger roster within the next ten days.
I'll preview the Wild tomorrow.
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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