Across the board right now, the news is pretty good for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Winners of 7 straight, a franchise record 8 straight on the road, and 12 of their last 13 games, including a just concluded home/road back to back without two top players, the Hawks are playing their best hockey of the season at a good time.
It's important to remember however, that Chicago got streaky like this for a while earlier in the season, before going into an extended midseason funk where the team played around .500 hockey, before gutting hot again.
There is reason to believe this time it's different. Jonathan Toews is looking as good as he has in a couple of years, after a poor start to (and middle of) the season. Nick Schmaltz has stepped up really nicely after returning from Rockford several games ago. The Hawks are getting more than anyone expected from Ryan Hartman and Richard Panik.
Last night, the Hawks squandered a 3-1 lead, and really looked like the back half of a back to back was catching up with them, before really turning it on lat win the third, culminating in Brian Campbell sneaking into the slot, where Jonathan Toews found him on a seeing eye pass, setting up the game-winner.
That's how things are going for Chicago right now. They have that confidence and ability to just crank it up a notch and skate past good teams for a win.
If the Hawks can maintain this well through the month of March and into the playoffs—look out, they can easily come out of the West.
However, much can change in that time. One would think, getting Johnny Oduya into the defense rotation and Niklas Hjalmarsson back to health (hopefully) will be all good. But other injuries can happen as well. Look no further than teams like Vancouver—who've been decimated by the mumps of all things.
Much is being made this morning in the tweetosphere and the blogosphere (and all the other spheres I guess) of the Hawks being back in first place. They are. That's cool, but Minnesota also has three games in hand, two of which get played before the Hawks take the ice again on Thursday versus Anaheim. So while it is fine to enjoy today's snapshot, it is ultimately meaningless.
The Hawks are in striking distance of a first place finish (in their division and the West), which was hard to envision a handful of games ago—and they do have a March 12 matchup coming up with the Wild—but the odds still likely favor Minnesota nailing down first and home ice advantage through the Western Conference playoffs.
Then again, the way the Hawks are playing, if they continue at their present pace, the odds favor them.
I'll be back with any news before the Anaheim contest on Thursday.
JJ