Hawks-Flames Preview
For the first time in a long time, the Blackhawks will be playing hockey past mid-April. We’ll have plenty of coverage throughout the series, but here are some bullet thoughts to get you prepared.
- The two teams couldn’t be entering the series on much different streaks. The Blackhawks had looked like they were heading for a late season collapse a few weeks ago, but they are now 7-2-1 in their last ten games, including a sweep of the home-and-home series with Detroit to end the season. The Flames were the team that went for that whole collapse thing. They had a huge lead on Vancouver for the division and blew it down the stretch. A team that looked like it made all the right moves at the deadline suddenly just looks dead.
- The Hawks also dominated the season series with the Flames, winning all four of their match-ups. Only one of those contests went into overtime, making it a pretty dominant season for Chicago over Calgary. You know what they say though, it’s hard to beat a team eight times in one season.
- Aside from those two points, this will not be an easy series for the young Blackhawks. Calgary has plenty of playoff experience and they still have the big names like Iginla, Langkow, Phaneuf, and Kiprusoff that have led them to so many playoff appearances in the last few seasons. They have also added stars like Mike Cammalleri who leads the team in goals with 39, and deadline aquisition Olli Jokinen.
- After going to the Stanley Cup Finals in ‘04, the Flames have been knocked out in the first round of the playoffs every season though, so while those guys have experience of being in the playoffs, those experiences haven’t been too memorable lately. The Hawks meanwhile have very little experience, which tends to happen when there are only a few players on your team in that are in their late-20s or older.
- The crowd is going to be crazy. It’s going to be so loud in the United Center tomorrow night and that should give the young Hawks a bounce in their step. That’s a good thing, because with the young team, it is even more important to get off to a good start. A bonus for Chicago is that they have a player with experience in the most important spot on the ice: between the pipes. Nikolai Khabibulin is back to his mid-season form after recovering from his injury and is one of three Hawks with a Stanley Cup ring.
So it’s the youth and talent of the Hawks against the experience and physical play of the Flames. Should be an excellent series because I think the dominance by Chicago during the season will be evened out by their inexperience. Chicago actually comes in a little bit healthier than Calgary as the Hawks will get Patrick Sharp back and the Flames are battling some late season bumps and bruises in the form of wonderfully vague hockey injuries. The Blackhawks are making their first playoff appearance since 2002, so while this is absolutely a team capable of a run deep into the playoffs, just getting here and gaining some experience for the youngsters is great progress.
Game 1 is Thursday night at 7:30 CT.
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