Hawks Win; Can Clinch Home Ice With Another
The Blackhawks fell behind 1-0 in the first period last night in Nashville, but it didn’t take them long into the second period to turn the game around. Just 12 seconds into the period, Jonathan Toews scored on a break to tie it up, and Dustin Byfuglien gave the Hawks the lead with a goal of his own 38 seconds later. Patrick Kane added another in the same period and when Martin Havlat hit an empty netter late in the third, the Blackhawks secured a 4-2 win.
That’s four wins in a row for Chicago during a streak in which they clinched a playoff berth. With a win tonight against Columbus the Blackhawks can secure home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. They’re in great position to accomplish that anyway, being up three points on both Calgary and Vancouver with two games each left for the teams chasing the Hawks, who have three games left.
All the Hawks need to do is finished ahead of one of these teams for home ice advantage, but to guarantee it, they need 101 points, meaning one win, or two overtime losses in their last three to clinch. The most Calgary and Vancouver can end up with is 100, but things won’t look good in the win category (first tiebreaker) for Chicago if all three teams tie there.
Bottom line is it’s important to win tonight because the last two for Chicago are against the Wings, while Calgary and Vancouver have all their remaining games against teams that will miss the playoffs. Don’t be surprised if those Canadian teams end up with 100 points each, so Chicago better end up with 101. Big game tonight then at 7:30 in the United Center.
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