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Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith had a broken finger and minor surgery on his elbow early last offseason, he revealed on Wednesday.

"It was minor surgery that needed to get done at the end of last year before I could start working out," Keith stated.

He said it didn't affect his play this past season, and because he's healthy he'll play in the World Championships for Team Canada this spring.

"I'm really excited to go there and play," Keith said. "I would have liked to have gone last year."

DETROIT -- Call it strange irony that the announcement Blackhawks forward Dan Carcillo -- No. 13 -- would undergo knee surgery came on Friday, the 13th.

That unlucky number came to fruition for the controversial winger as it could be the last we see of Carcillo in a Hawks’ uniform. He faces a six month recovery time and his contract runs for only this season.

So how will he be remembered? Joel Quenneville had almost nothing but positive things to say about him.

“I thought he had a good year for us,” Quenneville said before his team took on the Detroit Red Wings Saturday. “I thought he did a lot of good things. Gave us a presence, fulfilled a need or a niche for us. He provided some emotion, some toughness. We liked how he played offensively, he complimented some nice players. He did what he had to do.”

The lasting memory for most fans will be the hit that ended his season and potentially his short career as a Hawk. He was suspended for seven games for boarding Edmonton’s Tom Gilbert on Jan. 2 while blowing out his knee at the same time. It was one costly hit.

But in reality his lasting memory should include that entire game. The Hawks were leading 1-0 when Carcillo shoved Gilbert into the end boards. They were leading because Carcillo, playing on the Hawks' top line, stole a puck in the neutral zone and set up Jonathan Toews for a score. It was a big league move and Quenneville’s comments about his offensive game ring true.

“He knows his leash is extremely short,” Quenneville said. “He had a couple there right on that line. He’s got to know when to push.”

The couple on the line got him suspended for a total of nine games this season, plus he served two more to begin the year leftover from last postseason. Twenty-eight games played, 11 suspended and now injured for the rest of the year. Not exactly a season to place in the career time capsule of one Dan Carcillo.

As much as people want to come down on him, the hit that ended his year wasn’t as evil as it could have been. Many in the game called it a “hockey play” that simply ended poorly. Fine, give Carcillo the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’s not a dirty player in the truest sense but he can be reckless. At the end of the day, is there a difference when the result turns out as poorly as it did?

The suspension

There was much confusion over Carcillo’s ability to serve out his seven-game suspension while clearly being hurt. As it turns out, if a player is not on injured reserve it’s legal for him to serve a suspension even if he couldn’t play anyway. The penalty to the team is it can’t replace his roster spot. That’s why Carcillo has been on the “active” roster during his suspension. Once the suspension is over -- after Sunday’s contest against San Jose -- he’ll be placed on injured reserve and the Hawks will have an open roster spot to fill, if they choose.

It took all 82 regular-season games, but the Chicago Blackhawks will get the opportunity to defend their Stanley Cup championship.

The Hawks lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 on Sunday afternoon but still claimed the final playoff berth, backing into the postseason thanks to the Minnesota Wild’s 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars later in the evening.

“I’ve never been more excited in a hockey game in my life that I didn’t participate in,” a jubilant Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said on a conference call with reporters. “I was acting like a 2-year-old. Maybe a 3-, 4-, or 5-year-old celebrating his birthday. It was unbelievable. I was shocked the way the whole game unfolded.”

The Hawks will take on the Vancouver Canucks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs beginning Wednesday at 9 pm CST. Vancouver has home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series as the top seed in the conference. The Hawks are the No. 8 seed.

“We know against Vancouver we have to be special, we have to be great,” Quenneville said. “I think the enthusiasm of making the playoffs after what we had to overcome throughout the year should be something we take forward. Anything can happen. All the teams are comparably even.”

The Hawks avoided becoming the fifth team since expansion in 1967 to miss the playoffs the year after winning the Stanley Cup. Their rollercoaster year began when management was forced to gut their championship roster due to salary cap constraints. Moved out were playoff heroes Dustin Byfuglien and Antti Niemi, along with eight other players.

The Hawks failed to gain traction with the new roster, never winning more than four in a row until an eight-game winning streak late in the season. That run set them up to control their own destiny in the final weeks while dealing with injuries to forwards Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland, although in the end they still needed help from the Wild to reach the playoffs. Rookie goalie Corey Crawford picked up where Niemi left off and is in the discussion for Rookie of the Year behind his 33 wins.

“Getting in was everything and now the fun begins,” Quenneville said.

Chicago split the four-game season series with the Canucks with each team winning one on the road.

The Hawks are hopeful defensive whiz Bolland is available to them for the series. Bolland is recovering from a concussion suffered on March 9.

“We’ll continue to monitor,” Quenneville said. “It’s been positive recently. It was a tough road over the last month or so, but things changed quickly. I don’t have anything more to report or prognosticate, but we hope that he’s able to be a part of the first round. Hopefully early.”

The Hawks will take Monday off to fly to Vancouver before practicing on Tuesday in advance of Game 1 Wednesday night.

Sixteen teams make the playoffs in the NHL, and as of Saturday night, 15 have clinched the right to play on next week. The final playoff berth will be determined Sunday and it’s going to the Chicago Blackhawks or the Dallas Stars. That much we know.

“We’re the only team playing all 82 with a huge purpose behind ‘em,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said after a short practice Saturday. “That has to be our focus. We haven’t had an easy game all year so we don’t expect one more.”

The Detroit Red Wings didn’t exactly make it difficult in Game 81, and judging from their tone, they’re going to change that come Sunday afternoon at the United Center.

“Listen, we haven’t played well for a while here consistently,” Wings forward Dan Cleary said after Friday’s 4-2 defeat. “We’ve got to find a way. We’ve got a big game Sunday and we’ve just got to come out and try to have some good steps and have some good periods and get ready for [the] playoffs.”

But the Hawks are at home, where they should feel the playoff atmosphere that will undoubtedly be in the building. They haven’t always used the home crowd to their advantage, though Wednesday’s win over the St. Louis Blues was fan-driven after a favorable call by the officials.

“It’s our job to use them because they’re just going to be looking for an excuse to get excited and it’s our job to get them going right away,” Jake Dowell said.

Slow starts at home have been the norm as often as fast ones this season. Most players agreed this isn’t a game you want to have to play in comeback mode. That leads to tight play, which leads to mistakes.

“We’ve played a lot of big games this year, especially the last little stretch,” goaltender Corey Crawford said. “It’s nothing new for us. It’s a lot better deciding our own fate instead of worrying about someone else.”

The only difference: This one has a win-or-go-home mentality, much like a postseason Game 7. The Hawks do have a chance to back in if they lose, but they’re not hearing any of that.

“If we play like we did Friday, we have a good chance of taking care of business,” Brian Campbell said. “I know Dallas is going win their game. We have to take care of our business.”

As for nerves, there’s no avoiding them no matter how many big games they’ve been through.

“I’m sure I’ll be a little nervous,” Crawford said. “Friday was a little nervous going into the first period. That’s only normal I think.”

Nervous is fine, tight is not. The best thing going for the Hawks in a situation like this is leadership and poise. Experience doesn’t hurt, either. It should allow for at least a close game, which is exactly what the Hawks need.

Quenneville knows a point gets his team into the postseason, and though he said, “You play to win the game,” is there any doubt he’ll coach to the situation if it’s tied in the third period?

One game to determine if they get to defend their title. It’s not the script anyone would have written, but it provides for a dramatic ending.

Just how the Hawks like it.

Injury update

Tomas Kopecky had Saturday off after taking a puck to the head in Friday’s game. Patrick Sharp took the day off as well to rest his left knee. Quenneville said both are fine.

Dave Bolland had a light practice with the team, but he hasn’t been cleared for contact.

Troy Brouwer is still day-to-day with a shoulder injury suffered in Montreal on Tuesday, although Quenneville said, “he’s not close to [skating] right now.”

Slappers

Expect the same lineup that beat the Wings handily on Friday to be on the ice for Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Game time is 11:30 a.m. to accommodate NBC-TV.

DETROIT-- Chicago Blackhawks center Dave Bolland has made significant progress in his recovery from a concussion he suffered in early March, according to coach Joel Quenneville.

Read the entire story.

DETROIT -- Everyday between now and the end of the regular season I’ll update you on the playoff race as it relates to the Chicago Blackhawks.

At this rate the Colorado Avalanche might have a hard time getting by a team in the Frozen Four. The Dallas Stars beat the Avalanche 4-2 on Thursday to draw within two points of the eighth-seeded Blackhawks in the Western Conference playoff race. Both teams have two games remaining on their schedule.

The Hawks play in Detroit on Friday while the Stars and Avalanche face off in Colorado to complete a home and home set. Chicago can clinch a playoff spot Friday night if one of the following scenarios takes place:

The Hawks win and the Stars lose in regulation or overtime.

OR

The Hawks lose in overtime and the Stars lose in regulation.

The Hawks win in regulation or overtime -- but not in a shootout -- while the Stars win in a shootout. This would give the Hawks the edge in the first tie-breaker if the teams tie in points after Sunday’s regular season finale. Don’t count on the Avalanche for help. They’ve beaten one playoff contender since Jan. 18 and have one win overall in their last eight games.

The drama over the past few days is supposed to be saved for the postseason, isn’t it? But these Chicago Blackhawks don’t do things without some nail-biting, teeth-clenching moments. Let’s review some storylines:

Jonathan Toews “redeemed” himself after taking a controversial tripping penalty in overtime of the Hawks’ 2-1 loss to Montreal on Tuesday. His game winner on Wednesday was a thing of beauty from the pass by Duncan Keith to the finishing touch by Toews. If you think the captain won’t let his team miss the playoffs the year after winning the Cup, you’re probably right.

Speaking of controversies, the 10-minute video review of Marian Hossa’s goal felt like two days, but it helped build the drama of the moment. The United Center was abuzz about the play and then got silent as the referee made the announcement. I asked some players if it was like trying to figure out what it means when the “jury is out” that long. Is that good or bad for your case? Most thought the longer it went the better because the officials couldn’t find something obvious to overturn it. But as Toews said, “They sure tried hard.”

Pick your analogy: Kirk Gibson hobbling around the bases after a World Series home run? Willis Reed playing on one leg in the 1970 NBA Finals? “The Natural?” Maybe the drama wasn’t quite like that regarding Patrick Sharp, but it was close. When Joel Quenneville announced before the game Sharp was attempting to play, reporters had to do a double take. “What was that? Can you repeat that again?” Shocking is the best way to describe him taking the ice with a bum knee and no practice time. He looked rusty early but came on strong late finishing with seven shots and four hits. Both led the team. It means he was around the puck and creating looks to the net which usually lead to good things happening. What a remarkable return.

Is Duncan Keith ever going to find his game again? His set-up of Toews’ winner made up for getting beat by Chris Stewart on the tying goal in the third period. But he had two more shot attempts blocked, and just one shot on goal, making it more the norm than the exception that he’ll have more blocked than get through. His decision-making continues to baffle. The easy play isn’t his way out often enough while his dangerous passes lead to scrambles to recover if not a full-blown scoring chance against. Simple is the way to go for Keith. But it should be noted Keith still plays the big minutes against the opponent’s best players.

The performances by Nick Leddy and Chris Campoli were positive signs for the playoffs. Secondary players need to step up, and if they can come from the blue line, even better. Campoli was arguably the best defenseman on the ice Wednesday, and Leddy could teach Keith a thing or two about accurate shots. They both played exactly 10:40 but contributed with three combined points. Huge.

Why did they need a video review in a game they were already trailing 2-0 to get them going? Clearly the goal being upheld gave them the momentum to take control of the game. As Toews said, “You don’t want it to be that way” in reference to needing something to spark them. But the Hawks play best when the walls are closing in, and that includes the championship team of a year ago. How many more times can it happen? We’ll find out soon enough.

Slappers

There is nothing new to report on Dave Bolland. “Slow progress” are the words Quenneville has used to describe his recovery from a concussion suffered on March 9 in Tampa Bay. It’s unknown if he will return this season.

Detroit forward Henrik Zetterbergwas injured in the Wings game Wednesday against Carolina. His status for the weekend games is unclear.

ESPN.com’s weekly Power Rankings have the Chicago Blackhawks floundering mid-pack. On a season-long roller coaster, the Hawks check in at No. 16, down two spots from a week ago.

It’s a ranking worthy of their spotty play at this time of year, especially compared to the other playoff hopefuls. Just look at the last ten games for evidence. The five teams directly ahead of them in the standings have all won seven of their last 10. The Hawks have won five. And no playoff team has lost four or more in regulation over that span, except for the Hawks.

The Nashville Predators, once behind the Hawks in the rankings, check in at No. 8 while the Detroit Red Wings are back in the top five after a short hiatus. The Boston Bruins, thanks in part to their win over the Hawks last week, made the biggest leap. They went from No. 10 to No. 4 while wrapping up the Northeast Division.

The rest of the top five looks like this: The Vancouver Canucks are taking home the President’s Trophy and get top billing. The San Jose Sharks have risen from the dead with a huge second-half run, giving them the No. 2 spot. The Washington Capitals are No. 3.

The Blackhawks have one more week to rise in the rankings as well as solidify their playoff position.

Every day between now and the end of the regular season I’ll update you on the playoff race as it relates to the Chicago Blackhawks. With a day off on Monday for the Hawks, let’s take an expanded look at how the race shapes up going into what should be a dramatic final week of the season:

The Hawks continue to do things the hard way. Black Sunday, as it might be looked back on, saw the No. 8-seeded Hawks lose 2-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning while the No. 9- seeded Calgary Flames and No. 10-seeded Dallas Stars closed the gap by winning their respective games.

The Hawks have 92 points, the Flames have 91 and the Stars have 89. Dallas’ win came against Anaheim, which isn’t out of the woods either as the Ducks currently hold the No. 7 seed with 93 points. So seeds 7 and 8 lost on Sunday while seeds 9 and 10 won -- that’s how it goes in the craziest Western Conference race in recent memory.

The week ahead could be dramatic. Both the Hawks and Stars have four games remaining, but Dallas has the much easier schedule. The Flames have just two games left and both are winnable as well. The Hawks, meanwhile, take on a playoff-bound Montreal team on Tuesday in Canada, then come back home for St. Louis on Wednesday before ending the season with a home-and-home series against Central Division champ Detroit this weekend. That’s a tall task.

However, if the Hawks go 2-2 they should make the playoffs. That’s assuming Calgary wins both its remaining games and the Stars go no better than 3-1.

The Flames host Edmonton on Wednesday and Vancouver on Saturday. The highest point total they can achieve is 95. The Hawks would need two wins to get to 96 points and eliminate the Flames but Chicago also holds the tiebreaker, which means just getting three points would place them ahead of Calgary. That’s doable.

Dallas is going to be tougher to eliminate, mostly because two of their four games -- a home-and-home set -- are against Colorado. The Avalanche has been on a collapse of epic proportions. They’ve won just one game against a playoff contender in either conference since Jan. 18. Colorado beat Phoenix last Friday in overtime. If ever a team could pencil in two wins it would be the Stars on Thursday and Friday against the Avalanche.

Before those two games are played, the Stars host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Columbus isn’t horrendous on the road (17-14-8) but they’ve been on a downward spiral for a while as well.

The most interesting day of the year could be Sunday -- the final day of the regular season. The Hawks host the Red Wings at 11:30 a.m. and maybe by the end of that game, or even sooner, they will have clinched a playoff spot. But if the Hawks need help, they’ll have to wait until the final game of the regular season finishes in Minnesota when the Wild host the Stars at 5 p.m.

If Dallas wins out, they’ll have 97 points. The Hawks would need six of eight possible points to stay ahead. If the Hawks tie the Stars, earning five points this week, the tiebreaker is too close to determine right now. It all would depend on how the teams achieved their wins this week -- through regulation/overtime or via the shootout.

Can you imagine the Hawks gathered in their dressing room on Sunday, or at a local establishment, rooting for John Madden, Martin Havlat, Cam Barker, and the rest of the Wild?

If it comes down to that, the Hawks probably don’t deserve to play postseason hockey though some might say they don’t deserve it even now. But the season isn’t 78 games long, it’s 82. Will Sunday afternoon/evening be spent dissecting the Hawks’ playoff opponent or will the suspense last until the final horn on the 2010-11 campaign is blown?

Get your fingernails ready for some biting. We’ll know in six days.

Click here for the current NHL playoff matchups.

CHICAGO -- Dumb penalties are starting to catch up with the Chicago Blackhawks. They took a bunch of them during Friday’s win in Columbus and then a few more on Sunday in a 2-0 defeat to Tampa Bay.

None was bigger than Niklas Hjalmarsson’s delay-of-game call in the first period. Hjalmarsson tried to clear the puck out of his own zone, but put it into the stands. Seconds into the Lightning’s power play, Vincent Lecavalier scored the winning goal.

It was the second consecutive game Hjalmarsson has been called for delay of game and the second game in a row in which the opponent scored on it. The Hawks have been called for it in three straight games.

“When it comes to it, we’re wasting a lot of energy on the penalty kill,” Jonathan Toews said. “A lot of useless penalties we’re taking. It kind of takes you off your offensive game.”

Corey Crawford also took a delay-of-game penalty. It’s an infraction which has cost them lately and on Sunday it cost them a game.

Kubina talks about hit: Tampa Bay defenseman Pavel Kubina talked about the hit he delivered to Dave Bolland last time the teams met on March 9. Kubina’s high elbow got him a three-game suspension and knocked Bolland out of the lineup with a concussion. Currently, there is no timetable for Bolland’s return.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” Kubina said after Sunday’s game. “Hopefully he’s going to be back for the playoffs. If I go back in my career, I’ve played 900 games and I never tried to hurt anybody.”

Kubina said that he was trying to finish his check and the smaller Bolland turned at the last second, getting the elbow to the head. The two have not talked since the incident, including Sunday when they were both in the same building.

“I don’t think he wants to talk to me,” Kubina said. “Maybe [I’ll] call him after the season. Hopefully he’ll play soon.”

Slappers

The Hawks outshot Tampa Bay, 31-15. The 15 shots against tied a season low. The Hawks also had 21 shot attempts blocked.

Ryan Johnson won 7 of 10 faceoffs. His 63.3 winning percentage leads the NHL among players who have taken 50 or more draws.

Lecavalier left the game early in the second period after getting high-sticked by Michael Frolik. He was stitched up and will be re-evaluated on Monday.

The Hawks are just one point ahead of ninth-place Calgary and three points ahead of tenth-place Dallas after each of those teams posted wins on Sunday.

CHICAGO -- Anyone who doesn’t believe matchups and systems help dictate outcomes of NHL games, regardless of talent, hasn’t watched the Chicago Blackhawks this season.

Sunday night’s 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning was another example of a team and system which frustrates the Hawks. If they can’t skate, they usually don’t win.

“They definitely played a more passive system,” Chris Campoli said. “They pretty much had five guys back in the neutral zone. They seem to be satisfied with the one goal they got.”

The Lightning scored early and then sat back and watched the Hawks try to get through their neutral-zone “wall.” The Hawks figured it out as the game went along, but the scoring chances still weren’t good enough.

“You have to be strong on the boards, you have to get loose pucks,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said about cracking the Lightning. “You have to be tenacious to come up with second- and third-effort type battles. It can lead to offense and then you have to get to the front of the net.”

Playing the day before only solidified Tampa Bay’s desire to stall after going up one goal. The Lightning took fatigue out of the equation as soon as they could.

“We had energy for the first period, but I knew already at the end of the first our juice started to go down real fast, and the beginning of the second period, ‘Whoa’,” Tampa coach Guy Boucher said.

Jonathan Toews gave a peek into his mindset regarding the Hawks’ inability to win against certain styles. It’s rare to look ahead without a postseason berth locked up, but Toews was trying to make a point.

“Every single game is important,” he said. “It’s not about points. We want to prepare ourselves to be a team that goes beyond the first round. Once you get to the playoffs anything can happen but you have to be prepared for it. ”

And that means being prepared for any system or matchup. Right now, the Hawks aren’t there. If a team lets them skate for 60 minutes they can beat anyone. But if there is a slowdown or a Tampa Bay-like “trap”, the Hawks are in trouble.

One way to solve the problem is simply to raise the intensity and urgency level. Most Hawks agreed it wasn’t quite high enough on Sunday.

“At times [it was] but we can still raise a level,” Campoli said. “A 2-0 loss isn’t good enough.”

His coach agreed, summing up the reality of the situation.

“We need more,” Quenneville said. “It’s all got to come out with four games left. We’re looking for more.”

CHICAGO – Here’s a quick look at the Chicago Blackhawks' 2-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lighting at the United Center on Sunday night.

How it happened: Tampa Bay got a power-play goal on a gift delay-of-game call in the first period and then sat on the lead for the rest of the game. The Hawks had a tough time getting through the neutral zone, but their scoring chances increased as the night went on. Mike Smith was up to the challenge in net for the Lightning as most of the action was in his end in the final 40 minutes. The Hawks’ two power-play chances both came in the third period. Still, they weren’t able to dent the back of the net, getting shut out for the fourth time this year and third time in eight games. They outshot the Lightning 31-15. Nate Thompson added an empty-netter at the end for the Lightning.

What it means: Depending on what happens in other games, this could be a devastating night for the Hawks or it could just be another game off the calendar that gets them closer to securing a playoff seed. The Hawks offense has dried up some as of late. Along with the three recent shutouts, the Hawks have had a one- and two-goal game in their last eight. That’s five of eight games scoring two goals or less. The power play didn’t get many chances, but the Hawks failed to take advantage of crucial third-period opportunities with the extra man. Tampa Bay played a classic road game on the back end of back-to-backs by sitting on the early lead. The Hawks fell to 42-28-8.

What’s next: The Hawks begin a busy final week of the regular season with a road game Tuesday in Montreal. It’s the only meeting between the two teams this season.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks continued to trail the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 after two periods at the United Center on Sunday.

There was no scoring in the second period, although the scoring chances picked up a bit for both teams. The Hawks spent too much time killing penalties with Michael Frolik getting called for a double-minor high-sticking infraction and Ryan Johnson for hooking. But their penalty killing was better in the middle 20 minutes than it was in the first 20. Meanwhile, the Hawks have yet to earn a man-advantage try.

On offense, the Hawks managed some good opportunities but weren’t able to get one by goalie Mike Smith. The Hawks are outshooting the Lightning 18-8.

The lone goal of the game was scored in the first period, a power-play tally by Vincent Lecavalier.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks trailed the Tampa Bay Lightning 1-0 after the first period at the United Center on Sunday night.

It was an even game until the Lightning went on a power play after a delay-of-game call against Niklas Hjalmarsson, who shot the puck into the stands from his own zone.

After a faceoff win, the Lightning worked the puck down low where Martin St. Louis centered it to Vincent Lecavalier who had great position on defenseman Brent Seabrook. Lecavalier had an easy tap-in.

The Hawks didn’t have many good scoring chances in the first period, managing seven shots on net. Tampa Bay had only four.

Every day between now and the end of the regular season I’ll update you on the playoff race as it relates to the Chicago Blackhawks:

Three games had an effect on the idle Hawks on Saturday, and all three produced positive outcomes as Chicago inched even closer to clinching a playoff position.

The Dallas Stars fell 3-1to the Los Angele Kings and remain five points behind the Hawks for the final playoff spot. The Hawks and Stars have five games remaining on their schedule. Calgary had the day off and remains just three points behind the Hawks for the No. 8 seed, but the Flames have just three games left.

In addition to the Stars losing, the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators blew leads in their respective games allowing Chicago to stay within striking distance of both those teams.

The Ducks are stuck on 93 points after losing 4-2 to San Jose. Nashville was up 3-0 on Detroit only to fall 4-3 in overtime. They have 95 points but have played two more games than the Hawks who have 92 points. The Predators are the No. 6 seed, the Ducks are No. 7.

Seeds 7-10 are all in action Sunday. The Hawks will host the Tampa Bay Lightning while the Ducks host the Stars and Calgary is in Colorado. By the end of the night the Hawks could be seventh in the conference but cannot drop out of the top eight.