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CHICAGO -- There will be more hockey this season for several Chicago Blackhawks, though it won’t be in North America. Getting knocked out in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is allowing some of them to play in the World Championships being held in Finland and Sweden next month.

Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith will play for Team Canada while Viktor Stalberg will suit up for Sweden.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane declined invitations from their respective countries.

“I think there is that element of uncertainty,” Toews said about a late season concussion. “The smart play is to rest and make sure everything is clear and it’s behind me. Obviously, I’d like to go and represent Canada every chance I get but right now it’s not the smartest thing to do.”

Kane sighted fitness and health as well. Kane had wrist surgery late in the offseason last summer limiting his ability to get in the best condition for the regular season.

“I think I’m just going to take the summer to rest and get excited about next season,” Kane said. “I’m healthy right now, I don’t want to risk that. I saw the difference it could make…I don’t think I was fully prepared for the season due to that.”

Sharp, Keith and Stalberg will leave very soon for Europe. The Championships conclude on May 20.

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."

CHICAGO -- Anytime a team underachieves as the Chicago Blackhawks did this season, the blame game undoubtedly gets played. And for the Hawks, plenty can be assigned to the players.

But what about the men in charge?

There will be an offseason-long debate about who deserves more, general manager Stan Bowman or coach Joel Quenneville? Even for them there is enough to go around:

Stan Bowman: 65 percent

Second-line center: The moment Bowman traded Brian Campbell he was on the clock. He had newfound money and needed a second-line center. It was plausible a good one wasn’t an available via free-agency last summer, after Brad Richards’ mega deal in New York, but that doesn’t mean a trade couldn’t be pulled off either before the season or in season. The New York Islanders’ Frans Nielsen could have been had, but it would have cost Dylan Olsen. Antoine Vermette had a glorious playoff series against the Hawks but Bowman didn’t want or couldn’t get him from Columbus. The Coyotes did. The addition of a center would have had a trickle up and down effect on the entire team. It’s still a need.

Playoff built: Though Bryan Bickell led all skaters in the entire first round, through six games, with 32 hits, the Hawks weren’t built for a long, gritty postseason run. Even giving Bowman a pass for the moment on the goaltending situation -- though the regular season told enough there -- the team was constructed to win one way, with wide open offense. That doesn’t fly in the playoffs. At the end of the day the grit they picked up wasn’t good enough.

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CHICAGO -- If the Chicago Blackhawks were given a pass by fans and media a year ago after an early exit, they’ll get anything but this time around -- and they know it. After losing in six games to the Phoenix Coyotes in the opening round of the 2012 postseason, there are no excuses to be had.

“When you come in off a long offseason like we did last year, we had high hopes for this team this year,” Jonathan Toews said after the season-ending 4-0 defeat to Phoenix. “With the hopes comes a lot of pressure as well.”

Maybe the pressure got to them. It’s as good a reason as any for their underachieving season. The Stanley Cup championship from 2010 is beginning to become a distant memory after back-to-back first-round exits.

“You remember how long a playoff run it is, and how fun it is,” Duncan Keith said. “It’s disappointing when you don’t get a long playoff run.”

Keith and Toews are part of the Hawks’ core. And it’s that core that will be most scrutinized this summer. They failed to produce against the Coyotes, and at many key times, this year. Should it be broken up? That’s a question that will gain momentum.

Patrick Kane had no goals and four assists in the series, all in the first three games. He totaled six shots in Games 4, 5 and 6. Patrick Sharp scored once, on a tip-in at the end of regulation in Game 2. And he wasn’t his normal shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later type of player throughout. Dave Bolland had a few good moments, but finished with three helpers in six games. Brent Seabrook, who was so noticeable towards the end of the regular season, was less so as the series wore on.

Only Toews is above question. He scored in his return after missing 22 games due to a concussion and he slowly got better as the series went along. Yes, he admittedly dipped in Games 2 and 3 but started to find his legs as the series got more important. The rest of the core went backwards.

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Through four games of their opening-round playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes, the Chicago Blackhawks have scored exactly one goal in the second period.

They’ve scored early and they’ve scored some very late -- but not much has happened through the middle portion of games. This is no coincidence.

The Hawks are failing to listen to their coach -- at least for more than 20-30 minutes -- and it’s about to knock them out of the playoffs.

Patience is what Joel Quenneville has been preaching, and while they’ve gone about their business the correct way to start games, that patience has slowly turned into frustration and that’s what Phoenix has been capitalizing on.

“They’re a patient team,” Duncan Keith said Friday before the Hawks departed for Phoenix and Game 5. “You can give them some credit in that aspect. They wait around and wait for a mistake.”

Those mistakes start happening when the Hawks stop passing and shooting and try skating. Just ask Viktor Stalberg or Johnny Oduya. They were two of the culprits in some key turnovers.

Putting the puck on net is the most important aspect of staying patient. Shoot instead of skate.

“The more we throw at Smith, the more we get in front of him and get ugly goals, whether it goes in off a shin pad or off a stick, that’s what we need,” Keith said.

And that’s exactly what the Hawks' top players are getting away from. The reason Bryan Bickell, Brendan Morrison, Brandon Bollig and even Michael Frolik have scored in the series is simply because they are putting shots on net whenever they get the chance. The first three players in that group don’t have moves to go around the defense. But the Hawks' stars have those moves and think -- after failing to score with early shots -- they can twist and turn and spin their way to scoring. It only leads to trouble. It’s playing right into the hands of the Coyotes.

“It’s something we’ve been stressing a lot in this series,” Quenneville said. “We need more shots, we need more traffic. Trying to score on second opportunities is what we’re looking for. They’re playing tight on those guys. They’re focusing on our top guys. I just think recognizing when there’s time to get it behind them and get it at the net is what we have to look for.”

You need proof of a decline as the game goes on? How about scoring first in each of the first three games while also dominating the action early on in Game 4 despite not getting a goal?

Then things dried up because the star players stopped shooting. Game 4 was a perfect example. Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Viktor Stalberg -- to name some of the Hawks top goal scorers --were peppering Smith with shots, but when none got by him, they stopped shooting and tried skating. Kane’s last shot on goal came with 17:52 left in the second period. Sharp’s last one came with 7:39 left in the middle period. And Toews went from 11:55 left in the first -- when he had a great attempt -- to late in the third (3:17 left) between shots on net.

Start out well, get stymied by a good goaltender, then get away from the game plan. The Hawks have been fortunate to mount a frenzied comeback in three of four games to force overtime but once again that’s not a winning formula.

“I think we’ve had good starts in all four games,” Quenneville said. “When we had to come back we came back. In second parts or second periods we seem to lose that momentum. … Sustaining it, you have to have that mentality or that patience is going to be ok in a game or series like this. We still want urgency but then again we want to make sure there is a purpose behind it.”

The statements Quenneville is making are the keys to the whole series. The Hawks have more talent almost everywhere but in goal. Instead of outshooting Phoenix 32-19 as they did in Game 4, they need to make it 42 or 52 to 19. Whatever it takes to get some pucks by Smith. They have the talent to do so. As evidenced by the starts to these games, the Hawks can overwhelm the Coyotes in the offensive zone -- but they have to do it for 60 minutes. Just because Smith isn’t giving up an easy ones early on doesn’t mean he won’t later or won’t give up some rebounds. It’s a game of percentages. The better the goalie, the more shots you have to hit him with.

“The answer is the same as it’s been all series,” Sharp said. “You look at all the goals we’ve scored, its bodies at the net, deflections, screens. Ugly goals. That’s how we have to be to be successful against them.”

Bickell, Morrison and Marcus Kruger had more shots on net than Sharp, Kane or Toews. That tells the story right there. And that includes power-play time for the latter three and very few for the former. The core guys have one more chance to prove they can stick with the program for more than half a game.

“Our top guys have to be better for us to be successful going forward,” Quenneville said. “We need them to be our best players for sure.”

It starts with shooting the puck. Simple as that.

It can’t come as a shock that Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is considering starting Ray Emery in net for Game 5 on Saturday night against the Phoenix Coyotes as his team faces elimination down 3-1.

After back-to-back soft goals given up in overtime, a change might be in order. It might come just to shake things up or because Corey Crawford’s confidence is very low. Or maybe Quenneville sees the impact it could have on the team in front of Crawford. Once a defense is afraid to make a mistake for fear the puck will end up in the back of its net, that’s exactly when those mistakes start to multiply.

“We're talking about that,” is all Quenneville would say Friday when asked about who would be in net. "Don't foresee any announcements.”

And that’s all he wanted to discuss regarding his goaltending situation. It’s pretty clear how he feels considering he keeps referring to the last two games as “brutal endings.”

Crawford defenders can always make a case he should stay in net. Of course he hasn’t been downright awful throughout the series. That’s obvious. But he faced just 19 shots in Game 4, in an overtime game no less, and three got by him. Not once but twice he’s given up the weakest of goals to end games.

We’re not talking about a 10-year veteran with multiple rings coming off an All-Star season. He has the right to be replaced and that’s exactly what Quenneville should do.

Last chance

The Hawks are down 3-1 and not surprisingly many were asked if the experience of a year ago can help them. Down 3-0 to Vancouver they won three in a row and almost won the series. They need three in a row again.

“You have to draw on everything you can,” Duncan Keith said. “And that’s one of them. The experience we’ve had in other series. We have to be a desperate team, we are a desperate team. It needs to be our best game of the year.”

That was the theme before the team took off for Phoenix and Game 5 on Saturday. It has to be their best game and then 6 and 7 have to be even better. But one game at a time.

“Our backs are against the wall,” Patrick Sharp said. “We need to find a way to play our best game in Game 5 and prepare for that.”

The one man who can lead them out of this mess is of course the captain. Jonathan Toews has never given in and he isn’t about to now. They have a long plane ride and 24 more hours to figure things out. What will he say?

“That stays in the locker room,” Toews said. “There are always things being said trying to keep the positive energy in that locker room. The only thing that really matters is what is said and done inside that locker room not what anyone says about us. No one thinks we’re going to win this series. Who cares? It’s all up to us.”

Slappers

• Quenneville wouldn’t declare any lineup changes before departing for Arizona but said he liked the play of Brendan Morrison and Brandon Saad making it a possibility they play again.

• Nick Leddy has been taking criticism for his play on the final sequence -- and in other instances -- in Game 4 where he was timid in defending the turnover and break by Mikkel Boedker.

“He's been on the ice for some goals that you might look at but Nick's been ok,” Quenneville said. “That pair can be better."

His partner, Johnny Oduya, had his pocket picked on the Coyotes first goal of the night.

Quotable

“It’s win or go home. I believe in our group. We believe we can win,” -- Patrick Sharp.

“That’s kind of our theme. We need more pucks. The high quality shot isn’t going to be there. We have to get some ugly goals,” -- Joel Quenneville.

“As a captain you get a lot of credit when things are going well for your team but you’re going to be the guy right in the middle of it when things are going south.”—Jonathan Toews

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Two themes emerged from the Chicago Blackhawks dressing room as they turned the page on their Game 1, 3-2 overtime loss to the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night: “We’ve been here before” and “Let’s take care of that puck.”

The first theme applies because the Hawks have now lost the first game of their opening-round series three years in a row. We know what happened in each of the two previous years: The Hawks went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2010 after losing to the Nashville Predators in Game 1, but a year later they dug a bigger hole against the Vancouver Canucks, dropping two more games before a furious series comeback fell just short.

“The good thing is we’re not down 3-0, it’s only 1-0,” Patrick Kane half-joked after an optional practice session on Friday. “I think we’re in a better situation now. We can come out and get a win and even up the series.”

Maybe they’re in a better situation because they know what to expect. There is no reason to fret being down just one game.

“For a lot of us, no one really expected to sweep the series,” Kane said. “It’s one game, no need to panic.”

But in a best-of-seven situation you’re only a day or two away from really being in trouble. That’s where fixing the mistakes from Game 1 come in. They’re just some little things -- and that’s another reason there is no panic. This is a tweak, not an overhaul.

“They are the type of team we’ve seen all year,” Jonathan Toews said. “We hung in there despite not playing our best game. A few little things we can improve on that for us can make a huge difference. It’s not fun to lose Game 1 but we have a long ways to go.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- A final full practice for the Chicago Blackhawks before they take on the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinals matchup saw captain Jonathan Toews run all drills for a third day in a row.

Toews says he feels no affects from the concussion that sidelined him for the final 22 games of the regular season.

“I think I’m right there,” Toews said after practice at Jobing.com arena on Wednesday. “It’s another day of feeling better and better and getting back to where I want to be as far as how I want to play a game.”

All week Toews has said he’ll wait until Thursday to announce if he’s playing but everything points to him being back in the lineup.

“The kind of the goal we set for ourselves with the training staff and the doctors, we’re going to make that decision [Thursday],” Toews said.

As open as Toews has been about his concussion there is little doubt the opposing team has taken notice. And it means Toews will need eyes in the back of his head.

“I don’t doubt that that’s going to put a target on my back, especially with this team; they like to play physical,” Toews said. “For any guy that is coming back from any sort of injury you don’t want to let him feel comfortable out there. I’m expecting it’s going to be even tougher than usual. That’s the way it is. Just go out there and play a gritty and smart game and keep things simple and make things happen out there.”

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DETROIT -- If there was any doubt the Chicago Blackhawks did indeed want to earn the No. 5 seed and a date with the Nashville Predators in the opening round of the playoffs, Joel Quenneville erased it by pulling Corey Crawford in the closing seconds of regulation in the Hawks eventual 3-2 shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.

The game was tied 2-2 at the time, after the Hawks blew a 2-0 third-period lead by allowing Pavel Datsyuk to score with 47 seconds remaining and tie the game.

“Like we said going into the game, there are no bargains out there,” Joel Quenneville said afterwards. “All four teams we were eligible to play we had losing records against them this year but at the same time wherever the chips fell, wherever we end up, is always a chance. We said going into the game if we have to pull the goalie, we’ll pull the goalie.”

It sounds like more than anything the Hawks wanted to respect the game -- and the hockey gods -- in figuring out their playoff fate.

“It shows you that we want to win the game,” Patrick Sharp said of pulling the goalie. “You get into trouble if you start picking who you want to play in the playoffs. I’ve said it all along, you look at the eight teams in the West, it’s not going to be an easy series for anyone.”

So whether it was Nashville or now Los Angeles, Phoenix or San Jose, the Hawks weren’t thinking about their future foe as much as they were thinking about themselves.

“I thought we had an excellent finish to our season and have some momentum going into the playoffs,” Quenneville said. “No matter who we play it’ll be a challenge.”

The Hawks might lament giving up the lead, but they took the season series over the Wings four games to two, earning points in all six contests. That’s impressive. And all six games were one-goal affairs.

“It’s nothing special,” Duncan Keith said. “They’re a good team but right now we’re focused on the playoffs.”

And who they might play. That comes later on Saturday. At least the Hawks can say they played the game the right way right to the end.

“Last game of the season there was a lot on the line for seeding but I thought for the most part we played a good game and we were able to come out with a win anyway,” Sharp said. “So that’s good.”

Kane’s shootout move

After Pavel Datsyuk failed to score with a between the legs move, Patrick Kane tried the same, but finished on it.

“I just thought of the move real quick, put it through my legs and bring it back,” Kane said. “Luckily it worked out ... I know they were fighting for home ice but it didn’t really mean anything to our team so I figured why not try to do something.”

Unlike Thursday in Minnesota Kane didn’t need to lift the puck. He went through the legs of goaltender Jimmy Howard and scored the lone goal in the shootout.

“I just thought of it real quick to get the fans out of their seats and score too,” Kane said. “Glad it worked.”

Slappers

• Jimmy Hayes lost two teeth after getting high-sticked in the first period by Riley Sheahan.

“Then I got an elbow in the game later that split my lip open,” Hayes said.

• Marian Hossa won the team scoring title with 77 points, leading the Hawks with 48 assists. Patrick Sharp led the Hawks in goals with 33 and also had the best plus/minus on the team with a plus-28 rating.

• Sharp had two prime assists for the Hawks including a nifty pass out front to Andrew Shaw for the Hawks second goal.

• Viktor Stalberg added to his career high with his 22nd goal on a rebound of a Sharp shot. All 43 of his points this season came even strength, the most in the league.

• During the first period the Hawks announced goalie Ray Emery had signed a one year contract extension. He’ll make $1.15 million next year, according to a league source.

Quotable

“I guess we were going on the road anyway so it probably doesn’t matter much to us,” -- Kane, on not winning the game in regulation and earning a higher seed.

There were moments during the first-round playoff series last year against the Vancouver Canucks when Patrick Sharp noticed something about goalie Corey Crawford, other than that he was playing extremely well.

He was also absolutely thriving in the experience. Crawford was a rookie goalie who seemed to enjoy it more when the pressure was raised to its highest.

It was no more apparent than Game 7 in Vancouver, when Crawford made 36 saves in an overtime losing effort.

"They had a ton of chances there," Sharp said. "We were chasing all game long, and Corey was making save after save. He was just locked in, enjoying the loud building and the atmosphere of the arena."

Read the entire scouting report here.

ST.PAUL -- Many fans joke that the Chicago Blackhawks should decline power-play chances when they come their way. The way the Hawks were talking after their frustrating 2-1 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, maybe it’s not such a bad idea.

The Hawks had 11 minutes with the man advantage time and did nothing with it. In fact, they were dominating the game, leading 1-0, until a five-minute major penalty was called on Minnesota’s Nate Prosser. It should have been game, set and match against the lowly Wild, right?

“You lose a little momentum there,” coach Joel Quenneville said after the game. “I thought we had a good game going until that point. We didn’t generate quality chances at all in that area…I thought we got away from the intensity on the power play, looking for an easier look as opposed to the intensity that is needed. We got a little bit too casual.”

The thought that a five-minute power play would derail a good game is mind boggling. But then again so is the Hawks power-play unit.

“One thing we could be better at is when we create and get a shot away we need to give each other outs and scramble a little better as far as keeping plays alive,” Duncan Keith said. “We seem to lose a lot of momentum when we don’t get the puck back off the boards.”

That points to the lack of intensity Quenneville was talking about.

The shootout loss isn’t important. As of next week -- when the playoffs begin -- there are no shootouts. The lack of a shutout all season is also inconsequential. But special teams? That’s the difference between winning and losing in the playoffs.

“The power play wasn’t very good,” Patrick Kane said. “That five minutes. You want to get something off that…It’s a big part of the game. Everyone knows that. Hopefully we can figure it out before playoffs.”

Time is running out. And to add insult to injury the Hawks gave up a power-play goal with just 3:12 remaining to ruin the shutout and eventually lead to the loss. Minnesota spent three minutes with the man advantage while the Hawks were racking up the chances.

“Same way it’s been going second half of the year so we have to get it going if we want some tight games in the playoffs,” Viktor Stalberg. “That’s going to be a crucial part of the game. We have one more chance to work on it on Saturday. We have to find a way to score.”

That’s the understatement of the season.

CHICAGO -- With the Chicago Blackhawks a virtual lock for the postseason, here are three things they need to shore up over the final four regular season games.

Power play

Ranking: 25. It belongs at the top of the list. Power-play goals in the playoffs are difference makers. Right now, the Hawks have very little going because they refuse to shoot the puck. They haven’t scored a goal in 15 attempts over four games while managing just a single shot on net over their last 11 attempts. That’s unheard of. They’re not shooting because they aren’t moving their feet to find lanes. That’s where they do miss Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith. The power play had its problems with them in the lineup, but at least there was some action toward the net. Patrick Sharp, Brent Seabrook, Dave Bolland and Keith are the Hawks’ best options to shoot the puck from the point. Johnny Oduya and Nick Leddy are not natural shooters, though Oduya has shown some abilities in that department. He could take Bolland’s place if he isn’t working out. And it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Viktor Stalberg doesn’t see some time on the power play. All he does is get chances. Those lead to goals.

D-zone awareness

Goals-against ranking: 22. Hawks’ blue-liners could learn a thing or two from 40-year-old Sean O’Donnell. He may have his quickness/speed issues, but he’s about the only defender who will at least try to push people out of the slot. It’s so important for goalies to see pucks, but the Hawks have given up too many tipped, re-directed or screened goals this season. And they do it with the opposition setting up in front of Corey Crawford like it’s their crease. O’Donnell will lay a body without taking a penalty. It doesn’t take much to slightly and slyly move a guy in order for the net-minder to make the save. If the Hawks tweak their play around the net, Crawford’s numbers will get better. The Hawks have played the puck possession game much better since the arrival of Johnny Oduya, limiting the opposition’s chances and shots on net. But the other team is going to get some looks. If Crawford sees them he should stop them. But first he has to see them.

Goaltending

Crawford save percentage: 39 out of 46. Crawford is playing fine, but he’ll need to do more than just fine to win in the playoffs. Even the most diehard of Hawks fans can’t deny just about all the other Western Conference playoff goalies have had better seasons. That’s proven statistically as well as by watching them and then watching Crawford. Having said that, the Blues’ Jaroslav Halak wasn’t perfect against the Hawks on Thursday. Bryan Bickell’s first-period goal was save-able -- but Halak faced 40 shots. Crawford faced 18 and let three in. By his own admission, Jason Arnott’s little wrap-around chance in the third period needed to be stopped. One or two weak goals in a series are understandable, but one or two a game are unacceptable. Not in the playoffs. Opponents’ shots totals have been lower lately, if they shoot up will the weak goals increase as well? The Hawks have gone 78 games without a shutout. Imagine what it would do to Crawford’s confidence if he earned one in the final games of regular season. Even he said recently getting one “once in a while would be nice.” Now is as good a time as any -- except for the postseason of course.

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith talks about his five-game suspension and how he stays sharp while he's sitting out. Keith also looks ahead to possible playoff scenarios.



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CHICAGO -- If you’re a diehard Chicago Blackhawks fan, the scenario must have run through your mind not long after the suspension of defenseman Duncan Keith was announced.

You wanted a glass half-full thought about the Hawks in a down moment and so here it was: The most fatigued Hawk over the last few seasons is getting five games off right before the playoffs.

His return with two games remaining in the regular season could very well coincide with the much anticipated return of captain Jonathan Toews from a concussion -- that is, if Toews doesn’t experience any more setbacks. If nothing else, Toews will have fresh legs for the potential two-month postseason.

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