Jan. 14--For their last game before the Christmas break, the Blackhawks traveled to Dallas eight points behind the Stars in the Central Division with their hopes of finishing atop it seemingly a long shot.
The Stars drilled the Hawks 4-0 that Dec. 22 night to take a commanding 10-point lead in the division that appeared, though still early, insurmountable to their Central rivals.
"We had to (beat them) to actually get a thought there was even a realm of closing the gap and then they (blanked) us and it was like, 'OK, that's a distant thought,'" Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
The situation worsened after the Hawks lost their next game to the Hurricanes on Dec. 27 and they found themselves in fourth place in the Central, 13 points back.
Then the Hawks reeled off eight straight victories and have pulled to within two points of the Stars.
Look out, Stars, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
"It seemed like it was going to be pretty tough to catch them when they just kept winning night after night after night," defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said. "But it's tough to keep that pace up. There are always ups and downs and we're having a big up.
"Now we obviously want to catch them, there's no doubt about that."
The Hawks' winning streak is their longest since Nov. 26-Dec. 11, 2014 when they went 8-0-0, and includes five in a row at the United Center where they are 19-5-1 this season -- the most victories and points (39) at home of any team in the NHL. The Hawks are 8-2 in their last 10 games while the Stars have gone 4-4-2. The rest of the Central is scuffling right along with Dallas as the third-place Blues have the next-best record over their last 10 contests at 4-3-3.
"Things came quickly here since the new year," Quennville said. "Things change quickly in our division and our league and our game. But certainly it was a great achievement winning this home stretch ... and all of a sudden we put ourselves in a much better spot. You were thinking playoff spot and now you're thinking first place."
So what exactly has been going right for the Hawks during this scorching stretch that has put them within striking distance of first place, second overall in the conference and third in the NHL?
"The team defense has stood out," Hjalmarsson said. "Corey (Crawford) has been great all year in goal but the rest of the team has been playing better defensively as a whole unit -- in the neutral zone and in our own end. That's what you have to do to win games. We know we have a lot of guys who can score so as long as we do a good job of keeping the other team's scoring down we have a good chance."
The Hawks have outscored opponents 32-15 during their winning streak and now have a plus-23 goal differential, fourth-best in the NHL.
"We've been doing a good job of getting up for games and getting the lead early," defenseman Brent Seabrook said. "Crawford is doing a great job and our 'D' is doing a good job keeping pucks in front of us and our forwards are doing a great job of backchecking."
The Hawks realize there's 37 games left in the regular season, starting with a showdown with the Canadiens on Thursday night in Montreal -- and they aren't exactly at the scoreboard-watching stage.
"Our main goal every year has been to get in the playoffs," Seabrook said. "We're not too worried about anybody else. We're trying to get ourselves in the best position. It's nice to see us climb in the standings but we have to keep going."
ckuc@tribpub.com
