March 16--When Patrick Kane skated off the ice cradling his left arm with a fractured collarbone on Feb. 24, it appeared the Blackhawks' chances of capturing the Central Division title left with him.
But a funny thing has happened to the Hawks' so-called lost cause: They've keep piling up points. Including the game in which Kane suffered his injury that will likely keep him out until deep into the postseason, the Hawks have gone 6-1-1 and made their move in the Central.
"The fact that we're winning hockey games without him is a great sign," winger Marian Hossa said. "Hopefully, when he comes back we're still in it and it will be a huge boost."
Entering Sunday, the Hawks trailed the first-place Predators by five points but had two games in hand. The Blues, who have been hot themselves, were three points up on the Hawks in second and both teams had 14 games remaining. The Hawks are done with the Preds but have two games remaining with the Blues in the final week of the season.
The schedule favors the Hawks as the teams remaining on their docket have a combined winning percentage of .561, lower than the opponents of the Blues (.590) and Predators (.577). Working against the Hawks is the tiebreaker ROW, which is non-shootout wins. At 32, the Hawks had five fewer than the Predators entering their game against the Ducks on Sunday and two fewer than the Blues had before facing the Stars.
"It's crazy how the competition is tight," Hossa said. "We're still aiming for first place. Teams ahead of us have lost some games and all of a sudden there's an opportunity. If you lose one game you find yourself in third place and then there's no big space before the eighth spot in the (Western Conference) too. It's really, really competitive this year, especially our division."
The only thing the Hawks can control is how they play and lately that has been at a high level. Without their leading scorer in Kane, the focus has been on defense. Goaltender Corey Crawford has led the charge with points in six consecutive starts (5-0-1), which matches his longest run of the season. During the stretch, Crawford has allowed two or fewer goals in each game and has an eye-popping .962 save percentage and 1.15 goals-against average.
" 'Crow' has been as solid as you could ever want," coach Joel Quenneville said. "Across the board, we're not looking to outscore anybody, we're thinking checking. Defensively is how you win in this game anyway. There are a lot of positives in these recent games."
During the seven-plus games without Kane, the Hawks have yielded 13 goals, and that includes when the Lightning dropped four on backup goalie Scott Darling on Feb. 27.
"Throughout a season you have to try to find ways to win games -- good teams do that," center Brad Richards said. "The good thing about this team is the defensive structure has been there. ... It would be good if everybody gets going, obviously, but this team is good at not giving up much and we can rely on that."
ckuc@tribpub.com
