Jan. 19--For a team that has had as much success as the Blackhawks have had over the last seven seasons, it's somewhat surprising its power play has been inconsistent at times.
Despite their talent over the years, the Hawks have had a love-hate relationship with scoring on the power play. Take last season, when the Hawks were 19th in the league after converting 17.6 percent of their power-play opportunities.
Now the Hawks are on an 11-game winning streak and a big reason for it is their robust power play. For the season, the Hawks have converted 22.6 percent of their man advantages, good for third in the league. That's their best rate and highest ranking in the Joel Quenneville era.
Over the 11 games, the Hawks have converted 9 of 34 power-play opportunities (26.5 percent).
"The one thing we don't do is lose momentum in the games when we do get on the power play," Quenneville said. "That (sometimes) happened in the past. ... We're dangerous off the rush, dangerous in the zone. We don't have to be pretty all the time; we can shoot it as well. There are a lot of things you have to be respectful of."
One thing the Hawks mention is that both power-play units are dangerous whereas often in the past only one posed a threat. One group contains the second line of Artem Anisimov, Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane, which was responsible for two power-play goals Friday against the Maple Leafs and scored immediately after another power play had ended.
Then in Sunday's victory over the Canadiens, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa were on the ice with Kane as they combined to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead when Toews scored in the second period. Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen also see ice time with Toews and Hossa, while Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook figure prominently along the blue line on power plays.
"Last year we focused on one line playing a minute and a half (of the two minutes)," Hossa said. "The second line had a little bit of ice time. Now the coaching staff spreads out the two lines and you have the hottest line in the league playing power play and they're scoring nice goals. They give us so much confidence."
Confidence has infected both power-play units.
"When you get that confidence, you get rolling and you know it can be an asset and a weapon for you," Toews said. "And that's what it has been for us, regardless of which unit goes out there, whether we score or not. We're outworking their penalty kills and we're generating momentum coming off of those two minutes."
Those two minutes have made a big difference for the Hawks this season, more than the past. This season, it seems as if it's OK to trust the power play.
"It seems like if one unit doesn't have a good game then the next unit will step up and be there," Kane said. "It's all 10 guys, coaches, everyone buying into what we're doing and trying to strike when we get those opportunities."
chine@tribpub.com
