Blackhawks sitting in playoff spot at halfway mark originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Blackhawks played one of their worst games of the season on Tuesday after being routed by the Dallas Stars 6-1 at American Airlines Center. They were expecting a better response on Thursday and got it.
Well, sort of.
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The Blackhawks recorded only eight shots on goal through the first 43 minutes of play but scored on four of those shots to take a 4-0 lead into the third period. Meanwhile, the Stars didn't score their first goal until their 26th shot and, by that point, the game was fairly out of reach.
That's hockey for you sometimes.
"It was a big win, important win," head coach Jeremy Colliton said following a 4-2 victory. "We knew they were going to be a desperate team again. Certainly wasn't perfect, but I thought we found ways to defend and obviously special teams was big for us."
Every point is crucial in a shortened 56-game season and the Blackhawks are going to take the two and move on. They avoided losing their third in a row, but also kept the Stars from gaining any points and have stiff-armed them back into a position where they're forced to play catch-up.
"I thought it was a good win, overall," Keith said. "It was a big win. Obviously, we need the points against Dallas. We're going to be competing with them all year, the rest of the year, for playoffs. At the end of the day, probably wasn't our best game but we got the two points."
Most importantly, the Blackhawks improved to 14-9-5 on the season and have reached the halfway mark with 33 points through 28 games. They currently sit in the No. 4 spot of the Central Division and you'd be lying if you thought they'd be in this position right now. They're easily the NHL's biggest surprise team this season.
The Blackhawks know they still have a ways to go before becoming perennial postseason contenders again, but they're certainly making strides quicker than many expected in a rebuilding year and it's showing.
"We're improving," Colliton said. "And we need to continue to have a hunger to get better and realize that we want to get to a higher level. We want to be able to go head-to-head with top teams in our division and hopefully be able to compete in a playoff series. We've got to earn that.
"Overall, I like our mentality, I like the work ethic, we're willing to skate, we're willing to play for the team and we just got to keep building on our experience and confidence that we're good enough."
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