Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Blackhawks have their backs up against the wall for the first time throughout this entire season. A loss on the road against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night puts them in a 3-1 hole that this team may not be mentally prepared to climb out of.
If the Blackhawks are going to come out and steal one back on the road, while evening up the series, it’s going to start with the captain. This is a series that has brought a lot of criticism on the shoulders of Jonathan Toews, for a lack of postseason production.
In the past few seasons, since winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2009-2010, Toews has been a virtual ghost in the postseason. He had four points in seven games in 2010-2011, when the Hawks were eliminated in the first round. He had four in six last year, when the Hawks were eliminated in the first round (though he returned early from an injury and wasn’t entirely healthy).
This year, the Hawks are already off to a better start than the past couple of Stanley Cup Playoffs. They won their first series in five games, giving them their first series win since that Cup-winning ’09-’10 campaign. But they’ve done so to this point without much production from the captain.
Toews has had a rough go of things during this year’s postseason. He has yet to find the back of the net, and has only three points in eight postseason tilts. Worse yet, he seems to have lost his composure on several occasions, constantly complaining about calls, or lack thereof, on the ice.
The Red Wings have done an excellent job getting inside the head of Jonathan Toews. Henrik Zetterberg has done a number on him, with the Wings as a club physically pounding Toews down around the net. But he’s a world class player. It’s time to rise above that.
If the Blackhawks are going to turn it around and get the momentum back in this series, it’s going to start with Toews. Not that he has played terribly. In fact, his possession numbers and scoring chances indicate he’s played very well. But his frustrations are clearly taking their toll, as he’s a mental disaster in this series.
An early score from Toews in Game 4, or at any point really, could see this Hawks team take off. It would be a gigantic sigh of relief and would take a world of pressure off of him. We’ve seen him take over games this year. It’s time for that to happen in the postseason.
If he’s able to do that in this series, the Blackhawks will be just fine. But if he can’t find his game in time, the Hawks are really in serious trouble.
