With that old black magic number 20 still lurking in their collective subconscious, the Blackhawks will play their first home game of the new season Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings.
Twenty is the number of home games that the Hawks lost last season.
Transform five of those defeats into victories and they’d have slipped into the playoffs.
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“We have to capitalize on our home-ice advantage,” said goalie Jocelyn Thibault, first looking down the road and then addressing the hazard warning that he sees in the rear-view mirror.
“Last year we lost a lot of [home] games we should have won. They tried everything. They even put us in a hotel.”
Sequestering the Hawks in a hotel on the days of home games was the brainchild of the Hawks’ executive vice president Bob Pulford, then interim coach and general manager.
It seemed to help a little but it didn’t get the Hawks over the home ice .500 hump. They finished with a United Center record of 16-20-5, a shade worse than their 17-19-5 road record.
New coach Alpo Suhonen wants the Hawks to correct the bad habits that got them in that rut. “They are learning new things,” he said. “But learning some things out is as important as learning new things. Some memories are very difficult to clean out.”
Suhonen also doesn’t want the Hawks to get into the habit of playing the opening period the way they did in this season’s first two games in Buffalo and Columbus. Collectively, the Sabres and Blue Jackets outscored the Hawks 5-0 in the first period.
“That’s a clear signal of what we should try to do,” said Suhonen, emphasizing the importance of getting off to a better start Thursday.
“We need a very good balance of defense and offense. Defense generates offense. To go to the other end and get a shot, first you have to get the puck.”
In Buffalo, the Hawks didn’t take a shot for the last 8 1/2 minutes of the opening period and were unable to come back. In Columbus, they rallied to tie the score 3-3 in the second period and went on to win 5-3.
“If I have to make a choice, I want to win the third period,” said Suhonen.
Two of General Manager Mike Smith’s preseason priorities were strengthening the Hawks’ defense corps and, if possible, adding some size.
Smith used a football analogy: “Take two tight ends who are equal–one is 6-foot-2 and weighs 222; the other is 6-6 and 250. You’ll take the guy who is 6-6 and 250.”
Since the end of the exhibition season, perhaps significantly, Smith has been able to add noticeable size and experience to the defense corps:
– Shot-blocker extraordinaire Alexander Karpovtsev, a 30-year-old who stands 6-3 and weighs 215, arrived from Toronto in the trade for 25-year-old Bryan McCabe (6-1, 210).
– Stephane Quintal, who is 6-3, 234 and will turn 32 this month, joined the Hawks off waivers from the New York Rangers and, coinciding with his arrival, 24-year-old Brad Brown (6-4, 215) was traded to the Rangers.
“We’ll be better defensively,” promised Smith. “You’re always working short term and long term. Short term you’ve got to put a good product on the ice.
“It’s important for us to have a good year.”
The opener may offer an early clue as to the extent of the Hawks’ improvement in keeping the puck out of the net. Last season Detroit was the NHL leader in goals scored with 278. The Red Wings also led the league in power-play efficiency with a 20.4 percent conversion rate.
“For sure, Detroit has the most experience and the best five-on-five offense in the league and probably the best power play,” said Suhonen. “Detroit is very stable.”
Although last season’s 108-point output was the second highest in Detroit’s 75-year history, for the second straight year the 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cup champion was eliminated in the Western Conference finals.
Interestingly, even though the Hawks finished 30 points behind the Red Wings last season, they hassled their Central Division rivals in face-to-face encounters. They had a 3-2-1 advantage.
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