The Chicago Blackhawks have played two games, and they have started the season with two wins. So everything is just fine in head coach Joel Quenneville's world, correct?
The bottom line is winning, and the Blackhawks took care of business in Dallas against the Stars and at home against the Buffalo Sabres. However, the Blackhawks played indifferent hockey in the first two periods of both games and needed strong third periods to reassert themselves.
That's fine over the short term. But that's not going to work as often over the course of the 82-game season. The Blackhawks are likely to find out that if they fail to assert themselves for the first 40 minutes, sometimes they are not going to be able to turn it on in the third period just because they want to.
It's going to cost them some games along the way.
In the opener against the Stars, the game was scoreless with less than a minute to go in the first period until defenseman Duncan Keith launched a shot from the half-wall that got through Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen's pads to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
The Blackhawks had few chances before th ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steve Silverman
How Slow Starts for the Chicago Blackhawks Will Become an Issue If Not Addressed
October 14th, 2014 by Steve Silverman Leave a reply »
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