Chicago Blackhawks not ready to call it quits
By Cory Buck
The Chicago Blackhawks trail 3-1 in a playoff series for the second year in a row, but don’t tell Patrick Kane there’s anything to worry about.
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“Why can’t we do it again?” Kane told LA Insider. “We still feel good about our team in here and we all know that we’ve done it before.”
Who can blame Kane for his confidence?
The Chicago Blackhawks have been one of the best, most consistent teams in the league since 2010, when they won their first Stanley Cup, and while this Kings team has given them all they can handle, the Hawks still can draw on their experience not just in coming back from 3-1 last year, but also having beaten LA three times in a row in the subsequent series in that 2013 Cup run.
If there’s one team that knows what a cornered foe can do though, it’s the LA Kings.
They’ve won their last five elimination games in these 2014 playoffs and they know the value of putting a foe down quickly and gaining rest for the next round of the playoffs. This was the team after all that only lost two games in the Western Conference playoffs en route to a Stanley Cup victory in 2012.
This is also the team that stormed back from a 3-0 series deficit to beat division foe San Jose.
Now LA will look to enforce their will on Chicago one more time. If they can do it, they’ll go to the Cup Finals once more as heavy favorites with some much needed rest. If they lose Game 5 though, look out for the Chicago Blackhawks.
They’ve done this before as well and a 3-2 deficit looks a let less imposing than 3-1.