Blackhawks Have 4 Crucial Divisional Games This Week

The Chicago Blackhawks find themselves tied for 3rd in the Central Division, although because of tie-breakers, they are considered 5th.  Starting Sunday, the Hawks play 4 divisional games, 3 at home.  If the playoffs were to start today, the Hawks would be the 8th seed.

Right behind the Hawks, 4 points back, are the Winnipeg Jets, who happen to be two of the four games that the Hawks have at home this week.  They will play the Jets, tomorrow,December 5th, at home, at 4:00PM, to start a crucial 4 game span (2 against Winnipeg, and a home-and-home in the middle of the week with the Nashville Predators).  The Blackhawks are tied with Nashville in points at 30, but Nashville holds the tie-breaker.

The Hawks have a great chance to put a little distance between themselves and these two rivals that will be in the hunt for a playoff spot throughout the year.  Three of these games are at home so the Hawks need to take advantage of this.

Scoring is the problem right now and something needs to give because the Panarin-Anisimov-Kane line cannot continue to be the only source of scoring, and Coach Joel Quenneville knows this.  Earlier today, the Blackhawks put Viktor Tikhonov on waivers.  If a team can claim him, it could help the return of Bryan Bickell, who, in 12 games in Rockford, has 14 points (7G 7A).

Corey Crawford will get the start in net on Sunday against Winnipeg.

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!