Chicago Blackhawks Need Stars to Make an Impact vs. Anaheim Ducks, and Quickly

Star power in numbers.

It’s the one area that looked like a clear advantage for the Chicago Blackhawks heading into their Western Conference Final against the Anaheim Ducks.

After canceling out Patrick Kane with Corey Perry, Jonathan Toews with Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler with Brad Richards, the Blackhawks still have Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp up front.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are unmatched in clout on the back end, even with Anaheim boasting a more well-rounded defensive six.

Yes, it’s a team sport and not about who has more stars. But what do you get when the stars aren’t shining?

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

A 2-1 series deficit.

After a 2-1 loss to the Ducks in Game 3 at the United Center on Thursday night, the Blackhawks are looking at a high-pressure situation for Game 4.

Although Chicago has come back from a 3-1 series deficit itself, it’s historically difficult to accomplish—a success rate of less than 10 percent before 2011—especially when the other team has two home games to close it out.

That’s what the Hawks are looking at if they lose Saturday night. So before their backs are even more figuratively against the wall, their stars need to start producing some points.

Puck Daddy’s Josh Cooper was lamenting the lack of star power in the series’ first two games before puck drop, and the lack of points from Kane especially puzzled him:

"

The fact that the Ducks have contained Kane is fascinating. The 2013 Conn Smythe Trophy winner came into this series averaging over a point-per-game in the playoffs. He’s not even an exact career point-per-game player in the regular season, where checking tends to be a little looser.

"

Kane finally got his first point in the series Thursday, scoring his eighth goal of the playoffs with a spinning backhander that found a hole under Frederik Andersen’s blocker. It would stand as the Hawks’ only goal on the night.

But Kane also missed a beautiful chance to tie the contest in the dying seconds when he found himself alone in the slot with the puck. He’s the guy you want in that situation, but he couldn’t find the net.

Toews has one assist through the series' three games and seems to be having serious trouble shaking his shadow in Kesler, who is looking like a modern-day Mike Peca.

One of the best chances to score on the night belonged to the captain, but he was a bit too patient in his attempt to beat Andersen with a drawn-out move across the crease:

Hossa has one point in the series as well, scoring in Game 2—but it was more of a fortunate bounce after he pushed the puck away from the goal line before it bounced back in off Ducks defenseman Simon Despres’ stick.

Sharp has yet to record a point in the third round, and the four-time 30-goal scorer is playing much of his even-strength time against the Ducks’ third and fourth lines.

Richards, the team’s most faded star, who’s far beyond his best NHL seasons, has been the most influential in the series with a point in each game.

Considering the minutes they are logging, it’s probably unfair to expect Keith and Seabrook to be on top of things offensively in addition to trying to shut down the best the Ducks have to offer. So they can be excused for their lack of points—although Seabrook’s lone assist was on the overtime winner in Game 2.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Keith has one power-play point so far.

This brings us to the most disappointing part of the Blackhawks' stars’ failures to this point—an anemic, ineffective power play.

What better time to capitalize for the guys who make the most out of the least space than when the other team is down a man and plenty of room opens up for slick passing and big finishes?

Well, the Hawks have gone 0-of-8 on the man advantage in their pair of losses and 2-of-13 overall in the series. That 15.4 percent rating is abysmal. They went 5-of-25 (20 percent) in the first two rounds, with Toews, Kane and Sharp accounting for four of those goals.

Going 0-of-5 Thursday was beyond frustrating for the stars themselves. They were only credited with a single shot during those 10 minutes.

"Had a lot of chances there, especially in the first period. Would have been nice to capitalize. Didn’t happen," Sharp told ESPN’s Scott Burnside after the game. "We’ll look at it in the next 24 hours and have an answer for you."

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Kane chimed in as well.

"Frustrating to the point that we lost. Frustrating because we had some opportunities, whether it was a power play or different chances and stuff to get ourselves back in the game," Kane told reporters.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. In this case, as much as it’s a case of the Blackhawks' stars being unable to find their groove, it’s also a story of the Ducks doing everything they can to stifle Chicago's key players.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Andrew Cogliano addressed the team’s adjustment on the penalty kill from Game 2 to Game 3 while chatting with the Orange County Register’s Rich Hammond.

“I thought we forced them a little earlier, which negated some of their shots from the point,” Cogliano said. “They’ve got 'D' that get the puck through, and they look for sticks (and deflections) a lot. I thought we did a good job doing that, and we did a good job shutting them down in the neutral zone.”

While the Ducks' stars outside of Getzlaf aren’t exactly lighting it up, Getzlaf (four assists) and Perry’s (one goal) production alone in the series equals that of Kane, Toews, Hossa, Sharp, Keith and Seabrook.

The Ducks are also sacrificing a great deal to make sure their goaltender sees as few pucks as possible.

Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register pointed out a great example of it Thursday:

Smothering the stars is working for the Ducks, who have allowed zero third-period goals in this series.

“Once we clog up the neutral zone, you can tell they don’t have anything,” Ducks winger Patrick Maroon noted on the CBC broadcast on Thursday, adding that the only real opportunities the Hawks had were from turnovers.

If the Ducks keep following that road map, it will lead to the Stanley Cup Final.

Stats courtesy of NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.