Chicago Blackhawks: Five Ways To Make Mama Happy In January

I wrote last month that I felt the Chicago Blackhawks needed nine or ten wins in December in order to put them into contention in the NHL's Western Conference.  The Hawks showed improvement over the last few weeks, but fell short of that total.

Since November 30th, the Blackhawks are 7-5-1.  Better play at home and a four game win streak aside, Chicago closed the month out with a pair of losses to the St. Louis Blues and the San Jose Sharks.  These defeats put a damper on what was a promising stretch of play for the team.

With January comes a new slate of games and new hope that the Blackhawks can get a serious run going.  The next four weeks of games should give us a true sense of our place in the conference, as most of the league will have caught up to us in terms of games played by the time of the all-star break.

The Blackhawks begin the new year on a different note.  The players' mothers will be making the two-game California road trip with the team.  Chicago dropped two games with their dads on a road trip last year, so let's hope that some maternal bonding sparks the team to a successful month.

Hey, if Mama ain't happy, nobody's happy.

Here are five ways for the Blackhawks to make Mama (and the rest of us) happy this month.

1. Make The Most Of The Schedule

Getting off on the right foot would be great, moms.  The Blackhawks visit Anaheim and Los Angeles, where they have had success with this season.  Chicago is 2-0 against the Ducks and have won all three meetings with the Kings.

The team returns to town January 5th to take on the Dallas Stars and continue the home stand with games with Ottawa, the New York Islanders, and Colorado.

The games get tougher with a home and home with Nashville, a trip to Detroit, and a finals rematch with Philadelphia.  The Hawks end the month by hosting Minnesota.

After this weekend, the Predators are the only back to back games for Chicago.  They have five days off before tangling with the Red Wings.  After playing the Wild January 25th, they have a week off before resuming the schedule February 1st.

Just 11 games this month.  Seven are at home.  The last two and a half months of the season sees the Blackhawks at home just 12 out of 32 games.  We need to play well on home ice.

2. Get Serious Without The Captain

It looks as if Jonathan Toews will be missing at least six of these January games as he recovers from a shoulder injury he suffered Tuesday.  The Hawks are 0-2 since he went down.  This has to be turned around immediately.

First off, Marian Hossa is going to have to do what Toews did when number 81 was missing from the lineup.  Hossa has to lead the charge and be a beast in the corners.

Patrick Kane has had two games in which to settle back into the lineup.  In his time back, Kane is -4 and has an assist.  If Kane is sufficiently healthy, he needs to pick up the offense. 

Tomas Kopecky must not log center minutes.  Of course I'd rather see Patrick Sharp firing from the wing, but we need him at center for the time being.  I see the forward lines shaping up something like this:

Troy Brouwer-Sharp-Hossa

Jack Skille-Dave Bolland-Kane

Bryan Bickell-Jake Dowell-Fernando Pisani

Viktor Stalberg-Ryan Johnson-Kopecky

You could make a case for some different line combinations, but here is what needs to be set in stone:

1.  Kopecky is not a center.  Sharp, Bolland, Dowell, and Johnson are centers.  If we're desperate, call up Ryan Potulny.  If you want to "reward" someone, call up Pete LeBlanc, who has been red hot in Rockford.

2.  Jack Skille never sits in favor of John Scott.  Nor should anyone, really.  If Pisani is going to miss multiple games, call up Jeff Taffe or continue to play Jordan Hendry on the wing (with Johnson and Kopecky).  If anyone sits, I'd bench Stalberg.  He doesn't fit well on the fourth line, but isn't worthy of top-six minutes right now.

3. Add A Fresh Face To The Blue Line

Speaking of Hendry, he hasn't embarrassed himself up front recently.  How about giving him some minutes at defense?  Let's break up the third pairing of Nick Boynton and Jassen Cullimore with a new face.  Specifically, I'd like to see how the third pairing would work if Boynton wasn't a part of it.

Hendry's speed could make the third pair effective.  If Hendry is more useful as a forward, bring up Brian Connelly, who moves the puck in a similar fashion to Brian Campbell, who has been our most valuable defenseman this season.  He's not as physical as Boynton, but takes much better care of the puck.

4. Say No To Needless Penalties

The Blackhawks have the fifth worst penalty-kill in the NHL right now, so it would be a good strategy to keep that unit off the ice as much as possible.

When we play clean hockey, our defense has played well and we won some big games against Detroit and Los Angeles.  We gave San Jose six power plays on Thursday night.  They converted on two of them and scored just after another as Cullimore was coming out of the box.  With Toews out, playing at full strength becomes even more important.

5. Get The Job Done In The Third Period

Chicago has put together a lot of 40-minute efforts this season, and that disturbing trend continued in the last two games as the Hawks failed to pick up a point after going into the second intermission even.

The Blackhawks as 2-7-1 when they are tied after two periods.  They have allowed 47 third-period goals, a brutal statistic that is tops in the NHL.

When points are attainable, this team needs to capitalize.  It can't be any plainer than that.

I think the Hawks need to go 7-4 at the very least this month.  Will it be harder to do with Tazer out for six or more games?

Of course.

But the team needs to do it anyway.

Mama said.