Chicago Blackhawks Road Trip Ruminations: Circus Trip Edition

For the first time since the 1997-98 season, the Chicago Blackhawks are coming back from the "Circus Trip" a winner.

Their mark of 3-2-1 was good enough to accomplish this feat, but it also wasn't good enough to satisfy Patrick Sharp.

"Overall, you can look at the trip and feel satisfied, but I don't think our last six periods were anything special," he told chicagoblackhawks.com. "It's nice to get back here and put those games behind us."

Indeed, Mr. Sharp was correct on that point. The Hawks looked downright sloppy against the Ducks, and their performance in the third period against the Kings featured several lapses in judgment that coach Joel Quenneville certainly could not have been happy with.

There were also good elements to the trip, of course. The Hawks took a point in San Jose, something only one other team has done all season. They also won their first three games in a row on the road, against a young Coyotes team, a Dallas team who is showing signs of turning around, and the Maple Leafs, an Original Six rival.

With all that being said, I have made a list (and checked it twice) of the good and bad things that the Blackhawks showed us on their annual dreaded Circus Trip.

The Good

The Blackhawks came onto the trip off of a great home-stand, where they were scoring goals, playing solid defense, and getting good goaltending from Nikolai Khabibulin.

Once on the road, they kept up the scoring onslaught in the first three games. Unfortunately, they scuffled, scoring four goals in the final three games of the trip, and Quenneville isn't resting on his laurels with the team.

Coach Q has shaken up the top three lines, sending Patrick Kane to the first line, with Sharp and Troy Brouwer. Dustin Byfuglien has graduated to the second line, teaming up with Jonathan Toews, and Kris Versteeg. Finally, Martin Havlat will share third line duties with Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd.

This to me represents a positive shift in attitude for the Hawks. Gone are the days when the team would just stubbornly stick with something, waiting for it to go better. This year, the coaching staff has shown a willingness to implement change, speeding up the pace of practices, and now, with this line change, a willingness to shake things up.

Another good thing to come out of the trip was the signal that Coach Q sent to the team when he benched Sharp and Kane during the skate with the Coyotes.

Sharp and Kane had both taken foolish penalties during the second period, and to send a message that he would not tolerate sloppy play, he benched them for the rest of the period.

This action by the coach shows me two things.

One, he will not hesitate to bench a player who is performing badly, even if it's his top two scorers. The second thing is that he doesn't care if the team loses that particular game. He cares about sending the signal to the team. That is the mark of a coach who knows how to motivate his players and at the same time show them that he indeed is the boss, not them.

The last good thing to come out of the trip was that the Blackhawks got a boost to their "gut-check reps" (thank you Bill Simmons for the notion of reps) when they played a hard fought game against the Sharks in San Jose.

Not only did the Hawks take a point in the contest, but they also suffered the losses of Nikolai Khabibulin and Aaron Johnson to injuries. Losing your top defenseman in plus/minus is bad enough, but to also lose the goaltender who has gotten you at least a point in 12 consecutive starts, that is something that a lot of teams would have a problem overcoming.

It impressed me that the Hawks were able to overcome this loss, and hopefully both of these players will be back soon.

The Bad

The list of bad things that have come out of this road trip of course start with the injuries. The losses of Khabibulin and Johnson clearly showed, as the Hawks lost some discipline on the defensive side of the puck without Aaron.

Cristobal Huet had to play in net for the final two-and-a-third games of the trip, and he looked solid against Anaheim and in the first period against the Kings, but everything came apart after that.

Huet did his best impression of Superman deflecting bullets, spraying rebounds all over the front of the crease, and the Kings made him pay.

The difference between the two goalies the Hawks are reliant upon for success this season is simple: Huet is like Superman deflecting bullets, and Khabibulin is like Bruce Banner absorbing gamma radiation.

Easy rebounds are Huet's specialty this season. He doesn't absorb the puck as well as Khabby does, and the five goals he allowed against the Kings are a testament to that. He also has shown a maddening inconsistency that really hurts the team's chances when he is in the net.

For instance, he looked great against the Ducks, but then looked terrible against the Kings. Earlier in the season, he had a terrible game against the Wild, but came back in his next game and stymied the Blue Jackets. This kind of inability to present a consistent challenge is proof positive as to why the highly paid Huet is currently the backup to the older (and also highly paid) Khabibulin.

The other bad thing that came out of the trip was the lack of success in the final three games. Whether or not the Hawks had a couple of key players is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the players need to know that a lack of effort is not acceptable, and judging from the comments of the team, I don't think they believe it's acceptable.

"That was the worst we've been all year," Sharp said. "We can use whatever excuse we want. It was the last game of the road trip, we were on our way home—whichever one you want to use—but those were valuable points that we gave up."

He also said that he felt the team left points on the ice in LA, and Quenneville echoed his sentiments.

"We had a chance to have a great road trip and we didn't accomplish it," Quenneville said. "Everybody has these little runs-positive and negative—through the season and when you lose a couple in a row, you want to correct it. There are no free points; you have to value every game."

This kind of attitude displayed by coach and player tells me that the Blackhawks are growing as a team, and they will need this mental toughness for later in the season, when they go on an eleven road skates in twelve games in January and February.

I would call this road trip a success, but it could have been a lot better. I think that a good indication of the lessons learned form this trip will come in their first game at the United Center against the Ducks, and then their Saturday skate against the Red Wings in the Motor City.

After that, there is a stretch of five games where I think the Blackhawks will need to make hay against teams who aren't necessarily the cream of the NHL crop. Hopefully, the lessons will be learned, and the team can continue to grow.