Chicago Blackhawks: 5 Areas for Improvement Following Opening Weekend

As fellow Bleacher Report featured columnist, Jon Fromi predicted, the Chicago Blackhawks split their opening weekend home and home series with the Dallas Stars.

After an unorganized effort in a 2-1 loss on Friday night, the Hawks controlled play on Saturday, en route to a 5-2 win.  The return of Dave Bolland may have been the difference along with a two-point night from Patrick Sharp.

With the season now in swing, there were a lot of good signs from this Hawks club, but they will need to shake off the rust and improve in a few areas if they are to be a force in Central Division this season.

Here are five areas that will need brushing up moving forward.   

Defensive Turnovers

The defensive corp had somewhat of a mediocre night on Friday. A lot of it could have been feeling things out and also missing significant help from the center position.

One area that they can always improve on is in-zone turnovers.  The first goal the Dallas Stars scored on Friday was via a turnover by Duncan Keith.  Brent Seabrook also had a difficult time moving the puck Friday.  Certainly the ice conditions were not great, but still something you cannot get in a habit of doing.  

Saturday, of course, was much more polished and we should expect a more in sync group moving forward.

The Power Play

Yes, the Blackhawks did have a power play goal in the first period on Saturday, but they finished 1-for-11 with the man advantage on the weekend.

There is no need to panic, but when you take a timeout before a 5-on-3 late in the second period with a 3-1 lead, you need to capitalize.  The Hawks had a difficult time finding seams to get the puck on net. Despite creating a lot of space in the opposing zone, they passed up on too many shots.

Not an emergency by any stretch, but something to work on.

Getting to the Net

Speaking of passing up shots, the Hawks were way too cute in their loss to the Stars, and clearly had a different approach come Saturday.

It would be great if Bryan Bickell could give a call to the fans prior to each game to let people know if he plans on showing up.  He was a ghost on Friday, but finally a physical presence Saturday when he battled for space in front of the net.

It is not just an issue with Bickell.  The Hawks spent way too much time playing around the perimeter in the first game, hoping to make pretty plays and letting the play come to them.

It doesn't work that way in the NHL.  You have to make your breaks and outwork your opponent.  If you take care of that, and you have more talent, you will win the game.  That's what we saw Saturday.   

When and When Not to Pinch

For the entire game on Friday night and for the first period on Saturday, there were way to many odd man rushes up the ice for the Stars.  

I'm not sure why the Hawks found themselves getting caught up, but it happened to Nick Leddy on a couple of occasions and one that led to a breakaway in the Hawks Saturday night win.  Leddy ended up taking a hooking penalty on the play.

This will take time, but hopefully Mike Kitchen, Mike Haviland or whoever else will be working with the D this week, will have the chance to focus on this.   

Adjusting to Life without Dave Bolland

The difference in team performance when Dave Bolland was playing was as blatant as Coach Q's stache. Bolly played against the Mike Ribeiro line on Saturday night and was extremely effective in shutting them down.  He popped in a goal in the second period and an empty netter as well for good measure.  He was absolutely terrific in all areas of the ice Saturday.

Bolland is clearly one of, if not the most important ingredient to the Hawks this year.  Not having him as a center ice option left the Hawks scrambling on Friday and the Hawks had a much more balanced game on Saturday.

So what will they do if and when Bolland misses time again?  It's bound to happen with his injury history. Hopefully, Stan Bowman is creating his wish list for another option in the middle.