Goal is to close out Canucks in Vancouver, head straight to San Jose for conference finals
The Blackhawks trudged into the tiny charter jet terminal near O'Hare on Monday as a team with baggage, not that it had anything to do with a lethargic missed opportunity one night earlier.
There is the small matter of a tricky layover in western Canada, of course. But should the imminent Game 6 against the Canucks end the way the Hawks hope it does Tuesday, thereby ending their Western Conference semifinal series, the journey's next leg takes them directly to San Jose, Calif., and the conference finals.
The Hawks are neither packing nor taking this particular trip lightly. The itinerary underscores the priority placed on watching Chicago shrink from a plane window, not to reappear before their eyes for another 10 days or so.
"We don't want to come back here," Hawks winger Andrew Ladd said Monday. "Be nice to stay out there."
The very simple, very obvious inspiration behind that is to avoid a Game 7 at all costs, even if it would take place Thursday at the United Center. The risks are too high, the chance too strong of one funny bounce or one freaky play undermining everything in a winner-take-all scenario.
When the Canadiens upended the Capitals in the first round, they became the 21st team to overcome a 3-1 playoff series deficit to win ? a 9.1 percent success rate. No one wants to try the odds, though, so some desperation is in order.
"There's no panic here or nothing like that," Hawks winger Kris Versteeg said. "But there's sometimes a sense of urgency when need be. And that's what we have next game ? we need to be urgent, we need to play harder than we did last game. We need to be better."
The Hawks' response will be intriguing on several levels. The Canucks, down to five defensemen for the last two periods of Game 5, apparently did their best Predators impression, dropping back to contain the Hawks.
It was a philosophy that was effective in the first round and clearly in Game 5. Getting flustered by that again would be one way to ensure the Hawks overpacked for this trip.
"We have to play patient if they play like that, kind of like we did against Nashville," winger Patrick Kane said. "Just play patient and hopefully capitalize on the chances we do get."
And then there's the matter of the sudden increase in cabin pressure on the team charter.
The Canucks are the team fighting for its postseason life on Tuesday, but they have attempted to burrow into the Hawks' psyche, insisting the anxiety rests in the other locker room.
"They have all the pressure on their side," Canucks center Henrik Sedin said. "They finished (nine) points ahead of us in the standings, they're the favorites, we're down 3-2. They got all the pressure. We can go out there and play our game and we'll see what happens."
It's a sentiment that Hawks coach Joel Quenneville labeled "not a bad thing" on Monday, effectively suggesting that an ornery, on-edge squad is preferable to the indifferent one that took the ice Sunday.
To get where the Hawks hope to go ? with one unintended stop in western Canada ? he's likely right.
"We're all right," Kane said. "It's OK that we're frustrated, we're mad about it, because you want to win every game in the postseason. Hopefully we can turn this around and move forward."
The Blackhawks trudged into the tiny charter jet terminal near O'Hare on Monday as a team with baggage, not that it had anything to do with a lethargic missed opportunity one night earlier.
There is the small matter of a tricky layover in western Canada, of course. But should the imminent Game 6 against the Canucks end the way the Hawks hope it does Tuesday, thereby ending their Western Conference semifinal series, the journey's next leg takes them directly to San Jose, Calif., and the conference finals.
The Hawks are neither packing nor taking this particular trip lightly. The itinerary underscores the priority placed on watching Chicago shrink from a plane window, not to reappear before their eyes for another 10 days or so.
"We don't want to come back here," Hawks winger Andrew Ladd said Monday. "Be nice to stay out there."
The very simple, very obvious inspiration behind that is to avoid a Game 7 at all costs, even if it would take place Thursday at the United Center. The risks are too high, the chance too strong of one funny bounce or one freaky play undermining everything in a winner-take-all scenario.
When the Canadiens upended the Capitals in the first round, they became the 21st team to overcome a 3-1 playoff series deficit to win ? a 9.1 percent success rate. No one wants to try the odds, though, so some desperation is in order.
"There's no panic here or nothing like that," Hawks winger Kris Versteeg said. "But there's sometimes a sense of urgency when need be. And that's what we have next game ? we need to be urgent, we need to play harder than we did last game. We need to be better."
The Hawks' response will be intriguing on several levels. The Canucks, down to five defensemen for the last two periods of Game 5, apparently did their best Predators impression, dropping back to contain the Hawks.
It was a philosophy that was effective in the first round and clearly in Game 5. Getting flustered by that again would be one way to ensure the Hawks overpacked for this trip.
"We have to play patient if they play like that, kind of like we did against Nashville," winger Patrick Kane said. "Just play patient and hopefully capitalize on the chances we do get."
And then there's the matter of the sudden increase in cabin pressure on the team charter.
The Canucks are the team fighting for its postseason life on Tuesday, but they have attempted to burrow into the Hawks' psyche, insisting the anxiety rests in the other locker room.
"They have all the pressure on their side," Canucks center Henrik Sedin said. "They finished (nine) points ahead of us in the standings, they're the favorites, we're down 3-2. They got all the pressure. We can go out there and play our game and we'll see what happens."
It's a sentiment that Hawks coach Joel Quenneville labeled "not a bad thing" on Monday, effectively suggesting that an ornery, on-edge squad is preferable to the indifferent one that took the ice Sunday.
To get where the Hawks hope to go ? with one unintended stop in western Canada ? he's likely right.
"We're all right," Kane said. "It's OK that we're frustrated, we're mad about it, because you want to win every game in the postseason. Hopefully we can turn this around and move forward."
