It appears the young Hawks have moved from the 'just happy to be here' stage to the 'we think we can do some damage' stage in these playoffs.
CHICAGO -- If the Vancouver Canucks' super-secret game plan was to wring the belief out of these wide-eyed, just-happy-to-be-here Chicago Blackhawks, well, Alain Vigneault's boys better have a helluva Plan B.
Because you could see it in the Chicago Blackhawks' faces Monday morning. In the demeanour they had, back in their own barn with a Round 2 win under their belt.
Look out Vancouver. These Blackhawks have crossed the threshold from "What if?" to "Why not?"
"After Game 1 in Vancouver, the second half of the game we'd played pretty darned good, and given it away a bit," began Adam Burish, in search of the moment when the switch flipped for this team. "I know, going back to the hotel and eating dinner you could sense that guys were thinking - we all kind of sensed it - that we can play here now. We belong here.
"To win Game 2 in the fashion that we did, it's now: 'Lets not just be happy to be here. Let's see how far we can take this.'"
All of these teams have the same epiphany, when "What right do we have to be here?" turns into "Damn right we deserve to be here."
In Calgary, back in '04, the morning the Flames became comfortable in their playoff skin dawned after Game 1 of Round 2. They had walked into Joe Louis Arena and beaten Detroit to open the series, and even though they lost Game 2, 5-2, Jarome Iginla picked a late fight with Derian Hatcher as if to say, "We're here, and we're not scared of you guys one bit."
"For me," Chicago's Patrick Kane said, "last summer guys (from other teams) were still playing hockey and I couldn't believe they were still playing and we weren't. Now we don't want this thing to end.
"We're already in Round 2. There are four teams left in the Western Conference. You win (this series) and were in the semis. You've got a pretty good chance of getting to the Stanley Cup."
Yes, Patrick, that's how it works.
But it wasn't supposed to work this fast in Chicago. Teams aren't supposed to go from missing the playoffs from nine out of 10 seasons, all the way to the Promised Land in one postseason.
This isn't just any team however.
Usually, in places like Washington and Pittsburgh, there is a central star with varying degrees of talent underneath. The "underneath" in Chicago could be the reason why the "new" Capitals and Penguins each lost out early in their maiden playoff voyages, while Chicago stormed through Round 1 and appears ready to give Vancouver everything it can handle in this series.
"Marty Havlat has led our team in scoring," Burish said, "but you've got Kane and Toews and they're kind of our headliners. You go to Pittsburgh and Washington; they probably don't know who most of our supporting guys are.
"(Kris) Versteeg is up for rookie of the year … but no one knew who these guys were. Who Ben Eager was - the third- and fourth-line guys who pick up the slack," Burish said. "Everyone knows, in playoffs, that those kind of guys win tight games. Look at Todd Marchant. It wasn't (Ryan) Getzlaf or (Corey) Perry scoring that OT goal."
There truly is frightening depth here.
Eager comes off the fourth line with fantastic wheels for a man his size and he hits like a train. Versteeg had 22 goals this season and plays on the third line with a 250-pounder in Dustin Byfuglien who the Canucks defence can't seem to handle. He's making Roberto Luongo's series miserable thus far.
The second-line centre, Dave Bolland, was a 57-goal man in junior, who schooled Luongo on a shorthanded breakaway in Game 2. Kane has an artist's touch and warp speed. Toews is a marvellous young captain who scored 24 in each of his first two NHL seasons.
Then there's Havlat, Patrick Sharp, and a defensive corps that leads the NHL postseason in points with 24.
And suddenly - as if it just dawned on them over the weekend - these guys believe that there may be more to this playoff run than a quick two and out.
"There is a lot of newness," admitted head coach Joel Quenneville. "The freshness creates a new excitement level in preparing for games. Sometimes you're not sure how going to play out … but it's going to be done at a fast pace with the right idea behind it.
"You don't mind learning, when you're going to be doing it all-out."
