August 1, 2020: Born Again

New month, new season, new team… the Blackhawks looked born again on Saturday afternoon in their Game 1 victory over the Oilers. There were times I felt like I didn’t know who this team was. I know it had been a long time since we saw the Blackhawks play… almost 5 months, but damn; who were these guys?

I had blocked off this date and time the minute it was announced. Not like there is so much going on with the social calendar nowadays, but I wanted to make sure I would plan to be in front of the TV for this one. I was so happy to see the Blackhawks play again. This bonus chance in the qualifying round might not amount to much; the Oilers were the better team in the regular season, Crawford’s status was unknown for the past couple weeks. We’d love to think the Hawks would take advantage of this life, but from watching them all year, we knew better. What we knew happened to kick off the game. Hawks penalty, Oilers power play goal; Oilers up 1-0. This was the part of the game that did not surprise us. What happened next was amazing.

From that point on, aside from the couple late “garbage time” goals, the Blackhawks played one of their best games of the season. Goal after goal after goal; power play goals, multiple PP goals!!! When they cashed in on the power play multiple times, I just knew this wasn’t the Hawks. They outplayed the Oilers; there is no way around that. Whether or not this will continue, we’ll see, but for a day, the Hawks felt like kings again.

Remember all those years, all those playoff runs, all those games, all that mileage that has been put on the skates of our vets… remember thinking that it adds up, that they have lost a step, that the window is closed, that they’re on the downside of their career… this may all be true, but for this Saturday afternoon, it looked like the Blackhawks took a drink from the fountain of youth. Oh yeah, the Blackhawks are the youngest team in the league… and while the rest re-energized our vets, the layoff, the different format of this year’s playoffs, the lack of the crowds… did that enable our young bucks to play more freely… with less pressure? It sure looked like it.

Again, we’re only talking one game, but damn did they look good. Now, if the regular season script will return, the Hawks will look bad the next game. It’s not like the Hawks hadn’t shown flashes during the season; they did. It’s just that they were so damn inconsistent, with the bad moments surpassing the flashes. The Blackhawks did not deserve to make the playoffs this year, but thanks to COVID (one good thing?), the Blackhawks have been given that extra life. They took one damn big breath on Saturday. Will this last? Will the Hawks take advantage of this opportunity given to them, especially considering all of the above… the state of the vets, etc? This could be looked at as a last chance for some of them. Asterisk or not, chance at a first round pick or not, I want to see more of this; I want to see the Blackhawks play like this again… and again… and again. And if that happens, and yes, it is a BIG if, this new life could blossom into something special. See you Monday night. Go Hawks!