||| IN BRIEF Hawks buck playoffs’ road-team trend
Despite having the best homeice record in the playoffs in the salary-cap era, the Blackhawks faced a daunting short-term trend in Game 6 against the Blues — road teams were 23-15 in the playoffs heading into Saturday night.
But the Hawks prevailed 6-3 at the United Center, trends be damned.
It’s not the first time road teams have had the edge in the postseason. In 2012, road teams were 47-39 (.547) in the playoffs. But this year, road teams seemed to be picking up steam as the playoffs progressed — they were 15- 4 since Monday, including 7-1 on Thursday and Friday.
“It’s changed [for the players],” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “They play in so many big moments before they get [to the NHL], they’re not afraid of it anymore. It doesn’t worry them. Noise around the game doesn’t bother them.
“It’s the generation that we’re in — they get excited by being able to perform at a high level in a raucous atmosphere. You see all the best players in this series — they’re all young guys. Maybe it’s because they’re not thinking about things we think about or older players think about. They just love the moment.”
Containing Tarasenko
In 2014, Blues star forward Vladimir Tarasenko scored four goals in the first four games of the first-round series against the Hawks but was shut out in Games 5 and 6 as the Hawks rallied to win the series. The challenge seemed greater this time after the Hawks contained Tarasenko and linemates Jori Lehtera and Jaden Schwartz in Game 5 — though Schwartz scored a power-play goal.
“Top players find a way to get open, get their shots and be productive,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’re trying to minimize that as best we can. That’s all part of stopping the other team. But you expect something to happen eventually because that’s why they’re top players.”
The Hossa challenge
After playing nearly 25 minutes (24:47) in Game 5, Marian Hossa, 37, faced a daunting challenge on one day of rest in Game 6.
Hossa has shown wear-and-tear in recent playoffs.
After playing 20 minutes or more in the last three postseasons, Hossa had one goal and three points, with a minus-8 rating in nine games; in the other 34 games in that span, Hossa had six goals and 30 points, with a plus-14 rating.
Just win, baby
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said he would enjoy clinching the series at the United Center after the Hawks won Game 5. But after losing in the first round the previous three series, Hitchcock — and probably all of his players — were just looking forward to winning the series rather than sticking it to Hawks fans by clinching at the UC.
“I don’t really care when we win; I just want to win,” Hitchcock said. “This is a hell of a series, two teams just going at it. I’m sure we’ve surprised them by how composed and competitive we are. They’ve not surprised us. But we just want to win the series. It doesn’t matter when and where — we’ll play them on the street if they want.”
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