Second City hits Sin City

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Chicago Blackhawks are celebrating one of their biggest wins in the last 11 seasons in style Sunday. After posting a look-at-us, we-are-for-real 4-2 victory on the San Jose Sharks' ice, the Blackhawks whisked their way to Vegas, baby.

The mid-road trip respite to Sin City moved Chicago general manager Dale Tallon to make the following observation: "Some of our guys are too young to get into the casinos. They'll have to go to the kiddies' places."

All joking aside, yes, these Blackhawks are growing up fast. And while no one is predicting a Stanley Cup for the Original Six city with the longest championship drought, the mere fact the 'Hawks are part of the conversation again is enough for most to rejoice.

But even sitting in fourth place in the West on Saturday wasn't enough to convince everyone this Chicago team would be the one to make a second postseason appearance in the last 11 years. That was before Saturday night, however.

You see, these frisky Blackhawks were a combined 0-3-3 against Detroit and San Jose. In other words, yeah, they're making a lot of noise in Chicago, but what does it really mean if they keep running into a brick wall, whether it be red or teal?

"It's something we talked about," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "Those two teams are on top of your conference and for good reason; they're good teams. We feel we're a good team also, and tonight we proved that."

The Red Wings and Sharks play an almost identical game. Both go hard for 60 minutes with a puck-possession style that isn't so much by design as it is a result of just being better than everyone else. Detroit is the defending Stanley Cup champ and the model franchise in the league over the last decade. The Sharks are plenty impressive themselves looking at regular-season success in the same period.

Now with coach Todd McLellan bringing that Red Wings flavor as a former Detroit assistant to the San Jose locker room, it moved Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock to suggest the Sharks are the Red Wings, just super-sized.

Either way, the Blackhawks, with all their young talent and refreshing enthusiasm, are trying to break into the little Detroit-San Jose clique. The blueprint seems to be size, speed and talent. Hmmm. Sounds like what any Stanley Cup champion has boasted.

"I think we're a confident group to begin with," Chicago forward Patrick Sharp said. "We believe we can win games in this league. We have a lot of respect for San Jose and Detroit. They're great teams for a reason. But to get those two points [Saturday] shows we can do it."

So maybe that's what has been missing all along against Detroit and San Jose for Chicago – confidence.

Hard to argue that when you consider it had been more than 1,200 days since the Blackhawks beat the Sharks. That's right, Chicago was 0-10-3 against San Jose in the most recent 13 meetings before Saturday night. Throw on top of that the fact the Sharks were 23-1-2 at home coming into the game, and it wasn't exactly the recipe for success.

"It's the toughest building to play in the league," Sharp said. "But I thought our team did a great job competing tonight."

The 'Hawks had to compete, and they had to battle adversity. Leading 1-0 after scoring on their first shot inside the first minute of play to snap Evgeni Nabokov's franchise-record shutout streak (170:58), the visitors thought they had a 2-0 lead when Dave Bolland put another fat rebound left by Nabokov into the net midway through the first period.

But in a rarely seen situation, a double-minor for high-sticking captured by a linesman earlier in the play wiped out the goal and put San Jose on the power play. It was the right call even if they sent the wrong 'Hawk to the box (Patrick Kane was holding the stick that cut Jonathan Cheechoo, not Kris Versteeg). And, sure enough, the Sharks converted on the front end of the consecutive power plays.

A 1-0 lead was 1-1, and the 'Hawks probably were lucky not to come out of the bizarre sequence down a goal considering the Sharks' confidence and prowess on the power play.

"Yeah, it was frustrating, but a play like that wasn't going to make the difference," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said.

Instead, Chicago rode out the first period and enjoyed a two-goal second period thanks to exceptional special teams – the first a short-hander by the rookie Versteeg and the second on the power play by Toews, his second of the night.

"We've seen a lot of Detroit, and these guys are the same way," Sharp said. "They just keep coming at you. This team is the same way. Even when we were up 4-1 in the third period, we weren't thinking that game was over for one second."

With the Red Wings banged up and scuffling, the Blackhawks have crept back into Detroit's rearview mirror. And Chicago is starting to think more along the lines of chasing No. 1 instead of looking over its shoulders to see what's gaining.

"We hadn't put together a 60-minute effort like that in a little while," Toews said. "We can enjoy this win and the next couple of days off, but we'll want to get right back and build off of this and take our game to another level.

"We're going into the last stretch of the season here so we have to keep pushing. We always feel we can play better. While there are things to be happy about, there are still little things we can't be satisfied with."