SAN JOSE, Calif. — If there’s any team that should know how tenuous a 1-0 series lead can be in the NHL playoffs it’s the Chicago Blackhawks.
The team that had to fight back after losing the opener to win the first two rounds finds itself in an unusual spot now, leading the Western Conference final 1-0 over the San Jose Sharks.
“It’s a different situation than we’ve been in most of the time,” forward Patrick Sharp said Monday. “I don’t think it changes much. It’s not going to make the series any easier being up 1-0. If anything, it will just get more difficult as we go on. It’s a great opportunity to try to take both games in their building, and that’s what we’ll try to do.”
The Blackhawks, in fact, had lost four straight series openers dating to last season before seizing the home-ice advantage by winning 2-1 in Game 1 at the Shark Tank on Sunday. They came back to win three of those series, only losing last year’s conference final against Detroit.
While the Game 1 victory might take some pressure off Chicago heading into tonight’s Game 2, coach Joel Quenneville wants to see the same level of desperation his team had in winning the second game in the previous two series after losing the opener.
“I just think that we got to react like we shouldn’t be satisfied, we haven’t accomplished anything, and feel like we have to win that game,” Quenneville said.
There was no sense of satisfaction in the Blackhawks’ locker room Monday, and there was no sense of panic for the Sharks. Both sides still expect a long series between the top two teams in the Western Conference and they know how easily Game 1 could have swung in the other direction.
There was Antti Niemi’s sprawling glove save to rob Ryane Clowe late in the second period to keep the game tied, a faceoff win by Jonathan Toews against Joe Thornton that set up Dustin Byfuglien’s game-winning goal in the third period, and a missed one-timer by Thornton in the closing seconds that could have tied the game.
“For the most part we played pretty well,” Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said. “We made a few defensive mistakes. But again, to get 45 shots against a team like that, keep them at two goals. It could have gone either way.”
