Even without Patrick Kane the Blackhawks keep winning

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A little le s than a month ago the were 12 points out of  Andrew Cogliano Men Jersey the top spot in the Central Division. They were in the middle of a 32-game stretch where they were playing .500 hockey and just finding out that they were going to lose the NHL's leading scorer, , for several months due to an injury he suffered in a win over the Florida Panthers.At the time, things were not looking great. Even though the Blackhawks should have still been expected to score enough goals to win, there still seemed to be a little bit of concern as to how far the team could go and what they could do . They were in an extended slump in the standings and weren't playing as well as they had in the past defensively.It's amazing how quickly things can change.After their 1-0 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night, which featured a 25-save shutout from rookie backup goaltender , the Blackhawks are now 7-1-1 since Kane went down with his injury and are within three points of first place Teemu Selanne Women Jersey  in the division thanks to the combination of their winning ways and Nashville's recent slump.The Blackhawks used their newfound salary cap space to add some pieces to the roster, including veteran defenseman in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers and forward from Arizona. Both players have been solid additions, but the real improvement for Chicago in recent weeks has come from within and from the usual suspects.  Their top-line players are still dominatingThe scary thing about a fully healthy Blackhawks team has always been the fact that even though Kane was their leading scorer (and at the time of his injury the leading scorer in the NHL) he was still, on most nights, skating on .That's because their top line has been made up of the terrifying trio of , Marian Ho sa and for most of the season, a line that has been a complete nightmare for opposing teams to match up against. Those three players have continued to dominate even though they haven't always been on the ice together as much as they have earlier this season (Coach Joel Quenneville has at times bumped up to that line with Ho sa and Toews recently, perhaps as a means to jumpstart his game, but has also repeatedly gone back to the Ho sa-Toews-Saad well).Over the past nine games the Toews Jean-Sebastien Giguere Women Jersey -Ho sa-Saad trio has combined for 12 of the Blackhawks' 22 goals (more than 54 percent). The team has managed just seven goals over that stretch when one of those three hasn't been on the ice.  Ho sa continues to be the unsung hero here, something that has been true for most of his career as he remains one of the most underappreciated stars of his era (and perhaps any era). Even at the age of 36 he is still one of the best players on the ice every time he goes over the boards and combines high-end offensive skill with the defensive game and effort that has made him one of the best defensive wingers the league has ever seen.Their goaltending has been outstandingWhen Kane suffered his injury just a little more than a week before the NHL trade deadline speculation immediately turned toward forwards when it came to potential uses for the Blackhawks' newfound cap space. But the biggest problem the Blackhawks were having at that time wasn't an offensive problem. It was . They attempted to addre s that with the addition of Timonen from Philadelphia -- a risky move given his age and the fact he had not played in a game  Luke Schenn Jersey all season due to a blood clot i sue -- and they do seem to be playing a little tighter defensively in recent weeks.Even with that improvement they are still not preventing shots and chances at the same level they have in recent years, and that should be a little bit of a concern going into the playoffs.  So why the change in their goal prevention numbers?Well, why else does a team experience a sudden and drastic change in its defensive numbers?Goaltending.Over the past nine games the duo of and Darling has posted a .953 save percentage and only once given up more than two goals in a game (Darling surrendered four in their only regulation lo s over that stretch against Tampa Bay). That stretch also includes two shutouts (one from each goalie) and four games where they allowed just a single goal.Hockey can be a funny sport sometimes. Having high-end star players is important. You can not win a championship -- or even compete for one -- without at least a couple of them. But sometimes when one goes down for an extended period of time due to an injury their impact on a team's succe s can be exagerrated just a little bit. A team like Chicago isn't the powerhouse that it is just because it has Patrick Kane.  It's because it has Patrick Kane, along with Jonathan Toews, Marian Ho sa, , , Brandon Saad, and so on and so on.Losing one of those guys isn't going to sabotage a team and it' Anthony Stolarz Jersey s not going to prevent them from winning a lot of hockey games, the same way losing didn't send Nashville into a tailspin, or Henrik Lundqvist with the Rangers or even Mark Giordano in Calgary.Depth matters, and the Blackhawks have it.
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