Kane: Wins in close games gave Blackhawks false sense of security
Patrick Kane has a theory about why the Chicago Blackhawks' season ended Thursday, the club swept out of the playoffs by the Nashville Predators.
Despite being the top seed in the Western Conference and winning 50 games for only the second time in club history, Chicago's done after scoring only three goals in four games against Nashville.
"Maybe we won a couple close games that might have made us feel like we were better than we really were," Kane said following Thursday's loss, according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Lazerus.
The data suggests Kane may have a point. Chicago led the NHL in one-goal victories, with 24. The Blackhawks' winning percentage in one-goal wins was .571, which ranked seventh in the league. However, the six teams ahead of the Blackhawks were some of the league's best, and all playoff teams:
| Rank | Team | Win% 1-goal game |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flames | .690 |
| 2 | Capitals | .606 |
| 3 | Blues | .594 |
| 4 | Rangers | .590 |
| 5 | Penguins | .576 |
| 6 | Blue Jackets | .575 |
| 7 | Blackhawks | .571 |
| 8 | Canadiens | .561 |
| 9 | Oilers | .553 |
| 10 | Canucks | .526 |
A 50-win season doesn't happen by chance. The Blackhawks ran into a hot goalie, and a quietly dangerous team in the Predators, and now the soul-searching begins.
There will be changes, especially on defense, but Chicago remains committed to its core of Kane, Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, and Corey Crawford. However, as Lazerus points out, Chicago was the oldest team in the league this season, and needs its young players - Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz, Tanner Kero, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Alex DeBrincat - to continue making strides (and, in DeBrincat's case, to make the team).
The Blackhawks have, in a way, spoiled their supporters by winning three Stanley Cups since 2010. Only one team ends up the champion in the end, and it can't always be Chicago.
But the loss to Nashville stings, making it two straight years Chicago's been bounced in the first round.
"(It) certainly nullifies it to me," head coach Joel Quenneville said of his team's 50-win season. Six-and-a-half months out the window, just like that.