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The Coyotes were able to apply pressure at the right time, Thursday, at least often enough to sign a 3-2 win in overtime, giving them a 1-0 lead in their first round series against Chicago.

The series could well be won by the Hawks or that Phoenix will dictate the tempo. Thursday, the Coyotes have ignored a slow start to their supporters, dressed in white, to score twice in the second period, after seeing the Hawks score the first goal of the series in the first period.

After that Chicago has made 2-2 with 15 seconds left in the third period, the Coyotes have forced the Hawks in overtime to clear often, just to have a break. Martin Hanzal settled the debate at 9:29, deflecting a shot from Adrian Aucoin.

“Most teams are pressuring to five players, to give himself the best chance of countering the line passes, said Aucoin. As defenders, you never want to create your own turnaround area, then we must identify or find enough space to clear the zone. We have been tough to keep them in their area, and it allowed us to continue to put pressure. ”

Coyotes players are rarely out of position, which makes it difficult for opponents when it comes time to clear. The Hawks have often lost the disk for the benefit of the Coyotes and they had good scoring chances Thursday.

“That’s what it boils down to: keep the puck out of our zone and not commit turnovers,” said defenseman Duncan Keith, Blackhawks.

The second match will be held Saturday night, again in Phoenix. The Coyotes, champions of the Pacific Division, began the playoffs with the best momentum in the West: they won their last five regular-season games, including three times in front of their fans.

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As celebrations go, it wasn’t much more emotion than they would have shown for any other game.

That’s because the division title isn’t what they’re after.

Sure, it’s nice, a historic moment for a franchise that began in Winnipeg. For the players, the best part of the division title is that it earns them home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Against the Chicago Blackhawks and all those snipers, the Coyotes will need any edge they can get.

“Winning the division, it means home ice – it’s something you want to hang your hat on,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said Wednesday from Jobing.com Arena, where the best-of-seven series will start Thursday night. “It’s an accomplishment for our group and we’ll certainly take that, but … it’s something we need to take advantage of.”

Phoenix played well down the stretch of the regular season, winning its last five games behind the superb goaltending of Mike Smith. With a 4-1 win over Minnesota on Saturday night, the Coyotes wrapped up the Pacific Division, the first in the franchise’s NHL history.

The division crown earned the Coyotes atta boys from all over because it meant they would get to open the playoffs at home instead of facing teams like Detroit, which knocked them out of the first round the previous two seasons, St. Louis or Vancouver.

Thing is, the Blackhawks don’t figure to be a much easier opponent.

Chicago finished ahead of Phoenix in the standings, earning two more wins (45) and four more points (101). The Blackhawks have one of the most potent top lines in the league with Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa, and their second line can match the No. 1 for many teams.

Chicago also has an experience advantage; the Coyotes haven’t won a playoff series since moving to Phoenix in 1996, while the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010 and pushed Vancouver to a seventh game in the first round last year.

“They’re a good team, they’ve had a good year, and we feel we’ve had a good year, too,” Kane said. “We are confident in the team we have, so we’ll see what happens. It’s going to be a fun series. It’ll be pretty intense, playoff hockey.”

The Blackhawks played well in the final stretch of the regular season, finishing 8-1-3 despite playing without Toews.

Chicago’s captain missed the final 22 games with a concussion, but started practicing this week in preparation for the playoffs and was symptom-free after Wednesday’s workout. He’s expected to play Thursday night in the desert, though an official decision isn’t expected to be made until after the team’s morning skate.

If Toews does return, he’ll center the first line and Kane, who had been in the middle with the captain out, will slide back to the left side. The line combined for 81 goals and 119 assists, even with Toews missing the big chunk of time at the end of the season.

“I’m right there,” Toews said. “It’s been another day where I’m getting better and better, getting back to where I want to be as far as if I’m going to play a game. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

He may want to look over his shoulder against the Coyotes.

While the Blackhawks play a free-and-easy style under coach Joel Quenneville, Phoenix’s forte is to grind games out any way they can to keep it close.

Against a team as fast and filled with skill players as Chicago, that means the Coyotes will have to muck it up, knock the Blackhawks down every chance they get.

It worked during the regular-season matchups between the teams – the Coyotes won three of four – and they’ll likely pick up the intensity in the playoffs, particularly with Toews coming back from injury.

“It has to come down to us working hard and do all the little things, get in their way, slow them down, bump them when we can,” Coyotes captain Shane Doan said.

The subplot within these two contrasting playing styles centers on the men orchestrating them.

Tippett and Quenneville were teammates for seven seasons with the Hartford Whalers in the 1980s and spent another year together in Washington. Even as players, they took a cerebral approach to the game, often developing plays and strategies for their teams during practices.

Quenneville got his first head coaching job with St. Louis in 1996 and had a three-year stint behind Colorado’s bench before becoming Chicago’s coach in 2008. He won the Stanley Cup in his second season with the Blackhawks and is seventh in NHL history with 624 wins.

Tippett ended his career as a player-coach with the Houston Aeros of the IHL and became head coach of the Dallas Stars in 2002. Tippett led the Stars to the playoffs five of six seasons and their coach and led the Coyotes to their first playoff appearance in eight years despite being hired nine days before the 2009-10. He has taken Phoenix to the playoffs in each of his three seasons in the desert, despite the restraints that come with the team being run by the NHL.

Though they went their separate ways – physically and philosophically – Quenneville and Tippett stayed in touch over the years and remain friends, at least until this point.

“We’ve been good friends a long time and when we’ve gotten together, there’s always been a lot of talk about the structure of the game,” Tippett said. “Over the years, it’s been a good relationship and I’ve admired what he’s done and what he’s continued to do. Our friendship will be put on hold for a few days and we’ll pick it up again after the series.”

Two hot teams, contrasting styles, coaches who are good tacticians and also friends – it should be a good one.

{source:blackhawks.nhl.com}

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Coming in as the 8 seed in the Western this year was disappointing to most Chicago Blackhawks fans and it was certainly not as well as the players expected to do, but as one should say about any playoff team – at least they made it. Every top US online casino and sports book might be stacking the lines against Chicago on a nightly basis, and every newscaster might be writing them off after every loss, but the Blackhawks, with their backs against the wall, refuse to go down without a fight.

In their 7-2 rout over the Vancouver Canucks, keeping Chicago from the proverbial sweep and bringing the series to an at-least-more-manageable 3-1, there is a shimmer of hope here, and that’s something everyone hopes the Blackhawks can cling to as game 5 of the series Thursday night soon approaches.

The obvious hero of last night’s game, Dave Bolland, did not suddenly pick up a cape and decide to put it on. He has been more than eager to fill the role of the ‘Hawks’ Superman most of this season, but has suffered long and hard with injury.

For the defending Stanley Cup Champions, falling 3-0 was a little more than shocking. No one outside of Chicagoans was rallying for a repeat; most of the sporting world had given up on the Blackhawks before midseason. But to go down three in a row was something none could have anticipated.

Bolland was obviously the spark Chicago needed to contend. He had returned to the ice after missing 17 games with a concussion, and his impact on the team was certainly immediate, scoring one goal and giving an assist on three others.

The Canucks are talking big, with their goalie, Roberto Luongo, citing that Bolland is “not a guy who is going to change the series.” But the Blackhaws and Bolland may beg to differ.

It is rare in sports that any team is able to come back down 3-0 in a series. The most famous instance of a comeback was in 2004, in MLB, no less, as the Boston Red Sox came back down 3-0 vs. the New York Yankees.

The Blackhawks do not need to watch tape of Boston to know it’s possible, however. Bolland’s inspired return and the team’s motivated play should be all they need to turn this into a series.

In terms of Chicago actually stretching it to 7, much less winning the series on the road, you won’t find any buyers save Windy City faithful. Sports books are giving better odds to hit the progressive jackpot playing online slots. The so-called “expert” commentators are talking like Chicago shouldn’t even step onto the ice Thursday. And while it may sound silly, maybe that’s exactly what Chicago needs – an outside-induced chip on their shoulder, birthed of no faith and no hope and no expectations.

It is statistically unlikely that the Blackhawks can win, but hockey doesn’t run on odds. So buckle up, Vancouver. You have a fight coming.

[image source: better.com]

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54% said YES

32% said NO

14% just Dont know

Now let the playoffs begin and we will find out who was right

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