BLOG: Blackhawks Building Off Winning Momentum

After winning three straight games in late third period comebacks, the Blackhawks hope to continue feeding off that momentum and maintain their confidence heading into tonight's matchup against the Florida Panthers.
Jonathan Toews emphasized the importance of not getting caught up in the high and low moments of a game. He praised the resiliency of the team and hopes that the players can build off the confidence that have created as they get into harder situations further into the season.
"Sometimes you got to find ways to sneak out of tough spots and we've done that," Toews said. "So, it's a good feeling that gives you confidence and it's a feeling that we definitely have to build on and let it go."

The messaging that head coach Luke Richardson and the coaching staff have implemented since the start of training camp have played an important role in building the team's confidence.
Examples of this straightforward messaging: be more aggressive and assertive during shooting chances, including on the penalty kill. Another goal of the coaching staff is having players understand their roles and how they impact the team.
"I think the guys have just responded with kind of a clear message from the coaches on what we want from them, and we want them to understand it, so they can just be free and go play," Richardson said. "I think it's worked really well."
Though it is still early in the season, Richardson's messaging has been helpful throughout the first few games. Toews described Richardson's message as a keel approach.
"I think he's kept it very simple and just allowed us to go play and use our instincts and play as a team," Toews said. "When there's corrections that need to be made, he comes in here pretty precise and simple when he addresses them."

The Blackhawks have shown their resiliency, scoring four short-handed goals in three straight games. Those shots have come from Sam Lafferty, Connor Murphy, and Jujhar Khaira. For Patrick Kane, knowing he can rely on the scoring of other lines eases some of the pressure to score. He acknowledged successful teams can have all four lines producing rather than just focusing on two or three of their top scorers.
"I think the point we're at now is now we have a lot of confidence in this group" Kane said. "There's a lot of depth and contributions from everyone right now, which is, which has been great."
As for preparing for the game against the Panthers, Richardson stated that the team cannot let top players like Matthew Tkachuk slip by and have breakaway moments like they have in previous games. In order to continue to be successful, Richardson said the Blackhawks will have to be able to capitalize on offensive chances.
"[They're a] very strong upfront offensive minded team even though they made changes seem like their same type of team," Richardson said. "[Defensemen] get involved in the rush so we've got to be careful and manage pucks well and make sure we're on top of them even though we're good for checking teams still stay on top of them."