THE VERDICT: Experience from Bubble Will Long Outlast Playoff Run

Of course the Blackhawks would have preferred to be at the United Center for Game 3 of the First Round last week, and in any other year it would have been so.
However in paranormal 2020, after bowing twice to the top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights, the Blackhawks changed uniforms but not venues, and their Stanley Cup playoff sprint ended where it began, in Edmonton's Rogers Place. They needed a partisan sellout crowd more than their favored foe at that point, and they fell at a communal home away from home, 4-1 in best-of-seven.

If it didn't seem fair, remember that in a year humanity will try to forget, the Blackhawks barely tip toed into a postseason with the 23rd best record in the National Hockey League after 70 starts, not a small sample size. Though the invitation was cast as a gift by certain critics, at least the Blackhawks didn't waste it.
They upset the Oilers, who really were at home, in four games. The Blackhawks then had a notion they could surprise the mighty Golden Knights, but as Mike Tyson famously said, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Down 3-0 in the series, goalie Corey Crawford stole Game 4, and the Blackhawks snared a 2-0 lead in Game 5. Hmm. The Golden Knights, you know and so did they, squandered a 3-1 advantage against the San Jose Sharks the previous year, so stuff happens.

Only four times in NHL history did teams surge from being down 0-3 to prevail, but two have recent links to the Blackhawks. The 2010 Philadelphia Flyers were in that deepest of holes -- and then trailed 3-0 in Game 7 -- before shocking the Boston Bruins. The Blackhawks then beat Philadelphia for their first of three Cups over six seasons. In 2014, the Sharks took three straight and were on the verge of eliminating the Los Angeles Kings, who had other ideas. They came back from the abyss, advanced with a Game 7 overtime grinder in Chicago, and won the Cup.
Alas, these Golden Knights were too heavy, too nimble and too deep to handle, but 10 Blackhawks were introduced to playoff hockey, where tonight's game might not end until tomorrow morning. Experience for the youngest roster in the tournament should be invaluable, and that includes the experience of losing. The veterans can convey how much it hurts, and how, if you learn from defeat, maybe you really haven't lost.
Fortunes can change rapidly in the NHL. When the Blackhawks won their 2015 Cup, the Vegas Golden Knights were a proposal to be approved. In their first year, they went to the Stanley Cup Final. Now in their third, they could be there again, bidding to become the most successful expansion franchise in North American professional sports.
They might have to get past to the Colorado Avalanche, who might be even better. But in 2017, they won only 22 of 82 games for a paltry 48 points under the auspices of General Manager Joe Sakic. The social media experts were calling for Sakic's head. Now, they're calling Sakic for dinner.
The Blackhawks' intended path toward again being a perennial contender again is likely to be more incremental, a predictable consequence following a dominant decade during which players had to be shed because of financial constraints. Well, like the pandemic, the salary cap still looms, and because of COVID-19 it will be flatter than a warm beer. Senior Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman faces anxious decisions, but so do all of his contemporaries.

By any measure, the NHL has aced its creation of double bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton. Rick Bowness, coach of the Dallas Stars, allowed that it is awkward to saunter down to the hotel pool and find adversaries sunning themselves. But it didn't come off as a complaint, and there have been few of those for public consumption. Guys had to miss their families, friends and dogs, but you didn't hear much about it. Hockey players are accustomed to bonding and hibernating during playoffs, anyway, albeit not under the same roof as other teams.
There's a chance these guys won't be craving ping pong for a while, but it's been safe, first and foremost and so far. Sacrifice is global for society now. It always is for the boys of winter in their tiny playoff domain. They don't perspire for money during the postseason. Members of the 2019 World Series Champion Washington Nationals who received a full share each banked $382,358.18. That doesn't happen in hockey, not even close. The prize is the Stanley Cup, and it's a two month ordeal to get there.
Return to Play furnished some nice touches, beyond fiercely competitive games. Jim Cornelison, the one and only, was virtually brought into Rogers Place as a voice from home for the American and Canadian anthems. When local star Connor McDavid scored his third goal in Game 2 against the Blackhawks, attendants there tossed a few hats onto the ice.
Perhaps it was the same arena employees who sought to rectify the circumstance of empty stands. No fans? No problem. Did you see that shot of four electric fans in the seats, taking it all in? Also available on blanket television coverage: grizzled Bruce Boudreau, a familiar NHL coach currently on furlough, moonlighting as an analyst. He worked from his house, where you couldn't help but be reminded that he once performed briefly for the Blackhawks. There was his framed sweater, No. 19.
The book says Boudreau donned No. 32 in 1986, but it's 2020, so who is to make sense of anything? No. 19 now belongs to Jonathan Toews, has for a while, and probably won't be worn by any Blackhawk after he's done. But not yet. He's captained this organization to three Stanley Cups, so he can tell the kids what it's like to win in the playoffs. And now they know the pain of losing. Could be a start for the youngest team in the NHL.