Having the same home and away record isn't ideal for an NHL team. The Blackhawks, 9-9-3 at the United Center and on the road, look to improve their record on friendly ice during a four-game homestand beginning Sunday.
"It’s been a missed opportunity for us," Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. "You want to be around .500 on the road, of course you want to be better. Then at home you have to make some hay and we just haven’t done that.
"Last [home] game (5-2 win against Islanders on Dec. 27) was better, and I thought the Minnesota game (5-3 win on Dec. 15) was good, also. We just have to find a way to give ourselves a chance by playing more of a road game at home, being patient, being clean with the puck, making good decisions with the puck, willing to defend, play more 0-0 shifts and that’s a formula that can give us success."
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Sunday's start to the homestand will be against the struggling Detroit Red Wings, who are last in the Eastern Conference with a 10-29-3 record. Every game this week will be against a team currently outside the playoff picture. The Blackhawks also play the Flames (21-17-5) on Tuesday, Predators (19-15-6) on Thursday and Ducks (16-20-5) on Saturday.
"We need the points," Colliton said. "Regardless of who we're playing, we're not in the position to take anyone lightly. We talked about being better at home, this is an opportunity to take another step there. I think two of the last three have been good."
As the Hawks settle into home ice for a week before heading to Canada, they'll be looking for Patrick Kane to keep up his stellar play. Kane, who's quickly approaching 1,000 career points with 991, has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games.
Corey Crawford will start in net after Robin Lehner suffered a right knee injury in Vancouver on Jan. 2. Crawford's last start was on Dec. 23, when he was pulled in the second period with the Hawks trailing 4-1 after allowing four unanswered goals. Chicago went on to lose 7-1, heading into the Christmas break.
NHL
"We definitely want to be better than we have been at home," Crawford said. "We've had some big wins on the road and then we come back and it's kind of like you lighten up a little bit, I think.
"We've had that in the past. We just have to try and feed off the energy of the building, get the building going and we just got to better at home. If we want to make the playoffs we definitely have to step our game up here."
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