The Blackhawks kicked off the 2015-16 campaign by going 7-6-1 in their first 14 games, which may not have been too surprising considering a shortened offseason coming off their third Stanley Cup since 2010.
Since then, they've been 18-7-3 and are clicking on all cylinders right now.
Corey Crawford is playing the best hockey of his career, leading the league in shutouts with six, and sneaking his way into the Vezina Trophy discussion as the NHL's top goaltender. Patrick Kane is on pace to win the Art Ross Trophy for most points during the regular season, running away with the league-lead at 60. Artemi Panarin, who has four goals in his last two games, leads all rookies in goals (15), assists (23) and points (38), by a landslide.
Following Wednesday's 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the United Center, the Blackhawks secured their fifth straight victory and have officially passed the halfway mark of a regular season they normally play on cruise control.
It's all coming together.
The challenge now is keeping it that way.
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"It was good. Ups and downs, but, you know, short summer, you never really know what to expect," Kane said of the team's first half of the season. "I thought we put ourselves in a good position, we're not really behind the eight ball right now where we've got to play catch up the rest of the season, but we do want to improve every game and keep building towards becoming a better team when the playoffs roll around. It seems like things are headed in the right direction."
The Blackhawks are six points behind the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division, and are slowly separating themselves from St. Louis in second. It likely won't stay that way throughout the year, but gaining any sort of ground is crucial in the league's toughest division.
The Stars won't slip up any time soon. If they do, they've built a big enough cushion to correct it before anybody catches up. The Blues will hang in all season long, as will the Wild. The Predators, who acquired first-line centerman Ryan Johansen from the Blue Jackets for defenseman Seth Jones in a blockbuster trade on Wednesday, surely won't go away either. Even the Avalanche have crept back into the conversation.
The key for the Blackhawks has been responding as well as they could to an offseason that saw their roster turned over.
Patrick Sharp was dealt to Dallas, where Johnny Oduya followed. Brandon Saad was shipped to Columbus. There was no room for Brad Richards and Antoine Vermette to return, two players that played integral roles during last year's championship run.
Like it or not, the salary cap makes it difficult to keep the same roster year after year.
But as guys leave one door, new ones come in another, such as Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin, both of whom have exceeded expectations in their first season with the Blackhawks so far.
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"I think some young guys have come in and done a really nice job as far as playing hard and fitting into our team," Kane said. "We've made some good trades, picked up some good players. You look at the Anisimov factor, he's been maybe the X-factor of our team so far. Then Panarin's been awesome too, you pick him up as a free agent. And then the young guys coming in, you've got to be very happy with them. I think us so-called core guys want to keep pushing everyone and keep getting better ourselves too.
"By no means are we satisfied. We want to keep pushing and, like I said, keep getting better especially as the end of the season rolls around here."
Andrew Desjardins, who has four goals in his last five games, doesn't quite qualify as a young guy, but he may still fall under the "new guy" category as he's experiencing his first full season in Chicago after being acquired in March of 2015 and contributing to the team's Stanley Cup run.
Seeing the grind of an 82-game season first hand while having a target on their backs on a nightly basis, Desjardins knows the Blackhawks can't get complacent.
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"We're trying to get better and better," he said. "Obviously we're on a good little stretch here. We're playing better in our own end, keeping pucks to the outside, defensive zone, puck management. I think we're pretty pleased right now."
Forty-two games down, 40 more to go. The dogs days of the season, which is even more difficult as reigning Stanley Cup champions, are quickly arriving, but the Blackhawks will take it one game at at time, like they always do, because that's all they really can do.
"Try not to worry about looking too far ahead," Kane said when asked what the Blackhawks must do to sustain their first half success. "Focus on, it's easy to say, one game at a time and focus on trying to get better as the season progresses kind of near the end of the season and into playoffs. I think we've done a good job of that.
"I think we've kind of been heading in the right direction since the start of the season, but we don't want to be satisfied with where we're at. We want to keep getting better."