With 17 games left in the regular season, the Blackhawks’ playoff hopes took a big hit Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings ended a 10-game losing streak by defeating the Hawks 6-3 at home.
The Hawks struggled early, committing two penalties in the first five minutes and the Kings capitalized by scoring on both power plays. By the end of the first period, the Kings already had three goals. The Hawks were able to come back and tie the game at 3-3 but the Kings scored three unanswered goals which led them to victory.
After the loss, the Hawks have now lost three of their last four and see their playoff position slipping as they are still on the outside looking in. Getting into this position was not easy, the Hawks went from a lottery team to chasing a wild-card spot thanks to a 10-4 run that started on January 20th. The Hawks were briefly in the second wild-card spot on February 20th before the other teams caught up and placed them out of the playoffs again.
If the Hawks are going to get into the playoffs they are going to have a razor thin margin for error, nine of their last 17 opponents are currently in the playoffs. They’ll look to start with a victory tonight against the San Jose Sharks, puck drops at 9:00pm CT.