Blackhawks enjoying a rare 1-0 series lead

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif.

If there’s any team that should know how tenuous a 1-0 series lead can be in the NHL playoffs it’s the Chicago Blackhawks.

The team that had to fight back after losing the opener to win the first two rounds finds itself in an unusual spot now, leading the Western Conference final 1-0 over the San Jose Sharks.

“It’s a different situation than we’ve been in most of the time,” forward Patrick Sharp said Monday. “I don’t think it changes much. It’s not going to make the series any easier being up 1-0. If anything, it will just get more difficult as we go on. It’s a great opportunity to try to take both games in their building and that’s what we’ll try to do.”

The Blackhawks had lost four straight series openers dating to last season before seizing the home-ice advantage by winning 2-1 in Game 1 at the Shark Tank on Sunday. They came back to win three of those series, only losing last year’s conference final against Detroit.

While the Game 1 victory might take some pressure off Chicago heading into Game 2 tonight, coach Joel Quenneville wants to see the same level of desperation his team had in winning the second game in the previous two series after losing the opener.

“I just think that we got to react like we shouldn’t be satisfied, we haven’t accomplished anything, and feel like we have to win that game,” Quenneville said.

There was no sense of satisfaction in the Blackhawks locker room on Monday and there was no sense of panic around the Sharks. Both sides still expect a long series between the top two teams in the Western Conference and they know how easily Game 1 could have swung in the other direction.

There was Antti Niemi’s sprawling glove save to rob Ryane Clowe late in the second period to keep the game tied, a faceoff win by Jonathan Toews against Joe Thornton that set up Dustin Byfuglien’s game-winning goal in the third period, and a missed one-timer by Thornton in the closing seconds that could have tied the game.

“For the most part we played pretty well,” Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said. “We made a few defensive mistakes. But again, to get 45 shots against a team like that, keep them at two goals. It could have gone either way.”

The biggest difference was the play of Niemi, who allowed only a first-period power play goal on a deflected shot.

That’s why the Blackhawks aren’t worried about growing too satisfied with that one game, knowing how much better they can, and need to play.

“The good news is there’s a lot of things we can improve on and that we can do better,” Toews said. “When we looked at Game 1 watching the highlights on TV, it looks like they … outplayed us.”