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Michael Russo's Sunday Insider: Chicago's hockey revival

Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images

Rookies Patrick Kane, left, and Jonathan Toews have helped rejuvenate hockey in Chicago.

The Blackhawks are making a playoff push and drawing big crowds, thanks to emerging stars and an up-tempo style.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: March 8, 2008 - 11:17 PM

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WILD WEEK IN REVIEW

Record: 1-2-1

• The Wild escaped a poor showing vs. Los Angeles by winning on Martin Skoula’s first OT winner ever, but then it dropped a 4-2 decision to Chicago and got beat at Carolina 3-2 on Thursday. In that game, Jacques Lemaire sent a message to his top players by playing the checkers on a critical third-period power play. The Wild blew a late lead in a 3-2 shootout loss at Atlanta on Friday.

STAR TRIBUNE'S STAR OF THE WEEK: Martin Skoula, Wild

The maligned defenseman has played mostly solid hockey for a while and got rewarded with a dramatic overtime winner to beat the Kings.

THIS WEEK: Three games

Today: vs. San Jose , 3 p.m. Thursday: vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m. Saturday: vs. Los Angeles, 7 p.m.

• A critical four-game homestand begins with the red-hot Sharks, who have munched on the Wild the past few years. On Thursday, former Shattuck-St. Mary’s star Zach Parise visits the Wild for the first time in his career.

THE QUOTE "I have to start to be a little bit selfish. Everybody knows I’m going to pass. If I shoot low blocker, half the net was open." — Pavol Demitra on passing to Marian Gaborik on a failed two-on-none against Chicago.

MICHAEL RUSSO

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Twenty-two thousand fans packed the United Center on Friday night to see the Blackhawks host the red-hot San Jose Sharks, which is a pretty good sign that the surging Blackhawks are no longer irrelevant in the Chicago marketplace.

Imagine if the Blackhawks, six points out of a playoff spot through Friday, could maneuver into the postseason dance. Getting that struggling franchise back on the radar would be good for hockey.

Of course, somebody forgot to tell rookie phenoms Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, and youngsters such as Roseau native Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, that the Blackhawks were supposed to die weeks ago.

After all, star Martin Havlat went down, as did goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Call it youthful enthusiasm, even naiveté, but this certainly bodes well for the Blackhawks' future.

"This is what separates both Kane and Toews from a lot of people," Blackhawks assistant GM Rick Dudley said as he drove to Minnesota to scout the state high school hockey tournament. "They fully understand, to be a truly great hockey player they have to be in a winning situation.

"Mario Lemieux wanted to be compared to Wayne Gretzky. He knew that until Pittsburgh won a Cup, he probably wouldn't be in the same category. So he took it upon himself to lead Pittsburgh to a Cup."

Kane, the NHL's leading scorer among rookies, is going to be a stud. Just watch how crafty he is on the ice; he's one of the best thinkers outside the box.

"That's what makes him so creative," assistant coach John Torchetti said. "He sees the game different from most. And he's improved dramatically defensively. He didn't have to play a lot of defense in juniors. We want him to be like Marian Gaborik. Gaborik's a solid two-way player."

And Toews, no doubt this guy's Chicago's future captain. Down low, he's physical and tough to contain one-on-one. "He doesn't like to have a bad shift at all," Torchetti said. "It's amazing the pressure he puts on himself."

The Blackhawks have missed the playoffs in eight of the past nine years, but they've won nine of 12 and are on a postseason push.

"For a lot of us young guys, to get into the playoffs and see the atmosphere and to see what it's all about, that would be a big thing for the future," Kane said before playing the Wild Tuesday. "We definitely need to get there this year. It would be great for our fans."

Best yet, the Blackhawks are doing it by playing an entertaining, high-tempo, aggressive style mostly seen in the Eastern Conference.

"Earlier this season, the coaches made a switch and added a forecheck that's much more aggressive to take advantage of the fact we've got a bunch of kids with pretty good legs," Dudley said. "We're not an easy team to play against because we skate, we hit and we pressure."

While most teams in the West want to trap it up, Blackhawks coach Denis Savard and Torchetti, a technical wizard, have allowed their team to skate aggressively.

"Our coaches said, 'You know what, we can win and be aggressive' while a lot of coaches want to play the trap, or what I call a passive forechecking system," Dudley said. "And it's great for our fans. We are in the entertainment business. And win or lose, I don't think you can come to one of our games and say, 'They didn't work tonight.' In a lot of markets, that's all they ask -- especially Chicago.

"Fans pay a lot of dollars to go see a game. They want to be entertained, and we've arrived at a point where we do it on a consistent basis."

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