Blackhawks: Patrick Kane struggles again in Game 1 loss

With the Chicago Blackhawks being down 1-0 in the series against the Golden Knights, they’re going to need Patrick Kane to get in a groove again.

Not to discount Patrick Kane‘s work this season, but he’s been unusually quiet so far this post-season. He had a great season this year, hitting 1,000-points, running many point-streaks, and scoring at will. Unfortunately, none of that has translated to the playoffs.

Kane was kept quiet in most of the series against the Oilers, with him just putting the puck in the net once. He’s made some solid plays, which has gotten the team close to scoring, with just no luck.

Tonight, Kane missed multiple chances to help lower Vegas’ lead. He hit the post, missed the net, and mishandled a few passes. This isn’t all entirely his fault of course. The ice isn’t the best, the Oilers and Golden Knights have focused heavily on him, and the passes to him haven’t been ideal.

The lack of scoring from Kane has kept the Chicago Blackhawks to a one-line team, with the majority of Chicago’s offense coming from their top line. The bottom 6 forwards have contributed and added at times, but it’s been mostly the Jonathan Toews’ line that keeps them in games.

If Kane can get things going in Game 2, that’ll add another line of success, which opens up Chicago’s offense again. They’ll need that if they want to tie up the series.

I’m expecting a huge bounce-back game from the Blackhawks on Thursday, with Kane scoring. The offense will get going as soon as Kane gets going. It’s hard to defend a team with four solid lines. Right now, Chicago’s first line is amazing, their second is quiet, third is questionable, and the fourth-line has surprised a lot of people.

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We’ll see what happens with Kane and his linemates. Those middle two lines have to turn up the heat if Chicago has any chance of tying the series up.