Chicago Blackhawks: Time to visit Joel Quenneville in Florida

The Chicago Blackhawks are in Florida for a two-game trip and it concludes with a visit to an old friend in Sunrise when they take on the Panthers.

Of the two Florida NHL teams, the Chicago Blackhawks already beat the better one. They went to the Amalie Arena and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night thanks to a third-period comeback. Now, that doesn’t mean the other Florida team isn’t also good. The Florida Panthers are on the playoff bubble right now fighting for their life. Legendary Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is in South Florida waiting for them.

The Panthers currently trail the Toronto Maple Leafs and Columbus Blue Jackets by four points for a playoff position. It is a bit of a surprise that the Panthers are even that far out. They have a really good roster so it is just all about them putting it together. They signed Sergei Bobrovsky to a very wealthy contract over the summer but he has not played up to it yet. That doesn’t mean he will be easy to score on for the Hawks. They need to make it difficult for him with traffic and high danger chances in order to win the game.

We know that Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are the keys to this team’s success, but it might be helpful to see more of the same from Dominik Kubalik. He had a hat trick in Tampa Bay to life Chicago to their victory. He has passed Kane for the team lead in goals now with 29. His next goal will make him the third Blackhawks rookie to ever score 30 goals.

Coach Q already made his return to Chicago and his current team is under major pressure right now. For that reason, you shouldn’t expect him to be as smiley as he was during his return to Chicago. He and his team is going to be all business which should make it really tough for Chicago. If the Hawks aren’t going to make the playoffs, the best thing they can do is play spoiler for other teams down the stretch.