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Chicago Blackhawks: Looking at the potential first-round opponents

By Vincent Parise

ST. LOUIS, MO - FEBRUARY 25: Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks defends the goal against Ryan OReilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues during the second period at the Enterprise Center on February 25, 2020 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - FEBRUARY 25: Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks defends the goal against Ryan OReilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues during the second period at the Enterprise Center on February 25, 2020 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) /
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Chicago Blackhawks Jonathan Toews
(Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images) /

The Chicago Blackhawks will face three of four possible opponents if they make it to the first round.

The Chicago Blackhawks finally played in their qualifying game against the Edmonton Oilers. They did a good job (for the most part) containing Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at even strength. The Edmonton duo was awesome on the power play but it wasn’t good enough to outscore Chicago as they ended up taking a 6-4 win. The Oilers are the better team but the Blackhawks are absolutely able to pull off an upset if they keep playing like that.

The Blackhawks are a team that was dead in the waters when the NHL was put on pause back in March. They traded away pretty much all of their expiring contracts at the trade deadline which pretty much told the world that they know that they are already on to the next year. Well, COVID-19 changed the world for a while but hockey came up with a plan. That plan included 24 teams and the Hawks just barely squeaked in.

If they are able to beat the Oilers, that will get them into the “first round” of the playoffs. That will be a true test because the four teams that they have a chance to play in that round are all very good. They were the four best teams in the Western Conference this year and they are all believers that they can win the Stanley Cup.

They are going to play a round-robin tournament amongst the four of them to determine the seeding for the first round. You would have to think that the Hawks would draw whoever wins the round-robin in the first round if they were to make it. These are the four teams and some key facts about them.

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