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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) /

Vegas Golden Knights

Three years in the league, three years of being awesome. The Golden Knights made everyone look and feel silly during the 2017-18 season when they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final after having a great expansion draft. In 2018-19 and 2019-20, they proved that the first year wasn’t a fluke either as they were again one of the elite teams in the league. They are a team that has a real chance to win the Cup once they get going in these playoffs.

Their two leading scorers, Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone weren’t even there when they made it to the Stanley Cup Final in that inaugural year. You can argue that they are better on paper now but they have to work a little bit harder because everyone knows who they are now. Everyone knows that they aren’t anything to mess around with. Now, they also have Robin Lehner in case any problems come up with Marc-Andre Fleury.

They went 1-2 against the Golden Knights in the regular season. They split the two contests that were played at the T-Moble Arena and then lost the one matchup they had at the United Center in a shootout. Of course, the reason negative records keep popping up here is that these are the best of the best in the West and the Hawks weren’t very good. Hopefully, if this is the matchup, the Hawks are able to put their best foot forward and make it interesting.

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