CHICAGO -- It's amazing how quickly time flies when you're not having as much fun as last season.
The halfway point of the NHL's regular season has arrived, and the Blackhawks know exactly where they stand: Not where they want to be.
In the all-out battle raging in the Western Conference for postseason spots, the Stanley Cup champions are just another contender after enduring a first half filled with inconsistent play.
The Hawks find themselves on the outside looking in on a playoff race that promises to go down to the wire. With 45 points off a 21-17-3 record, the Hawks are on pace for 90, which likely wouldn't be enough to secure one of the eight spots. Thus, the reigning champs might not reach the playoffs just one season after their greatest campaign in 49 years.
"It's crazy to think we're not going to be there," captain Jonathan Toews said of the playoffs. "That's ridiculous. We want to stay healthy, and we hope things keep getting better. We're going to stay optimistic. We'll all be pretty disappointed, knowing what we have in this locker room, if we can't accomplish our goal of doing that."
Entering Tuesday, the Hawks were in ninth place among a group of four with 45 points. The good news is they're only two points out of fourth. The bad news is they're only four points ahead of the 13th-place Wild.
"We can't be satisfied (and) we can't be happy, that's for sure," leading scorer Patrick Sharp said of the first half results. "You look at the Western Conference standings and every night is a make-or-break game. That's how it's going to be the last half of the season."
At this point last season, when they finished second to the Sharks in the conference, the Hawks had 59 points en route to a franchise-record 112. The season before, when they reached the Western finals before falling to the Red Wings, they had 55 at the halfway mark.
"Everybody wants to compare to last year," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We had a Stanley Cup-winning team last year. I don't think we've reached our potential yet. Not every team can waltz through a regular season. It's a close race -- that's where the importance of coming to play every night (comes in). We can never have a game now where we just don't show up."
The main reason for optimism is with the return of Toews from a right shoulder injury during Monday night's 4-3 victory over the Kings in Los Angeles, every player on the Hawks' roster is healthy.
"It will be nice to have some predictability in our lines and some rotation so all of a sudden we're at that place where we know we can keep bringing it," coach Joel Quenneville said. "That's how you get to that next level."
During their two-game trip, the Hawks exhibited a sense of urgency, something required the rest of the way.
"There's urgency all the time," winger Marian Hossa said. "Sometimes we play hard, but we don't play smart. We skate and don't get points. Sometimes we have to step back and just play as a group of five."
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