For the past three games in their second-round playoff series against the Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks have gotten a mere two goals past Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard -- both by Patrick Kane.
It's largely why the Blackhawks are looking up at a 3-1 deficit in these Western Conference semifinals, and largely why they're on the verge of being eliminated tonight. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, however, has a plan. He's asking his players to create more traffic in front of Howard. "We've had some quality shots. We'd like more quality with traffic," Quenneville said following Friday's team meeting and optional practice. "He's been challenging. We're getting decent looks, but more traffic would make it more challenging." The Blackhawks have had their shots and they've hit their posts and crossbars. Those iron shots have been especially frustrating, since they represent the few they've actually gotten past Howard. They need those to go in, obviously. They also need more shots that Howard doesn't see. "I think we have a lot of shots in these games, but maybe we have to go in and try to have a good screen on him and make sure he doesn't see the puck," C

Jonathan Toews continues to remain publicly positive despite the fact that he and the Chicago Blackhawks trail the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 in their best-of-seven, second-round playoff series.
"Our best players need to be our best," the Chicago captain said. "We need to lead, grab the rope and start pulling for the rest of the guys, and that starts with me." The odds don't favor the Blackhawks here. Teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series about eight percent of the time. The Blackhawks almost came back from a 3-0 deficit against the Vancouver Canucks two springs ago, losing to them in a Game 7 overtime. They'll keep that memory in the front of their minds when the puck drops tonight. "It just goes to show that things like that are possible," Toews said. "We were very close to winning that series. I'm sure Detroit knows and we know this series is long from being over. (Tonight's) going to be the toughest game for both. We'll keep that (thought) in our hip pocket."

Veteran defenseman Brent Seabrook is slumping conspicuously in the Chicago Blackhawks' second-round playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings and Joel Quenneville is doing something about it.
The Hawks' coach is cutting Seabrook's playing time. Seabrook's playoff-low 12:03 of ice time in the Hawks' 2-0 loss to the Red Wings Thursday is an alarming number for a player of his caliber - an eight-year veteran in the middle of a five-year, $29 million contract. He averaged 22:00 of ice time in the regular season, second highest on the team behind iron man Duncan Keith. The 12:03 against the Red Wings in Game 4 is the lowest time-on-ice of Seabrook's 658-game NHL career. His previous low was 13:27. He's never played less than 16:00 in a game over the past six seasons. Seabrook has contributed very little offensively and is a minus-4 against the Wings.

Chris Anderson gave up six goals on 33 shots in Ottawa's 6-2 Game 5 loss to Pittsburgh on Friday night.
Anderson, just like his teammates, found the Penguins' high-flying attack too difficult to contain, giving up 20 goals -- 12 over the last two games -- in the series. A far from ideal playoffs should not take away from the brilliant season he had, though 21-year-old Robin Lehner is lurking and more than capable of handling the full-time load. Starting with coach Paul MacLean, there's a lot to like about the Senators moving forward and the goaltending situation is certainly one of them.

Kyle Turris scored and assisted for the Senators as their season came to an end with a 6-2 loss in Game 5 of their second-round series with the Penguins on Friday night.
Turris had a team-leading six postseason goals. The Senators were overwhelmed and overmatched against the Penguins in this series, but they were never quitters. Even though they were outscored 21-11, coach Paul MacLean's group never gave up and that was a trait of this team the entire season. Milan Michalek potted the other marker, with Jared Cowen, Colin Greening and Jason Spezza picking up helpers. Chris Neil and Turris each had four penalty minutes.