Chicago changes strategy and is left frustrated

CHICAGO – For Chicago fans who cringed their way through the past two games in Minnesota, the style of hockey was easily described as boring. The Wild would prefer that you call it what it is: effective.

Or use a term the Blackhawks have become quite familiar with: frustrating.

However you describe it, the Wild finally has slowed the Blackhawks' high-energy game, and knotted the series at two victories apiece as the second round returns to Chicago for Game 5 on Sunday night.

The simple plays that made the Blackhawks so tough to stop either aren't working, or aren't attainable. Both accounts are worrisome for a team that prides itself on possessing the puck.

For all the finesse plays the talented Blackhawks are more than capable of creating, none apparently have worked against the Wild lately.

"They try to slow you down for sure," Chicago center Michal Handzus said. "They clog up the neutral zone and you have to get through it with speed. If we play a simple game, get speed through the neutral zone, you can get more shots."

It's not all that surprising. The Blackhawks admitted early on in this series that the Wild wouldn't allow for the wide-open style of play in which Chicago thrives. Even before Game 1, coach Joel Quenneville mentioned how his team would have to adjust their game to compete against the Wild. And for two games, that plan worked.

The Wild's turnover-inducing neutral zone attack was eliminated. Stacking the blue line became a waste of time, too. Chicago wasn't using its usual stretch pass to gain the zone; it was using a smart effort.

So when the Blackhawks abandoned that plan in Games 3 and 4 — instead opting to try and create more off the rush, and losing battles along the boards — the simple plays opened up for the Wild.

"I think it's reflecting of our intensity," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said after Game 4. "They worked for their chances. They worked for everything they got. We have to do the same."

It also explains why Chicago has been held to 22 shots at most in each game this series — a feat that's taken place a total of eight times in their past 85 playoff games.

"Being more in their zone is part of what we're talking about and having the puck a little bit more," Quenneville said. "That's more of the one-on-one confrontations that we haven't been up to par."