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Coach Q calls last night’s win ‘the minimal standard’

Blackhawks score

Joel Quenneville didn’t sound overly impressed with his team’s 3-0 win last night in Minnesota.

“Yesterday’s game is probably the minimal standard we should be looking for,” the Blackhawks’ coach said today, per Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Despite shutting out the Wild and going ahead, 3-1, in the series, Chicago finished with just 24 shots and spent a good portion of the game killing the six minor penalties it took.

The ‘Hawks’ power play, meanwhile, failed to convert on its only two opportunities and now stands at just 1-for-11 in the playoffs.

“We feel [the power play] can be good because it has been good in past,” said forward Patrick Kane.

Yet it wasn’t very good during the regular season. Even with all the firepower Chicago boasts, the Blackhawks ranked 19th (16.7%) with the man advantage.

If all this sounds like nitpicking, maybe it is. After all, the penalty kill is a perfect 15-for-15 and goalie Corey Crawford has been great. Those things deserve mentioning, too.

But that’s what happens when a team barely loses a game during the regular season.