CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Blackhawks are taking a closer look at their house after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.They aren’t sure just yet if a complete teardown is necessary.The Blackhawks are heading into one of their most intriguing summers in years after finishing with 33 wins and 76 points Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , their lowest totals since they went 31-42-9 during the 2006-07 season. While they might not make any big changes, improvement next year is mandatory, general manager Stan Bowman said Monday.”This year was extremely disappointing,” Bowman said. ”Last year was more abrupt, but this was equally disappointing. I’m not happy with where we are. We’re going to examine everything, look long and hard at ways to improve through personnel.”The Blackhawks have been on a downward trend since winning the 2015 Stanley Cup. They were eliminated by St. Louis in seven games in the first round of the 2016 playoffs, and then were swept by Nashville in the opening round last year.They stumbled all the way to last in the Central Division this season, falling short of the playoffs for the first time since star forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were rookies during the 2007-08 season.Bowman said the team’s top priority is keeping the young players who impressed this season. Rookie Alex DeBrincat had a team-high 28 goals, one more than Kane, and Vinnie Hinostroza showed flashes of promise after beginning the year in the minors.”That’s the direction we’re headed,” Bowman said. ”They’ve showed they’re part of the future.”His second priority is free agency, and Bowman said he’s more interested in short-term deals than longer pacts that would tie his hands in the future.He could look for goaltender help after Corey Crawford missed the final 47 games with an upper-body injury. He also could focus on his blue line after top defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook showed signs of age this season.”This was an off year in about every category,” coach Joel Quenneville said. ”From every individual except two or three, we expect more next year.”Both Bowman and Quenneville expressed confidence in a healthy return for Crawford, who went 16-9-2 with a sparkling 2.27 goals-against average in 28 games. Anton Forsberg, Jean-Francois Berube and Jeff Glass all struggled in goal after Crawford got hurt.”He’s on the right track Womens Ryan Kesler Jersey , close to being ready to go,” Quenneville said.Toews, who missed the last eight games with an upper-body injury, said previous successes ”happened naturally, organically. Now there’s a lot of issues you need to find solutions. We need to take a creative approach to finding solutions. It’s humbling to a certain degree. You feel like you’re starting over.”LOTTERY FEVERThe NHL draft lottery is April 28, and Chicago has a 6.5 percent chance of winning the top pick. The Blackhawks drafted Toews with the third overall pick in 2006 and got Kane with the No. 1 selection in 2007, fueling their run to three Stanley Cup titles.TIPPING POINTCrawford’s injury just before Christmas turned the season around. They were in a playoff position on Dec. 23, his last appearance, and fell out of contention soon after he was placed on injured reserve.WRONG NUMBERSThe Blackhawks allowed 256 goals, 67 more than they gave up during the 2014-15 season. Keith, a two-time Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman, finished with a career-worst minus-29 rating, the worst such number on the team.GOODBYEOne of the most memorable moments of the season was Patrick Sharp’s final game at the United Center. The 36-year-old Sharp is planning to retire after finishing with 10 goals and 11 assists in his 15th NHL season. The team honored Sharp with a highlight video in the third period of its home finale, and he waved his stick and tapped his heart to acknowledge the sustained roar of the crowd.NEXT UPDefenseman Henri Jokiharju could get a long look during training camp in the fall. He was selected by the Blackhawks in the first round of last year’s draft, but he doesn’t turn 19 until June.CAPTAIN AMERICAKane has decided to keep playing. USA Hockey announced Monday that Kane will captain the U.S. team for the world championship in May in Denmark. PITTSBURGH (AP) Mario Lemieux had one question for Sidney Crosby after the Pittsburgh star slipped past his boss as the Penguins‘ career playoff scoring leader during a Game 4 romp over Philadelphia.”He asked what took so long,” Crosby said with a laugh.Lemieux’s joke carried with it a pair of messages.The first is a not so subtle reminder to his protege that it took Crosby 152 games to reach 173 playoff points while Lemieux only needed 107 to get to 172. The second is a nod to Crosby’s playoff excellence. He slipped by his boss because the Penguins – thanks in no small part to their captain – keep finding a way to win in the postseason.A victory over Philadelphia in Game 5 on Friday night would push the Penguins into the second round for the fifth time in six years and move them a step closer to becoming the first team in 35 years to win three straight Stanley Cups. Pittsburgh has gotten there by developing a killer instinct under head coach Mike Sullivan that it lacked at times before his arrival in December Ryan Miller Jersey , 2015.The Penguins are 8-5 when given a chance to clinch a playoff series since Sullivan took over. They were 4-9 in potential clinching games from 2010-15, including letting 3-1 series leads get away in the first round against Tampa Bay in 2011 (when Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were both out) and to the New York Rangers in the second round in 2014, a collapse that cost head coach Dan Bylsma and general manager Ray Shero their jobs.Sullivan downplays his role in it, preferring to put the emphasis on his star-laden roster.”This group of players has a real strong competitive spirit and I think it’s hard to win in this game if you don’t,” Sullivan said. ”I think it starts with our core players. They lead the way for us in so many different ways but certainly our compete level is one of them.”The proof came over the course of six periods in Philadelphia in Games 3 and 4, when the Penguins outscored the Flyers 10-1 with Crosby, Malkin, Phil Kessel and goalie Matt Murray doing their part to reclaim momentum after Philadelphia pulled off a 5-1 stunner in Game 2 to briefly – emphasis on briefly – tie the series.Now? Not so much. The cross-state rivals have engaged in what amounts to an outlier of sorts in the typically taut playoffs. All four games have been decided by at least four goals. The other seven playoff series have had seven games decided by four-or-more goals combined.”It’s been weird,” Pittsburgh center Derick Brassard said.And lopsided. Flyer fans exited Game 4 chanting for the firing of coach Dave Hakstol, and his grasp on the gig become precarious if his team can’t force the Penguins to head back east for Game 6.There’s a chance the Flyers could have Sean Couturier in the lineup. He missed Game 4 after colliding with teammate Radko Gudas in practice on Tuesday. Either way, Philadelphia knows it needs to find a way to recapture the resiliency it showed during the regular season when it overcame a litany of setbacks to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.”They’ve played extremely well, and we need to play better,” Philadelphia general manager Ron Hextall said. ”Our focus has to get back to one game. We’re down 3-1 obviously, but our focus has to get back to winning one game, and that’s tomorrow. There’s no question we have to play better individually, and certainly as a group.”Or http://www.coyotesproshop.com/authentic-alex-goligoski-jersey , play a little more like the Penguins, who have shrugged off a sometimes uneven regular season to look very much like the team that celebrated with raucous championship parades through downtown Pittsburgh each of the last two Junes.There’s much work to be done before another one can be planned, but Pittsburgh is three periods away from getting at least as far as the last three teams trying for a threepeat – the 1998-99 Detroit Red Wings, the 1992-93 Penguins and the 1988-89 Edmonton Oilers.”We know it’s going to be a tough one,” Crosby said. ”We want to try and carry that momentum and the way we played into our own building.”PREDATORS ON THE PROWThe team the Penguins edged in six taut games during the 2017 Cup finals have their own shot to move on Friday. The Nashville Predators clinched all three of their playoff series a year ago at home a year ago in reaching their first Stanley Cup Final and have a chance to close out Colorado in Game 5 (9:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN).The Predators are 11-2 in Smashville since the start of the 2017 playoffs, a run that started by finishing off a sweep of Chicago in the first round a year ago. They can assure themselves of a weekend of rest if they avoid a return trip to Colorado.”It’s huge that we have a chance to finish the series at home,” Predators goalie Pekka Rinne said. ”Obviously, that’s something that is in the back of your head. We want to take it so bad and have this opportunity. But it’s a good team so we have to play again like this and I think that will be.”The Predators tried to make sure they’re well-rested by flying back to Tennessee on Thursday, and they will have a chance to advance against Colorado’s backup to the backup goalie. Avs coach Jared Bednar announced that Andrew Hammond will start Game 5 with Jonathan Bernier is out with a lower-body injury. Hammond stepped in and stopped all eight shots he faced in relief of Bernier in Nashville’s 3-2 win on Wednesday night.”He didn’t have a whole bunch of work, but he was good,” Bednar said. ”He made the saves he needed to make. It was good to see. Hopefully it gives him a little confidence.”—AP Sports Writer Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.—
