Chicago Blackhawks: Top 3 players who must step up against Oilers

The Chicago Blackhawks need these players to be at their best against the Edmonton Oilers.

It wasn’t expected, but the Chicago Blackhawks will be playing past the regular season. They entered the season’s hiatus as the 24th ranked team in the league. Since the postseason usually only has 16 teams, the Blackhawks probably thought their season was over. But thanks to the NHL’s expanded playoffs format, which will feature 24 teams, the Hawks are back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

They won’t have an easy time, though. In the play-in round, the Blackhawks will be facing the Edmonton Oilers, who narrowly missed getting a play-in round bye. They fell just short of being of the top four teams in the Western Conference. The Oilers are a very good team, so the Blackhawks must be able to match them in order to beat them in a best of five games series.

Which players do the Hawks need the most? Here’s a look at some of the players the Blackhawks need to step up in order to have a good chance of pulling off an upset against the Oilers.

3. Dylan Strome

Dylan Strome had a terrific 2018-19 campaign with the Blackhawks. After they acquired him in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes, Strome picked up 51 points in 58 games. In those same 58 games this season, Strome took a bit of a step back, as he had 38 points, which is still pretty solid.

Strome, along with David Kampf, will be key players against the Oilers. Jonathan Toews will likely match up against the Connor McDavid line. It will be up to Strome and Kampf to lead the charge against the Leon Draisaitl line, which might actually be better than the McDavid line.

The Oilers rely quite heavily on their top two centers, and rightfully so. McDavid and Draisaitl are two of the best players in the NHL. If the Blackhawks can limit the damage done by them, they’ll be in a very good position to pull off an upset.