The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last spring. Their sights for this season are considerably lower now.
"We've got to find a way to get in the top eight," winger Patrick Kane said. "That has to be our focus."
The Blackhawks were 11th in the Western Conference entering Wednesday night's game against the Oilers in Edmonton. They were three points behind the eighth-place Flames with 58.
One of the Blackhawks' biggest problems this season has been inconsistency. They had an 8-3 stretch in November and early December then lost three in a row. Since winning five out of six games at one point in January, they have gone 1-4.
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