Can you feel the love tonight?

Blackhawks clinch the Western Conference, at home:

"Feels likes we've been together a long time, a handful of guys that have been here since the dark days," center Patrick Sharp said after Chicago scored four unanswered goals in a 4-2 win.

"A group of kids that were drafted together, played in Norfolk and Rockford together. It's fun to be a part of this team on and off the ice. Guys get along so well. I think that really carries over into our play."
...
"This year," Patrick Kane said, "it's almost like we feel we shouldn't lose a game, to be honest with you."
...
The Blackhawks began climbing back toward the top coming out of the lockout in 2005, when former player and then-general manager Dale Tallon quit pursuing draft picks and free agents with wide bodies and narrow skill sets, instead choosing future All-Stars and Olympians Jonathan Toews in 2006 and Kane in 2007.

By then the Hawks already had surrendered the NHL's longest consecutive playoff streak -- making 28 appearances in a row, until 1997 -- and failed to make the postseason in nine of the 10 previous campaigns. But Toews and Kane gave the Hawks more than energy. Teaming up with a few of the smart choices Tallon made in the draft earlier in the decade -- notably their rugged linemate, Dustin Byfuglien, and attacking defensemen Keith and Brent Seabrook, both also Olympians -- they gave Chicago one of the most potent offenses in the league.
...
The last two pieces of the puzzle fell into place when Joel Quenneville, who was hired as a scout, took over from Denis Savard four games into last season and led the Hawks to the conference final; then when goalie Antti Niemi came into his own.

Niemi signed as a free agent in 2008 and was viewed as insurance for frontliner Cristobal Huet. But he won the job in March and it's been tough to get a pillow mint past him since, let alone a puck. San Jose outshot the Blackhawks in every game of the series but the last one, yet managed just seven goals and only three when the teams were at full strength.

"He's a very relaxed guy, very comfortable, confident ... he just moves ahead to the next shot," Quenneville said. "I think that attitude helps the focus of what the goaltenders bring at this time of year. He just goes about it like, 'Hey, I'm just trying to stop the next puck and do my job.'"