Tuesday night the Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 5-0. The Hawks stopped their recent skid, after losing five of their last seven games. They rose to 7-5-1 on the season regaining a top three spot in the Central Division.

Many Hawks fans were a bit startled by the recent performance, being surpassed by the Winnipeg Jets in the standings, who most consider to be non-contenders. Over the weekend Sunday the Blackhawks were blanked by Winnipeg’s back up goalie, Michael Hutchinson, who has only appeared in six NHL games.

As I watched the Winnipeg game, I saw a Blackhawks team that looked depleted. Coach Quenneville shook up the lines early in the year to see if they would stick better. To no avail it made their chemistry suffer. For the game in Montreal, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews were put back on the same line, both nabbed a goal with a Toews assist on Kane’s goal. It really got clicking again against the Canadiens, a team many believe will make a run within the Eastern Conference this year.

Then, I was reminded of the most important thing about dynasties. Everybody loses. You can look at any sport. Most recently, the San Francisco Giants. On Wednesday, they nabbed their third World Series title in five years. Last season, in between their 2012 and 2014 championships, they finished the 2013 year 76-86. They lost more games than they won.

Everybody struggles. The Giants team from last year and this year are about the same, but this year it clicked. The Blackhawks are a perfect example of this. They won the Stanley Cup in 2010. But in 2011 and 2012, they remained relatively quiet not making it out of the First Round. But then, they exploded in 2013 recording the best start to a season in sports history and won the Stanley Cup with flying colors.

The core of the team has stayed the same: Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, Sharp, Versteeg, Hjalmarsson and Seabrook. Only the supporting cast has changed. The big guys remained and performed at a high level, but it wasn’t enough. They were still contenders, but they didn’t get hot at the right time.

This is the hardest part about being the fan of a contender. You expect the team to always win, but it’s not possible. Even the 1995-96 Bulls team that won 72 games still lost ten. So don’t be surprised if you see a few more losses before they clinch that ever so likely playoff spot.