The Winnipeg Jets (0-1-0) fly into United Center tonight after a stinker in the home opener in which the emotion of the moment took its toll in a sloppy 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The game will mark the return of former Blackhawks and Stanley Cup Champions Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien aka Big Buff. It will be a homecoming for Ladd and Buff marking their first return trip to United Center since game 5 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals where Buff scored 2 goals and added 2 assists in the game that propelled the Hawks to a game 6 win and a Stanley Cup Championship. This will be the only meeting of the year between the Hawks and Jets. The Hawks beat the then Atlanta Thrashers 5-4 in a shootout in the only meeting last season. Jonathan Toews lit the lamp twice, added two assists and also scored in the shootout to lead the way for the Hawks who also had two goals from Patrick Kane. Nik Antropov led the scoring for the Thrashers with a two point night.
The Jets will be playing in only their second game of the year but did not do much right against Montreal. The Jets come in 0-7 on the man advantage and 3-4 (25%) on the Penalty Kill. 18 year old Mark Scheifele the 7th overall pick in the 2011 draft is one to watch for the Jets. After an impressive exhibition season, Scheifele signed with the big club and is looking to stick for the season. Scheifele logged one shot in 13:44 of ice time against the Canadiens. He is hockey smart and has defensive awareness.
The Hawks (1-1-0) come into the game fresh off a 5-2 win against the Dallas Stars Saturday night. Dan “Car Bomb” Carcillo will be making his Blackhawks regular season debut after being suspended for the first two games of the season for an incident involving on ice officials in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs while a member of the Flyers. Carcillo was brought in to add some toughness to a team that got pushed around at times last year. Carcillo will help in that department if he can keep his emotions in check and stay out of the penalty box. Carcillo has practiced this week on the second line with Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa. The Hawks will look for some power play improvement after going 1-11 through two games. The Hawks know the importance of points in October after a slow start last year left them battling until the last game of the season and then having to depend on Minnesota to send them to the playoffs. Look for a solid effort for the Hawks tonight. Ray Emery will get his first start of the year. Emery went 7-2-0 with a .926 save percentage and a 2.28 goals against average in 10 games with the Ducks last season.
Viktor Stalberg has returned to practice (knee injury) as has Ben Smith (concussion). With those two just about healthy, and Carcillo back from suspension, camp sensation and 2011 2nd round pick Brandon Saad is the odd man out. A long shot to stick with the team, the Hawks had 9 games to send Saad back to Juniors or keep him for the year. Saad had 3 shots in two games to start the year. He will play another season with the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL. Saad should be one to watch in camp next year for a spot on the roster. He has a tremendous upside and is defensively aware. Even with Saad sent to his Junior team, the Hawks appear to be one over at forward. Marcus Kruger, Ben Smith, and Rostislav Olesz appear to be the likely candidates to go to Rockford. One would think Smith deserves a chance given his play in last year’s playoffs and his nose for the net. Kruger did not have a stellar camp and was already sent packing once this year but his play on Saturday night appeared to stabilize the center position and was to Coach Q’s liking. That leaves Olesz. The problem with him is he would have to clear waivers. If he is taken though, it would free up some cap space for later in the year for a player I don’t think the Hawks wanted to begin with but was necessary to shed Brian Campbell’s lofty salary cap hit. Stay tuned.
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