Hawks Beat Islanders in Overtime 3-2, Sharp GWG

The Chicago Blackhawks took on the New York Islanders on Long Island on Thursday night.  The two teams that haven’t played a whole lot in recent years were playing their second game against each other in a week.  The Islanders came in hot winners of 4 out of 5 with their only loss during that stretch the shootout loss last week in Chicago.  Ray Emery got the nod for the Hawks in goal over the struggling Corey Crawford and Al Montoya was in net for the Islanders.  The Hawks had a strong start defensively and were all over the Islanders early.  But a bad pass by Patrick Sharp led to a break for John Tavares.  Emery shut the door and kept the game scoreless.  The Islanders got the first power play of the game when Michael Frolik went off for tripping at 9:10.  The Hawks killed the penalty and got a power play of their own just as their penalty expired when Josh Bailey was whistled for boarding Marcus Kruger.  Marian Hossa gave the Hawks the lead at 11:42 of the first with the Hawks 5^th power play goal in their last 11 chances when he banked a pass off of Montoya and in.  With the goal Hossa became the 85^th player in NHL history to record 400 career goals.  Emery made a huge save moments later on another Tavares breakaway.  Shots were 10 apiece in the first period in a period that was mostly solid for the visitors.

Just 2:23 into the second period Patrick Sharp gave the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.  The Islanders got an early power play with Steve Montador off for interference.  The Hawks killed the penalty to maintain the two goal advantage.  The Hawks went to the power play themselves when PA Parenteau went off for tripping.  The power play lasted just 26 seconds before Patrick Sharp went off for hooking to nullify the Hawks man advantage.  The Hawks killed off the remaining power play time after a little four on four hockey and continued to lead 2-0.  Travis Hamonic cut the lead to 2-1 with a point blast at 18:21 of the second period.  Patrick Kane went off for an elbowing call moments later in a ghost call that he never made contact on.  An awful call put the Hawks shorthanded with less than two minutes.  To make matters worse Dave Bolland was whistled for high sticking and the Hawks were down two men for almost a full two minutes.  The Hawks killed the period but there was still 51 seconds remaining on the 2 man advantage that carried over into the third period.  The Islanders outshot the Hawks 15-9 in the second.

The Hawks short two men to start the third period killed off the remaining time to remain in the lead 2-1.  The Islanders did not get a shot off on the two man advantage time in the third period.  After holding the Islanders to two shots through the first ten minutes of the third, Steve Staios was able to tie the game with Emery screened at 10:53 of the period.  The Hawks got a power play as the man that tied the game went off for delay of game when Staios shot the puck into the crowd.  The Hawks were unable to do anything with the man advantage golden opportunity and the game remained tied 2-2 with under 5 minutes to play.  Dan Carcillo took a stupid retaliation penalty when he took exception to a push on Toews and punched Okposo in the face and drew a two minute roughing minor.  The Hawks got lucky and killed the undisciplined penalty.  The Islanders outshot the Hawks 8-7 for the third period and the game headed to overtime.

The Hawks wasted little time in overtime as Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp came in 2 on 1 and Sharpie finished off a Hossa blast and rebound to give the Hawks a 3-2 overtime win.  The Islanders moved to 0-6 on the year in overtime/shootouts. 

The Hawks improved to 9-6-1 on the road and 17-8-4 overall.  With the win the Hawks moved within 1 point of the Minnesota Wild for the Western Conference lead.  The Wild play in Los Angeles later tonight.  The Hawks will head home and host the Sharks on Sunday night.       

NHL move to regional based play great for the game.

The news that the NHL is going to four conferences with more regional play to include the first two rounds of the playoffs is music to the ears of fans of old time hockey.  Playing inside your division and then having to beat those same teams you fought hard with all year will bolster rivalries and can only be good for the sport.  The Hawks get to keep Detroit in the conference who was heavily rumored to be headed to the Eastern Conference in a switch for Winnipeg.  Former division rival Winnipeg joins the yet to be named conference and the Hawks will be reunited with long time Norris Division rival the Dallas Stars, formerly the very much hated Minnesota North Stars.  The Hawks will also get the Minnesota Wild in the conference.  The Central Division is staying intact and adding Minnesota, Dallas, and Winnipeg to form the new conference.  Here is what the four new conferences will look like:

A                                 B                                 C                                 D

Ducks                          Blackhawks                 Bruins                          Hurricanes

Flames                         Blue Jackets                Sabres                          Devils

Avalanche                   Stars                            Panthers                      Islanders

Oilers                           Red Wings                  Canadiens                   Rangers

Kings                           Wild                            Senators                      Flyers

Coyotes                       Predators                     Lightning                    Penguins

Sharks                         Blues                           Maple Leafs                Capitals

Canucks                      Jets

Four teams will make the playoffs in each conference and play a 1-4, 2-3 format for the first two rounds to come up with four conference champions.  It is yet to be decided by the NHL General Managers if they will re seed for the third round.  My opinion is that this is a great move for hockey.  It is great for the fans and the players.  Players will have less travel as they will only have to make one trip a year to the west coast if you are on a team that is currently in the Western Conference.  As far as the fans that means less games coming on late at night.  It also means for the fans that they will get to see every single NHL team come to their city every year.  The new format will be heavy on Conference games with a home and home against every other team in the league.  That means the likes of Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Steve Stamkos, Jonathan Toews, the Stanley Cup Champions, etc., will be coming to your city every year.  I love it, I think the players, coaches, and GM’s are going to like it, and I think the fans are going to  love it.

Hawks @ Long Island Preview 12/08/11



The Chicago Blackhawks (16-8-4) will skate on Long Island tonight when they take on the New York Islanders (9-11-5) at the crumbling Nassau Coliseum.  It will be the second and final meeting of the season and the second meeting in a week.  The Hawks beat the Islanders 5-4 in a shootout last Friday at United Center.  Ben Smith, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Brunette, and Jonathan Toews all scored for Chicago and Toews scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Hawks the win.  Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson, Pa Parenteau, and Nino Niederreiter all tallied for the Islanders.  The Hawks have not played on the Island since the Cup season, a game they lost 5-3.  Jonathan Toews comes in on fire for the Hawks leading the team with 17 goals and 32 points.  Toews is currently tied for the NHL lead in goals, and is tied for third in points behind Phil Kessel (35) of the Maple Leafs and Daniel Sedin (33) of the hated Canucks.  The Hawks come in 8-6-1 on the road and the Isles have a 6-6-2 record on home ice.  Chicago is coming off a roller coaster 4-3 shootout loss to the Coyotes on Monday night that saw them fall behind early 3-0 and roar back to tie the game before falling in the shootout.  Ray Emery replaced Corey Crawford after the third goal.  Ray Emery will get the start in goal for the Hawks in place of the struggling Corey Crawford who has been pulled twice in the last three games.  

  

Phoenix @ Blackhawks Preview 12/5/11

The Chicago Blackhawks (16-8-3) will take on the Phoenix Coyotes (13-9-3) 6 days since a 4-1 beat down at United Center at the hands of the Coyotes in a game where the Hawks didn’t appear to show up.  The game will be the third of four meetings this season and the Hawks are 1-1-0 in the first two games.  The Hawks were 1-1-0 on United Center ice against the Coyotes last year.  Daymond Langkow, Shane Doan, Radim Vrbata, and Ray Whitney scored for the Coyotes in last week’s game and goalie Mike Smith took a shutout into the last minute before Patrick Sharp scored a late power play goal for the Hawks.  The Hawks didn’t play much better against the Islanders but got the win in the shootout.  After a slow start against the Blues, the Hawks poured it on for a 5-2 victory.  The Hawks power play is coming on as of late, and the dismal unit in October is now ranked 11^th in the league.  The Hawks have scored 6 power play goals in their last 5 games.  Phoenix comes in losers of two in a row.  The Hawks have won two straight.  Chicago comes in atop the Central Division standings and are currently tied with Minnesota for the Western Conference lead.  Minnesota plays Anaheim on Sunday night.     

Hawks Smoke Rival Blues 5-2 in St. Louis

The Chicago Blackhawks took on the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night for the 277^th meeting all time.  The Central Division rivals faced off with just two points separating them in the standings for the second of six meetings on the 2011-12 season.  The game was physical early in the most relevant Blues/Hawks game in years as the Blues came in playing for a three way tie atop the Central.  Career Blackhawks killer David Perron, making his return from a concussion, scored the first goal of the game at 6:21 to give the Blues a 1-0 advantage.  Things got even more physical after the Blues goal with both teams throwing their weight around everywhere on the ice in a game that resembled more of a playoff tilt than an early December affair.  And the roughing after the whistle continued with Carcillo and Polak going off for roughing at 14:35.  Neither team could take advantage of the extra ice and 4 on 4 hockey despite one great chance for each team.  The Hawks outshot the Blues 13-8 in the first period of play.  Hits were 12-10 St. Louis in the physical period.

The Hawks tied the game early in the second period as a Niklas Hjalmarsson blast was redirected by Jonathan Toews and in less than a minute into the period to tie the game 1-1.  It was the Blackhawks leading 15^th goal of the year for the Captain 51 seconds into the period.  It was also the first Blackhawks goal in 80:51 of play this season against the Blues.  Toews was stoned by Brian Elliott minutes later on a 2-1 off a Toews steal and the game remained tied at 1 goal apiece.  Chris Stewart gave the Blues the lead after Andrew Brunette was hauled down in what should have been a penalty scoring his 4^th goal of the year for a 2-1 Blues advantage.  The goal came at a time when the Hawks had all of the momentum but put the Hawks on their heels a bit.  The ref found his whistle when Jonathan Toews slashed David Perron at 10:32 of the second sending the Blues to the power play.  The Hawks got lucky on the power play with T.J. Oshie missing a wide open net.  The Hawks luck continued as Marian Hossa tied the game on a shorthanded goal off a steal.  It was the second shorty for the Hawks in as many games.  The Hawks killed the remaining penalty time and the game remained tied 2-2.  The shorthanded goal appeared to give the Hawks the momentum back that they lost with the Stewart goal.  The Hawks got a power play of their own shortly after in a golden opportunity as Patrik Berglund went off for interference.  The Hawks made the Blues pay and took the lead as Patrick Sharp beat Elliott with assists to Ducan Keith and Jonathan Toews. 

Shortly after David Backes took a run at Jonathan Toews and Dan Carcillo said hello.  Carcillo and Backes both went off for roughing.  Carcillo got a double minor and the Blues went back to the power play.  The Hawks killed the penalty.  David Backes and Dave Bolland had a little pushing match before the end of the period and T.J. Oshie went off for slashining to give the Hawks a 4 on 3 power play to start the third.  Chicago outshot St. Louis 14-9 for the period that saw 16 penalty minutes as the Hawks and Blues remembered that they really don’t like each other. 

On some pretty passing to start the third the Hawks made the Blues pay on a 4-3 power play as Marian Hossa buried the biscuit to give the Hawks a 4-2 lead early in the third.  It was big Hoss’s second of the game and the Hawks second power play goal of the contest.  Halfway through the third the Blues went to the power play when Duncan Keith shot the puck into the crowd and was whistled for delay of game.  Chris Stewart went off for hooking on the power play and the Hawks got a power play of their own after 12 seconds of 4 on 4 hockey.  Patrick Sharp was stopped on a clean breakaway on the man advantage.  The Blues killed the penalty to remain in the game.  The Blues went back to the power play after Dave Bolland was whistled for high sticking.  The Hawks killed the penalty and the league’s worst penalty killing unit was 4-4 on the night.  Michael Frolik added an empty netter to give the Hawks a 5-2 victory over the rival Blues.  Chicago outshot the Blues 9-8 for the third period.

The Hawks evened the season series with the Blues 1-1-0 and moved 4 points ahead of St. Louis in the standings.  With the victory the Hawks moved 2 points ahead of the idle Red Wings for first place in the Central Division.  Chicago improved to 16-8-3 on the season.  The Hawks will return home to face the Coyotes on Monday night.  The Hawks are 1-1-0 against Phoenix this season.         

Hawks @ Blues Preview 12/3/11

The Blackhawks (15-8-3) overall and (7-6-1) on the road head to St. Louis to take on the rival Blues (14-8-3) overall and (8-2-1) on home ice on Saturday night.  This is the second of six meetings between the division rivals this season.  St. Louis shut out the Hawks 3-0 in St. Louis behind strong goaltending by Jaroslav Halak in Ken Hitchcock’s Blues coaching debut back on November 8^th.  The Hawks will look to have a better offensive output against one of their biggest rivals.  The Hawks will also be looking to shore up the struggling defense core that allowed 4 goals last night to the offensively challenged Islanders and another two power play goals against.  The penalty killing and defensive and neutral zone turnovers have been the sour spot of the season for Chicago and need to be addressed in a hurry if the Hawks want to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders come playoff time.  T.J. Oshie, Vladimir Sobotka, and Chris Stewart all tallied for the Blues in the first meeting.  The Hawks won just one of three games in St. Louis last season but won all three at United Center for a 4-2-0 mark against the Blues.  The Blues come into tonight’s game trailing the Hawks by just two points in the standings.  The Hawks come in tied for the Central Division lead with the Red Wings with 33 points apiece.  Detroit is 8-2-0 in their last 10 games and St. Louis 7-1-2.  The Blues have only once failed to record a point in a game since Hitchcock took over behind the bench.  Things are heating up in the division and it will be up to the Hawks to keep up the pace.  Jonathan Toews will look to keep up his hot streak that saw him named the league’s 2^nd star for the month of November.  Toews had a shorthanded goal, an assist, and the only goal in the shootout against the Islanders last night.  He comes in leading the Hawks in scoring with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points.  The 14 goals also leads the team.  David Backes leads the Blues with 9 goals and Alexander Steen with 18 points leads St. Louis in scoring.   

Hawks Slip By Islanders 5-4 in a Shoot Out

The Hawks took on the Islanders on Friday night at United Center.  The Hawks came out flying with great chances in the first minute including hitting the goal post.  However, it was the Hawks taking a dumb too many men on the ice penalty that there is absolutely not excuse for, especially when you are the worst penalty killing team in the league, and the Islanders slumping power play made them pay.  Kyle Okposo tapped in a rebound to give the Long Islanders the 1-0 lead.  The Hawks power play unit got a chance of their own shortly after at the 5:23 mark of the first period as Steve Staios of the Islanders went off for slashing.  The Hawks failed to convert on the man advantage.  But at the 10:27 mark on a tic tac toe passing play it was Dan Carcillo to Sean O’Donnell to Andrew Brunette and into an open net for a Hawk’s goal and a 1-1 hockey game.  It was the veteran winger’s 6^th goal of the season.  At 14:27 the Islanders made it a 2-1 game as Matt Moulson scored his 9^th of the season beating Corey Crawford with a wrist shot to give the Isles the lead.  Chicago outshot New York 14-13 in the first.  The Islanders went to the dressing room with a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play in another sloppy defensive period for the boys in the Indian Head Sweaters. 

Early in the second period it was the Islanders going back to the power play with a lazy offensive zone penalty on Viktor Stalberg for tripping.  The Hawks were much more aggressive on the penalty kill and got the job done the second time around.  Just a minute and a half later it was Ben Smith scoring his first goal of the season off a passing play from Patrick Kane to tie the game at 2-2.  Ben Smith scored from his office in front of the net, an area the Hawks need to invest more time in.  The Hawks got a power play chance of their own at 13:11 of the second period when Viktor Stalberg got leveled in front of the Islander’s net off the play.  With Dylan Reese off for cross checking the Hawks failed to take advantage and the game remained 2-2.  At 16:27 the Hawks went back to the power play as Steve Staios went off for tripping However, it was Steve Montador heading to the box for a double minor for high sticking in front of the Islanders net and the very quick end of the Hawks power play.  But it was Captain Serious Jonathan Toews with an amazing shorthanded play stripping the puck from Milan Jurcina and beating Al Montoya for his 14^th goal of the year shorthanded at 18:41.  The Hawks took a 3-2 advantage to the dressing room after 40 minutes of play in a period they absolutely dominated.  Chicago outshot New York 15-2 in the second period. 

The Islanders started the third period with 52 seconds of carryover power play time from the Steve Montador double minor.  The Hawks penalty killing woes continued as the Isles scored with 6 seconds left on the man advantage as the puck bounced right into the slot and was slammed home by PA Parenteau for the Islanders second power play goal of the game to tie the game at 3-3.  The Hawks went back to the power play themselves early in the third.  It was Patrick Sharp putting the Hawks back in the lead with a power play strike from the top of the circle of a feed from Patrick Kane.  The Hawks went right back to the lead 4-3 on a key power play goal at 5:08.  Jonathan Toews pulled down Parenteau shortly after to send the Isles back to the man advantage.  The Hawks were able to kill the penalty but not before some anxious moments as the Islanders had way too much power play offensive zone time.  But it was the Islanders tying the game on another Hawks neutral zone turnover with Nino Niederreiter making the Hawks pay at 8:55 of the third.  That was all the scoring for the sloppy sloppy sloppy third period for Chicago that saw the visitors outshoot them a ridiculous 23-7 for the period.

In overtime it was back and featured more sloppy passing by the home team.  The game headed to a shootout tied at 4 apiece.  The Hawks won it in the shootout as Corey Crawford stopped all three shots he faced and Jonathan Toews scored the only goal in the shootout.