Friday, March 9, 2012

You think that was exciting? O-du-ya?

Going into tonight's game against the Rangers, Blackhawks fans were very excited for an original 6 match-up and expected a great game. The actual game did not disappoint.

Before the game I said that the Blackhawks would need to strike first if they wanted to win. When the Rangers scored first with less than a minute left in the first period, I was a little worried. In the second period, Shaw scored. The game was tied going into the third period, and that's when things got interesting.

The Rangers scored without 13 minutes left in the game and I, as a stupid fan, tweeted that the game was over and the Blackhawks lost again. Then Sharp made me eat my words with about 8 minutes left in the game by scoring a goal. 62 seconds later Oduya scored to put the Hawks up 3-2. The Rangers pulled their goalie late in the game and Kane scored an empty netter. Unfortunately, the Blackhawks made a mistake again by giving up a goal after scoring the empty netter. The game should've been over, but the Blackhawks gave the Rangers a glimmer of hope. The Hawks did go on to win thanks to Oduya, who was the first star of the game and Kane who got the technical game winner.

Some other things that are interesting to me about the game is that the Hawks were outhit 40-20. The Hawks getting outhit is nothing new, but this shocked me because of the separation. If the Hawks really want to contend, they need to get tougher and start hitting more. There are other aspects of the game that are good, but hitting a little more and being more aggressive will help them against teams like the Blues and Canucks. Bollig fought once again and it was a pretty good one.

News and Notes, Game Preview

Blackhawks fans got a nice treat this morning as they got to watch the Blackhawks morning skate for the first time. It aired online on Blackhawks TV and on the Blackhawks mobile app. Beyond this special treat, Hawks fans got another treat. Jonathan Toews skated with the team for the first time in three weeks. From watching the morning skate, I'd say that he looked great. He was skating up and down the ice quickly and during one drill he skated with the puck and let go of a really nice shot. I wouldn't say the captain is ready to come back in the next few days, but the progression seems to be going great. He skated alone yesterday and with the team today. He also talked to the media about his injury and confirmed what everyone knew, that his upper body injury was in fact a concussion.

In other injury related news, it is now also assumed that the injuries to Steve Montador and Niklas Hjalmarsson were concussions. Hjalmarsson will be back in the lineup tonight against the Rangers and is expected to be in the third defensive pairing with Olsen. Montador is said to have experienced a setback today. Sami Lepisto is out indefinitely after injuring his left leg in the game on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.

The final injury news is about my favorite player and current Blackhawks prospect in Rockford, Ben Smith. Smith suffered a right hip labral tear and hernia. He will undergo surgery and be out for four months. He played 13 games with the Blackhawks this season recording two goals and. In 38 games with the IceHogs, he had 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points. Smith is known best for his game 6 goal against the Vancouver Canucks during last year's playoffs. I hope for Ben to have a full recovery and come back even stronger for the 2012-2013 season.



Game Preview
Tonight the Blackhawks play the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers. It should be a good game as John Scott comes back to Chicago for the first time since the trade right before the deadline. The Rangers are a very good team and the Blackhawks beat them the last time they played. The Blackhawks won't be as lucky this time as they will have to face Lundqvist in net.

The Blackhawks can win this game, but they'll have to play tough. This seems to be a big problem for the Hawks as fans saw on Tuesday against the Blues. The Blackhawks had good games against both the Senators and Red Wings in the past week and will have to play like they did in those games in order to beat this good Rangers team.

Goaltending will be key. Ray Emery will be in net and after giving up a couple weak goals in St. Louis, I'm not sure that I feel safe with him for the game tonight. If he can play like he did prior to the St. Louis game, it should be fine. The Blackhawks will have problem against Lundqvist, because he is one of the best goaltenders in the league but if they get after him early they have a good chance of scoring some goals.

This is going to be a hard fought game and the Blackhawks will have to be ready and play aggressive early. The Hawks can win, and a win would be huge. The Blackhawks are currently 6th in the standings and would love to move higher in the standings to be in a better position come playoff time.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Blues beat the Blackhawks 5-1 and much more

First thing's first, the Blackhawks lost tonight. They played the Blues in St. Louis and the Blues played a great game. They did everything that you want a hockey team to do in a game. They played good defense, got a couple gimme goals, got a power play goal, and got a shorthanded goal. Halak was outstanding in goal and the only goal he allowed was a nice redirect by Andrew Brunette who was alone in front of the net.

Now that I've established the nice game the Blues have, let's look at the play by the Blackhawks. None of the forwards looked especially good. Hossa and Kane were trying to show off their moves so much that they ended up turning the puck over quite a few times. Sharp was extremely unlucky multiple times. The biggest problem that stuck out to me was either the terrible defense by Dylan Olsen or the bad goaltending by Ray Emery.

I'll start with Emery. The first goal was extremely weak and set the tone for the rest of the game. If he makes that stop, maybe the outcome of this game is different. Then he gives up a weak goal on the Blackhawks power play which gives the Blues a 3-0 lead. Finally, in the last 30 seconds a Blues player has the puck in front of the net and Emery doesn't even try to make the save. At least show some effort. That wasn't very veteran-like of him to just turn and look at the puck as it went straight into the net.

Olsen was another big problem for the Hawks tonight. I have never thought that he was ready for the NHL, but tonight just insured that I was correct in feeling that way. His first mistake was terrible defense on the Blues PPG and actually kicking the puck in during that play. There were no other major mistakes, but plenty of minor ones. A couple bad plays at the point and some mishandled pucks made him look like an amateur out there, which he is. I don't think he should be in the NHL, but I don't hate him. Give him another couple years in Rockford and then let me see what he can do.

The final thing I want to address about the game is the fight between Bollig and Reaves. We all knew that Bollig would get in a fight considering St. Louis is his hometown and fighting is what he's known for. The fight was probably the best fight I've seen in awhile. It lasted really long and despite Reaves being a great fighter, I'd have to say that Bollig won.

Aside from just commenting on the game, I have some other things to say. I haven't been blogging as much recently and I have decided that I am going to start being more regular from now on. Going to the game tonight made me realize how much I love hockey and writing, so I decided to come back to blogging. Therefore, don't judge me from this post because it's been awhile since I've written a blog post.