With Marc-Andre Fleury starting tonight in net, one would hope this would be a nice tune-up game for him before being shipped off to a competitor.

Earlier today, defenseman Seth Jones was quoted at this morning’s skate “It’s been frustrating the hell out of me this entire year” when asked about only having three goals so far this season. The forward disguised as a defenseman only has eight more years on his deal with the Blackhawks.

Derek King went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen to start tonight’s contest.

#Blackhawks projected lineup vs. Senators:
DeBrincat-Strome-Kane
Hagel-Toews-Dach
Kubalik-Carpenter-Lafferty
T. Johnson-Entwistle

de Haan-S. Jones
McCabe-Murphy
Stillman-C. Jones
Gustafsson

Fleury
Lankinen

*Borgstrom, Kurashev and Regula are the scratches

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 12, 2022

This move left King with six defensemen after Senator Parker Kelly sent Connor Murphy into the boards awkwardly which resulted in Murphy being stretchered off the Ottawa ice. Kelly was given a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct. Chicago would not take advantage of the man-advantage and found themselves down 2–0 after the first period of action.

To make matters worse, Blackhawks’ captain Jonathan Toews dropped the cloves with Senators’ forward Zach Sanford after Sanford leveled Kirby Dach with his head down. Toews jumped in to protect his young linemate, only to receive a few blows to the head, something Toews does not need with his concussion history.

All-in-all, the first period was a poor showing for the beleaguered Blackhawks with Murphy being stretchered off, Toews taking hits to the head and Fleury surrendering two goals on 10 shots.

Chicago would go on a barrage of goals, scoring six of the game’s next seven goals led by two from Toews in the first three minutes to tie the game 2–2. Toews’ second goal, on the power play, was his 7^th goal of the season. Both goals would open up the floodgates on former Chicago goaltender Anton Forsberg who had been on an excellent five-game stretch and playing very well for the young Senators.

Patrick Kane assisting on Jonathan Toews’ goal to move into sole possession of second with 1,154 points in franchise history. Fitting. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/zXANj1Yf8N

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 13, 2022

The assist gave Patrick Kane sole possession of second with 1,154 points in Blackhawks’ history. The former first overall pick has been a pleasure to watch on the ice each and every season.

Chicago took their first lead of the game when defenseman Caleb Jones scored his third of the season. Nick Paul would tie the game at the 15:41 mark of the period only to have forward Sam Lafferty take back the lead for the visitors 18 seconds later. The goal gave 27–year old his third of the season.

ok @SamLafferty18 we see you IT'S 4-3 pic.twitter.com/4gDfx7g0tS

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 13, 2022

Caleb Jones scored midway through the third period to extend the Blackhawks lead to 5–3. The goal gave Jones his first multi-goal game of his career. The streaking Dylan Strome scored his 16^th goal of the season off a nice tip from a shot from defenseman Seth Jones from the point.

THOUGHTS

Patrick Kane can still control a game when he wants. His skill with the puck is second to none. However, is he the key piece to starting the rebuild by getting draft picks and prospects to start building up the organization’s future talent? Remember, the Seth Jones’ trade gave up last season’s first-round pick and this year’s first-round pick.

Marc-Andre Fleury showed his veteran leadership after giving up a tough third goal and shouldering the blame for the youngster Caleb Jones. Jones played the puck fairly well but Paul came to a screeching halt and bury a shot behind Fleury in one quick, swift motion. This type of leadership would look great in Toronto come April during the Maple Leafs’ playoff run.

Chicago lost Connor Murphy to a scary play early in the game and also lost forward Tyler Johnson to concussion protocol midway through the contest. Let’s hope both are doing well as reports were Murphy stayed at the arena after being stretchered off the ice.

As a fan, this was a game that was exciting to watch. Now let’s keep the phone lines busy Mr. Davidson and prepare to make this team a playoff team within the next half-decade. It’s already been five seasons since you were relevant.

The post Blackhawks storm back to beat Senators 6–3 appeared first on The Rink.

Denis Malgin was acquired in a trade with the the Florida Panthers. In return, the Panthers picked up Mason Marchement. This trade follows a dismal effort against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Malgin is primarily a centre, but can play on the wing as well. He will likely be playing centre, particularly if Alexander Kerfoot, who was acquired to centre the third line, continues to play on John Tavares’ wing. Malgin has four goals and 12 points in 36 games. This season, the 23-year-old Swiss native has a low expected goal share, has been great in the past and decent recently at managing shot quality and has been good in transition. Malgin carries a cap hit of $750,000 and is scheduled to be a restricted free agent in July.

https://twitter.com/chartinghockey/status/1230163103461056512?s=21

Marchement has established himself as a reliable, skilled AHL forward. The forward has appeared in four games with the Leafs this season. He was undrafted and joined the Toronto Marlies in 2016. Marchement has played 24 games with the Toronto Marlies this season and has amassed 18 points. The reason he has struggled at the next level is that his skating is under average, and facing better competition, he has not been able to keep up.

It is important to note that Marchement has not been able to regularly make it into the Leafs lineup, while Malgin, who is two years younger than Marchement, has considerable NHL experience.

Later that day, Kyle Dubas acquired Max Veronneau in exchange for Aaron Luchuk and a conditional 2021 sixth-round pick. Veronneau has played four games with the Senators this season, and 33 with their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Veronneau is due for a new contract in July. He is set to join the Marlies as soon as he is in Toronto. On the other hand, Luchuk has spent the majority of his time in the ECHL. Although he has played three games with the Marlies this season, Luchuk has spent 45 games with the Newfoundland Growlers, amassing 19 goals and 31 assists for 50 points. Luchuk has been assigned to the Belleville Senators. As for the conditional pick, the Senators receive the pick if Veronneau plays in 10 games for the Maple Leafs in 2019–20 or 10 games for the Leafs in 2020–21 if he re-signs with the club.

The post Leafs make a series of depth moves appeared first on The Rink.

Smith is a 31-year-old, 6-foot-2, 210-pound left-handed center/left wing who was drafted by the Senators in the third round (79th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He is coming off a season where he played 70 games and had 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) in primarily a defensive role. Smith has also been an alternate captain for Ottawa each of the last two seasons. He has two years remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $3.25 million, which gives the Blackhawks a savings of $1.3 million on the salary cap.

In 612 NHL games, Smith has scored 94 goals and tallied 99 assists for 193 points.

Anisimov was acquired by the Blackhawks June 30, 2015 with Marko Dano, Jeremy Morin, Corey Tropp and a 2016 fourth round draft pick (Lucas Carlsson). Anisimov enjoyed most of his success between Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin, but seemed to get lost in the lineup when not playing with elite talent on his wings.

Zack Smith

The post BREAKING: Blackhawks trade Anisimov to Senators for Zack Smith appeared first on The Rink.

The Colorado Avalanche, via the Ottawa Senators, came into the event with the best chance to take the first overall prize of U.S. National Development Program center Jack Hughes or big Finnish wing Kaapo Kakko thanks to last season’s trade of Matt Duchene. Duchene has been since traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both Columbus and Colorado qualified for the playoffs, while Ottawa decided to keep last year’s first round pick and took big power forward Brady Tkachuk, who had himself a solid 45-point (22 goals, 23 assists) rookie season.

Once the ping-pong balls dropped and the final lineup was announced, the Blackhawks moved all the way up to third overall. This will prove to be a very important draft year for the future of this team. The New Jersey Devils will pick first overall and the New York Rangers will pick second overall.

pic.twitter.com/0xiRKWOVu6

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 10, 2019

Last season, the Blackhawks came into the 2018 NHL Draft Lottery as the seventh overall pick and left the building with the eighth overall selection. The story played out very well and they were able to select Swedish phenom Adam Boqvist with their pick.

When you already know that the NHL rigged the draft lottery for you #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/dKYp8Liyrm

— Aaron Goldschmidt (@lateinthegoldie) April 10, 2019

The post BREAKING: Blackhawks to pick third overall in the NHL Entry Draft appeared first on The Rink.

First Period

It was a slow start for the Blackhawks and Slater Koekkoek was called for slashing just 1:15 into the game. The Senators immediately took advantage as Bobby Ryan took a pass from Matt Duchene and scored with an unlikely shot by just putting the puck on net. The puck trickled under Collin Delia’s right pad.

Only :34 later Rudolfs Balcers of the Senators stuffed one past Delia after a nice tic-tac-toe play. Mikkel Boedker to Chris Tierney to Balcers to make it 2-0 Senators at 2:40.

A minute later Cody Ceci was called for hooking Marcus Kruger. The red hot Blackhawks power play capitalized :31 seconds later with another solid play from who else but Patrick Kane to Jonathan Toews to Alex DeBrincat. He put it in from just outside the blue paint to cut the Senators’ lead in half

DeBrincat tied the game at 2 at 5:07 in the period. After a tape-to-tape pass from Dominik Kahun all DeBrincat had to do was have his stick on the ice with blade open to put it top shelf over Anders Nilsson.

The Senators took a 3-2 lead at 7:55 aftern Colin White whacked home a Mark Stone rebound. Delia was pulled after the goal and replaced by Cam Ward.

In what seemed like an eterinity, another four and a half minutes passed before the next goal of the game. A very sneaky Kane caught the Senators in the midst of a change and snuck behind Ryan. He received a nice pass from Duncan Keith and sniped it far side to even the game at 3.

Dylan Strome got in on the goal scoring action and redirected an errant puck near the goal line towards the net. It snuck under Nilsson’s arm stick side to give the Blackhawks their first lead of the night at 4-3. Nilsson was replaced by Craig Anderson in net following the goal.

The change didn’t matter much because at 14:53 Dylan Sikura hit Brandon Saad right on the tape for an easy redirected goal to make it 5-3 Blackhawks.

The scoring wasn’t over for the period as Stone got the Senators within one goal before the end of the first period. Stone sniped the one-timer from the slot after a perfect pass from Brady Tkachuk.

The first period would end 5-4 Blackhawks and was the first time they scored 5 goals in a period since the 2017-2018 season opener agains the Penguins.

Second Period

The second picked up just where the first left off. White tallied his second goal of the game to tie it up at 5 just 1:32 into the period. He sniped home a Tkachuk one-time pass from the top of the circle that beat Ward high glove side.

Dylan DeMelo was called form holding Kruger a minute later but the Blackhawks did not capitalize this time.

Cam Ward made some nice saves and kept the Senators from scoring on some nice opportunities until the next Blackhawks goal.

At 8:19 DeBrincat sniped home a one-timer for the hat trick. A patient Dylan Strome gathered a long rebound and took his time to find DeBrincat cross-ice to give the Blackhawks a 6-5 Lead.

Shortly thereafter Connor Murphy and Ryan got into a little scuffle following the play and were both given two minutes for roughing. During the 4-on-4 Kane looked like he was shot out of a cannon down the right side but the puck slipped away before he could get a shot or pass off.

There was so much scoring in this game that even Gustav Forsling got in on the action. He fired a Saad backhand one-time pass past Andersen to extend the Blackhawks lead to 7-5.

At 11:14 Ryan was called for another penalty while hooking Murphy. The Blackhawks did not make very good use of the power play and had one of their worst displays in over a month.

Four minutes later Kahun, who has played in every game this season, committed his first penalty of the season. The Blackhawks had no issues killing it and headed back to even strength.

The period would end 7-5 Blackhawks and there weren’t any goals for 9:29 to end the period.

Third Period

The final period started out very slow compared to the first two without very many shots by either team. DeMelo was called for delay of game after sending the puck over the glass in the defensive zone sending the Blackhawks power play.

After a less than stellar on performance on their previous power play the Blackhawks made up for it in style. Kane to DeBrincat to Toews for the eighth Blackhawks goal of the game. That combination in any order is becoming lethal on the power play.

The Senators were not giving up in a game that was proof that anything can happen. Thomas Chabot wheeled around the defense and roofed a goal from an improbable angle on a delayed Blackhawks penalty to make the game 8-6 with 11 minutes left.

Chabot added his second goal of the game as he made his way in from the point to put a rebound past Ward. That made the score 8-7 Blackhawks with 5:17 left to play in the game.

Koekkoek was called for hooking Zack Smith with 1:40 left in the game. The Senators pulled Anderson following the faceoff but they were unable to even register a shot in 6-on-4 action to end the game. A 8-7 Blackhawks win

Highlights

• DeBrincat tallied 5 points with 2 assists and 3 goals for his 4th career hat trick.
• Kane with 2 assists and 1 goal extends his point streak to 18 games and assist streak to 16 games.
• Toews tallies 1 assist and 1 goal.

Lowlights

• Giving up 7 goals against the worst team in the NHL further exposing their poor team defense.

Follow @Pappy_Hour on Twitter for Blackhawks and general hockey musings. 

The post RECAP: Blackhawks Survive Barnburner With Senators appeared first on The Rink.

7:30pm CST
United Center
TV/Radio: NBCSCH/WGN

PROJECTED STARTERS

Chicago – Collin Delia (6–3–3, SV%: .916, GAA: 3.22)
Ottawa – Craig Anderson (14–17–3, SV%: .904, GAA: 3.55)

TEAM STATISTICS

Power Play
Chicago (21.2%, 12th)
Ottawa (21.7%, T10th)

Penalty Kill
Chicago (73.4%, 31st)
Ottawa (77.4%, 26th)

Shorts for/against
Chicago (31.7, 16th; 35.3, 30th)
Ottawa (30.1, 22nd; 36.3, 31st)

Shooting %
Chicago (10.2%, 9th)
Ottawa (10.2%, 8th)

Faceoff %
Chicago (49.8%, 17th)
Ottawa (50.1%, T15th)

Avg. height/weight
Chicago 6’1”, 195lbs
Ottawa 6’2” 200lbs

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS

Chicago Blackhawks

Drake Caggiula–Jonathan Toews–Patrick Kane

Alex DeBrincat–Dylan Strome–Dominik Kahun

Brandon Saad–Artem Anisimov–Dylan Sikura

Chris Kunitz–Marcus Kruger–John Hayden

Duncan Keith–Brent Seabrook

Carl Dahlstrom–Connor Murphy

Slater Koekkoek–Erik Gustafsson

Ottawa Senators

Ryan Dzingel–Matt Duchene–Bobby Ryan

Brady Tkachuk–Colin White–Mark Stone

Zack Smith–Jean-Gabriel Pageau–Magnus Paajarvi

Darren Archibald–Chris Tierney–Rudolfs Balcers

Thomas Chabot–Dylan DeMelo

Maxime Lajoie–Cody Ceci

Ben Harpur–Christian Jaros

Analysis

In their third-straight Eastern Conference game, the Blackhawks fell to Artemi Panarin and the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2. Despite the loss, Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 17 games, scoring 35 points over that time span. Kane is currently on pace for 123 points if he plays all 82 games this season.

The loss did not do the Blackhawks any favors in the playoff race. They are three points back of the second wild card spot, with four teams to leapfrog. At the same time, they are only five points from the basement of the Western Conference. It will be interesting to see what the Blackhawks do between now and the deadline. Ideally, they sell a few pieces for assets or stand-pat. Overpaying for assets right now could prove more destructive to this team long-term than helpful.

The Ottawa Senators are the worst team in hockey. Only a few years removed from being a final-four team, the franchise has imploded with ownership issues, roster issues and a lack of willingness to spend. Ottawa currently sits in last place in the entire league, but also does not have their first-round pick, which is owned by the Colorado Avalanche due to the Matt Duchene trade. Ottawa could in theory win the draft lottery, and never see Jack Hughes in a Senators jersey. That has to hurt.

Speaking of Matt Duchene, it was reported yesterday that Duchene will likely be traded before the deadline. Mark Stone, who is also a pending UFA, could possibly be traded before the deadline as well. The reports are that Stone’s fate will be determined in the next week or so.  

Comment below in our live game thread tonight!

And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game tomorrow morning on the-rink.com.

The post Preview/Game Thread: Blackhawks vs Senators appeared first on The Rink.

Cam Ward got his first official Chicago Blackhawks start in goal, Thursday night, while the Senators sent 15 year NHL veteran (and Park Ridge native) Craig Anderson to face the team he once rooted for as a kid and played for in the dark days. It was not the starters that caused the drama, as Anton Forsberg was hit with a high shot in the morning skate and was helped off the ice in obvious discomfort. As a result, Collin Delia was recalled on an emergency injury basis to backup Ward.

The Blackhawks dressed rookies Henri Jokiharju, Dominik Kahun, and Luke Johnson in their first NHL games, while John Hayden and Brandon Davidson watched the game from the press box.

This was your Blackhawks starting lineup:
Alex DeBrincat– Jonathan Toews – Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz – Artem Anisimov – David Kampf
Marcus Kruger – Luke Johnson – Andreas Martinsen

Duncan Keith – Henri Jokiharju
Brandon Manning – Brent Seabrook
Erik Gustafsson – Jan Rutta

As the puck dropped, defensive breakdowns at each end quickly gave each team really good chances at both ends. The veteran goalies kept the scoring from opening up before all the fans got into their seats. Even with their early efforts, the scoreless tie did not last long.

The Blackhawks scored the first goal of the game (and season) just five minutes into the first period. Sophomore forward Alex Debrincat nearly turned the puck over in his own end, but followed up the ill advised pass and drove right up the middle of the ice. He used the Sens defenseman as a screen to surprise and beat Craig Anderson.

Debrincat has to have one of the quickest releases in the #NHL. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/x7eNfXEMmW

— MLP (@Pappy_Hour) October 5, 2018

Ottawa came right back and tied the game just a few minutes after Debrincat had given the Blackhawks the lead. Zach Smith unleashed an innocent looking shot from the point towards Ward. Mark Stone was fighting for position (and winning) in front of the Blackhawks net with Duncan Keith and was able to get enough of a stick on the shot that the puck flipped up and over the Blackhawks netminder, eventually ending up in the net.

Zack Smith‘s shot from the point is deflected by Duncan Keith past Ward. I thought Stone got a piece of it. Tied at one. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/81qWJGLzGb

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

The end to end action was far from over. This time Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews led a rush by himself. It seemed as though he had an hour to carry the puck into the Senators end of the ice and size up their goalie. Toews found his spot and ripped a shot through Anderson’s blocker side to give the visiting team the lead once again.

Jonathan Toews was shooting all the way here on this 2-on-1. 2-1 #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/vntP1reuNn

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

With about eight minutes left in the first period, the home team came marching right back. The Blackhawks were running around in their own end, eventually leaving rookie Maxime Lajoie to cut right up the middle of the ice, take a pass from Matt Duchene, and bury a one-timer past Cam Ward.

Maxime Lajoie scores in his first NHL game. Duchene with the sweet dish. #Sens #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/yi5I6QkBuT

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

Summer free agent signee Chris Kunitz showed his supposed veteran leadership, by taking a terrible offensive zone penalty to give the Sens a gift of a power play. Nine seconds into that powerplay, Colin White took a pass down low to Ward’s right and stuffed the puck into the net. Just that quickly, the Blackhawks blew two leads and were down 3-2 going into the intermission.

Nine seconds into the #Blackhawks‘ first PK, the Senators take a 3-2 lead. Colin White. pic.twitter.com/BuGOrGRRPl

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

After twenty minutes, the Blackhawks led in shots 18-10 but were out chanced in the high danger variety 6-5. Cam Ward had a really rough time giving up three goals on just 10 shots.  Luckily for everyone watching, that would not last.

The poor defense, though, continued as the second period began.  The goaltenders were able to keep from surrendering goals at the one-every-four-minutes pace. In fact, neither team was able to score in the middle frame.

Cam Ward looked much more composed and comfortable, as well.  He was able to keep the Sens from scoring on a late period powerplay with a nice sprawl across the crease that slightly redeemed his awful first Blackhawks period.

A better look at Cam Ward’s key stop. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/kcoZ9myuei

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

Unfortunately, both teams took sloppy penalties in the final four minutes of the second, which eventually led to the Blackhawks basically finishing the period on the powerplay.

A terrible powerplay

Ottawa was able to hold off the whimpering Blackhawks man advantage, and sauntered into the second intermission still holding a 3-2 lead. Shots were 10-8 in favor of the home team, but the high danger chances dropped to 3-3.

Twenty-five seconds into the third period, it looked like the Senators may have taken a two goal lead but the goal was waved off by the officiating crew because of a high sticking violation. This followed a couple of earlier solid saves by Ward.

Following the negated goal, the Hawks definitely ramped up their pressure, and were able to generate several solid scoring chances as the game reached the fifty minute mark. Craig Anderson hung onto the lead for Ottawa , though.

In the Blackhawks end, Cam Ward settled in nicely to make a couple more sharp saves as the clock ticked down. Chicago area native Ryan Dzingel had a late chance in all alone and was stopped with a highlight save.

Wheaton native Ryan Dzingel is denied by Cam Ward with the glove on the breakaway. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/SUHbAoWK9t

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) October 5, 2018

With eight minutes remaining, a double-shifting Patrick Kane jumped on the ice with the fourth line. He held onto the puck behind the net long enough to draw all the Senators’ attention. Brent Seabrook jumped into the play and Kane set the table for the veteran defenseman to one-time the puck past a helpless Anderson.

A Seabsy sneak attack#Blackhawks #CHIvsOTT pic.twitter.com/WfPWCshBGo

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 5, 2018

Henri Jokiharju did a nice job of drawing a Blackhawks powerplay with just over four minutes remaining in regulation, but the Hawks could generate little more than a faint whisper. As was the case most of last season, the powerplay continued to fail Chicago when they really needed it most.

Regulation ended with the teams knotted up at three goals a piece, and the Blackhawks leading in shots 41-25.

Just moments (38 seconds to be exact) into the extra period, Jonathan Toews found a cherry picking Patrick Kane at the Sens’ blue line and fed him for a break-a-way. Kane did what he does, roofing a smooth backhand over the left shoulder of Craig Anderson for the game winning goal.

Pluses

• Jonathan Toews looks like he might be able to have a bounce back season.  He had a really good preseason, and is carrying that momentum into the regular season, with a goal and an assist.  He had almost 70% at the faceoff dots, but, hey, faceoffs are over-rated, right?
• Not Patrick Kane’s best overall game but an assist on the game tying goal, scoring the game winner and having six shots on net is good enough for me.
• Alex Debrincat scores the first Blackhawks goal of the season, which is a very positive start after a scoreless preseason.
• Henri Jokiharju was not exceptional but he certainly wasn’t bad, especially for a 19-year-old rookie defenseman.  He still has a lot to learn, but he looks to me like he could possibly be that next “Vintage Brent Seabrook” type someday to Boqvist’s “Vintage Duncan Keith” type.  Again, long way to go, but the raw talent is there; if Quenneville doesn’t beat the confidence out of him first.

Minuses

• Sorry, Nick Schmaltz and his half-assing doesn’t do it for me.  He might be the Blackhawks version of “Smokin’ Jay Cutler“.  The narrative is that he is the first line of the future but he defers to the perimeter game, makes strange choices on odd-man rushes, and is an absolute adventure in his own end.  Don’t forget he cannot win a faceoff either.  He has to play center now because they have no one else but, at the moment, Nick Schmaltz is a good top-six wing.  Nothing more.
• While I like Brandon Saad, a lot, he is still struggling to find his footing.
• I cannot completely come down on Cam Ward,  He was really good after the first period.  BUT, that first period…
• Chris Kunitz is a $1 million piece of trash, taking playing time away from more talented players.  Yes, he is only on the third line, but when he does things like take bad offensive zone penalties that lead to powerplay goals against, he is part of the problem, not the solution.
• The Kruger-Johnson-Martinsen line was the worst on the team, possession-wise.  Digging a little deeper, they all played under nine mins each and did not have a single offensive zone start.
• They had all summer to improve the powerplay and it still produces the same brutal result.  Five minutes of powerplay time, five shots on net, no goals, slow, unimaginative.

The post Season Opening Recap: Blackhawks beat Senators 4-3 in OT appeared first on The Rink.

Chicago Blackhawks (0-0-0) at Ottawa Senators (0-0-0)

8:30 Eastern/7:30 Central

Canadian Tire Centre

TV/Radio: WGN/WGN

Goalies:

Chicago

Cam Ward (.000 save%, 0.00 GAA)

Ottawa

Craig Anderson (.000 save%, 0.00 GAA)

Team statistics:

Power play

(–)

Penalty kill

(–)

Shots for/against per game

(–, –)

Shooting%

(–)

Faceoff%

(–)

Avg. height/weight:

Chicago:

6’1”, 196

Ottawa

6’1”, 195

Lineups:

Chicago

DeBrincat-Toews-Kahun

Saad-Schmaltz-Kane

Kunitz-Anisimov-Kampf

Kruger-Johnson-Martinsen

Keith-Jokiharju

Manning-Seabrook

Davidson-Rutta

Ottawa

Dzingel-Duchene-Ryan

Smith-White-Stone

Formenton-Tierney-Boedker

McCormick-Pyatt-Paajarvi

Chabot-Wideman

Borowiecki-Ceci

LaJoie-DeMelo

Analysis:

If there’s a relatively easy road opener for the Hawks, this might be it.

Still, the two teams played essentially even in the preseason, both 2-4 and even splitting two games played against eachother. In truth, while Ottawa is a team openly in rebuild mode, the Hawks are, well, no one’s quite sure what the Hawks are—except by all indicators, they are clearly no longer a Cup contender and their playoff worthiness is suspect at best. So, tonight’s game could easily go either way.

Former Hawk goalie and Barrington High School alumnus, Craig Anderson, begins his 15^th NHL season, and gets the start in net for the Senators.

Comment below in our live game thread tonight!

And look for the internet’s most robust recap of the game later tonight or early tomorrow on the-rink.com. 

The post Preview: Blackhawks at Senators appeared first on The Rink.

The Chicago Blackhawks traveled to Ottawa for their third preseason game Friday night, and their first of two games against the Senators. Chicago sent a largely suspect roster on this trip with 11 players having never played in an NHL game before. The Blackhawks took a while to find their feet, but won an exciting matchup against the Senators 5-2 with goals from Andreas Martinsen, Marcus Kruger, Luke Johnson, John Hayden and Dominik Kahun.

First Period – The Blackhawks got off to an extremely slow start, not getting a shot on net until 10 minutes into the first period. While Ottawa came out blazing with Alex Formenton burying a breakaway goal 5-hole, and Matt Duchene chipping a rebound over the leg of Rockford playoff hero Collin Delia due to some poor net-front defense. Just 12 minutes into the game, Ottawa had jumped to a 2-0 lead.

Late in the first period and on a Blackhawks powerplay, former 5th round pick Luke Johnson ripped a one-timer from the high slot off a feed from Dylan Sikura to finally put the Hawks on the scoresheet, 2-1 Ottawa.

Despite being outshot 14-6 the Blackhawks survived the first period down only 2-1.

Second Period – Goalie Collin Delia really owned the start of the second period making an unbelievable pad save sliding across the crease to rob Burgdoerfer and a great glove save on Matt Duchene to keep the Hawks in the game.

Just over 12 minutes into the second period, Luc Snuggarud’s long shot from the Sens blue line was redirected off players in front of the net right to undrafted forward Dominik Kahun who roofed the opportunity on Mike Condon to even up the score 2-2.

Following the Blackhawks goal the teams switched netminders.  Matt Tompkins finished the period in goal for the Blackhawks while Filip Gustavsson took over for the Sens.

The Hawks did a great job dictating the play in the second period outshooting the Sens 12-5.

Third Period – The Hawks got off to a great start with Andreas Martinsen coming out of the penalty box with a great pass to Marcus Kruger which he buried to put the Blackhawks up 3-2. Not long after the Kruger goal, the duo was at it again but this time it was  Martinsen sending a wrister past Gustavsson on a feed from Kruger to extend the Hawks lead 4-2.

Just before the 13 minute mark of the period, the goal frenzy continued with John Hayden getting a quick shot off a great no look feed behind the net from Dominik Kahun to give us our final score of 5-2.

Photo courtesy of NHL.com

Final Thoughts – Although only playing half the game. Collin Delia was the difference maker in this game. Delia only allowed two goals but the Senators easily could have easily jumped out to a 5-0 lead if he had not been so good this game. Making highlight reel saves left and right tonight, he was truly the star of the show finishing with 17 saves on 19 shots. Matt Tompkins did his part, as well, saving all 7 shots he faced.

The penalty kill stopped 5/6 opportunities and looked stronger as the game went on. On the flip side, giving up six powerplay opportunities on sloppy stick offenses is no way to help secure a roster spot for these bubble players.

Friday’s game marked the first time that two brothers suited up in the same game for the Blackhawks since Jonathan and David Toews did, almost exactly seven years ago.

The Blackhawks are back at home at the United Center for their preseason home opener Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 Central.

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