The Hawks opened the scoring when Corey Perry poked in a rebound following a Nick Foligno shot from the slot. Both Perry and Jason Dickinson crashed the net and Perry got credited with the goal at 2:09 of the first period.

̶c̶o̶r̶e̶y̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶r̶y̶ more like scorey perry pic.twitter.com/HCcZwYFiJL

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2023

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The Hawks would maintain a 1–0 lead after one. For the Hawks, Petr Mrazek was sharp, as he stopped all 14 shots he faced.

Exactly one minute into the second stanza, Joe Veleno tied it at 1–1. The 2018 first-round pick of Detroit fired a one-timer from the left circle past Seth Jones and into the net off a nice cross-ice feed from Jonatan Berggren.

With 4:30 left in the frame, Connor Murphy broke the tie with a nasty wrist shot from the top of the left circle that went in just under the cross bar on a feed from Connor Bedard. The Hawks regained the lead at 2–1.

connor to connor pic.twitter.com/pljr9DTySj

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2023

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Less than a minute later on a delayed penalty, Bedard skated in alone and tried to go five hole following some slick stick-handling, but Michael Hutchinson made the save for Detroit.

At 4:49 of the third, Veleno scored his second of the night off a give-and go-with Klim Kostin to tie the game at 2–2. On the play, Lukas Reichel was caught out of position and trailed Veleno as he shot the puck into the back of the net.

Midway through the third, Perry scored his second of the game on the power play. Taylor Hall found Perry wide open to the right of Hutchinson, took the pass and skated across the crease and fired it into a wide open net to give Chicago a 3–2 advantage. Hall and Bedard each notched their second assist of the game on the power play goal.

don’t look now, scorey perry got his second of the night pic.twitter.com/XNgZlde23w

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2023

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With 1:09 left and the Red Wings’ net empty, Bedard scored his first preseason goal on the power play. Following a Detroit clear, Mrazek fed Bedard at center ice, who skated up the left wing boards and fired the puck into the open cage to give the Hawks a 4–2 lead, which was the final tally.

BEDARD EMPTY NETTER pic.twitter.com/8ws2IcrrPU

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 4, 2023

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Analysis

The Blackhawks looked much better on Tuesday than in their previous game in Detroit. After a wide-open first where the Wings outshot the Hawks 14–12, Chicago put the clamps down and held Detroit to just five shots on goal during the final two periods. For the game, the Hawks outshot the Wings, 34–19. In addition to the defensive effort, the Hawks’ power play looked solid, with Bedard drawing two and sometimes three defenders, which created space down low for others including Hall and Perry, who would connect on the eventual game-winning goal.

The Blackhawks play their penultimate preseason contest on Thursday night at the United Center against the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop will be at 7:30 p.m. CDT and will be available on both NBCSCH and on WGN Radio 720.

The post Blackhawks Post-game One-timers — Oct. 3 vs. Detroit Red Wings appeared first on The Rink.

After their opening night tradition of walking the red carpet, the Blackhawks slept-walked through the first period where they found themselves down 2-0. The Wings received an even strength goal by former Blackhawk Pius Suter and, 67 seconds later, a power play tally from Dylan Larkin.

New Blackhawks forward Andreas Athanasiou cut the Wings’ lead to 2–1 at the 5:41 mark of the second period when he was awarded and succeeded on a penalty shot for his first of the season.

Midway through the second, ex-Blackhawk Dominik Kubalik scored his first Red Wings goal to regain a two-goal lead for the visitors.

Trailing 3–1 entering the third, Alex Stalock replaced Petr Mrazek in the net, who appeared injured late in the second. Philipp Kurashev scored his first of the season nearly four minutes into the frame to cut the Hawks’ deficit to one.

The Hawks tied it at 3–3 on a shorthanded goal by Connor Murphy.

In the extra session, Max Domi forced a neutral zone turnover and then skated in and blew a wrister past Alex Nedeljkovic for his first as a Blackhawk at the 2:44 mark to secure the win.

The Blackhawks welcome the Seattle Kraken for a Sunday afternoon contest at 1 p.m. CDT.

The post Blackhawks Post-Game One-Timers – 10/22 Detroit Red Wings appeared first on The Rink.

Seattle was without quite a few players, as the injury hammer hit them hard Wednesday morning. Kraken captain Mark Giordano remained in COVID-19 protocol, while goalie Chris Driedger and Calle Jarnkrok were put on the injured reserve list. The Kraken’s leading goal scorer, Jordan Eberle, as well as forward Jaden Schwartz and defenseman William Borgen were listed as injured and scratched.

The first period was a rather timid one. Both teams felt each other out with little action. Detroit looked to have taken the lead on a Lucas Raymond goal, but the play was reviewed and deemed offside.  The Kraken held a slim 7–6 lead in shots while German-born starting goaltenders Thomas Greiss and Philipp Grubauer held the game scoreless. The fun was just around the corner, though.

The goals started just under five minutes into the second period, as Robby Fabbri broke the deadlock on the power play with his fifth goal of the season. Detroit held the slim 1–0 lead for six minutes when Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn scored a power play goal of his own.

Seattle took a brief 2–1 lead on Ryan Donato’s fourth goal of the season off a brutal Detroit turnover late in the second, but the Wings answered two minutes later on a Vladislav Namestnikov goal. This resulted in a 2–2 deadlock heading into a tense third period. Shots in second were 13–9 in favor of the Red Wings in the second, but Grubauer helped keep his team as close as possible.

The third period was a great example of tight, fun hockey, as both teams fought to take the lead. Raymond scored a seeing-eye goal that counted this time at the 6:30 mark to give the home team a 3–2 lead, which held for eight minutes. That was when Donato scored his second of the game and fifth of the season to knot the score at 3–3. As a result, the teams treated the Little Caesars Arena fans to some free extra hockey.

Grubauer with a big stop on Erne. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/6vracJfLwa

— Alison (@AlisonL) December 2, 2021

Overtime was not the usual run-and-gun that fans are used to and only yielded one Seattle shot on net. On to the first shootout in Seattle Kraken history, where Greiss stopped two of the three attempts he faced, only giving up a dribbler to Joonas Donskoi, to secure the extra standings point for Detroit.

Given the absence of significant offense in the lineup, Head Coach Dave Hakstol should have been fairly happy with a point after a long road trip against some tough competition.

Anchor points

The power play seems to be running smoothly, and Dunn looks to be heating up a bit. As long as the Kraken can continue to convert on at least one per game, they will have themselves in a good position to win every night.

  Not to rain on Grubauer’s parade but he still seems to be giving up loose chances on these weird shots that do not always end up in the net. His defensemen are there to bail him out much of the time, but he needs to tighten up his initial saves and keep them in front of him rather than trickling in behind him.

Riley Sheahan (Corsi 25%), Donskoi (Corsi 37.5%) and Dunn (Corsi 39.3%) had rough nights as far as 5-on-5 possession goes. The oddest stat of the night is that Detroit was credited with seven giveaways while the Kraken had none.

As has been the norm this season, the Kraken held the possession advantage, but still managed to lose the game. This team has been a bit of an anomaly.

  5-on-5 Corsi (total shot attempts) 52%–48%
  5-on-5 Fenwick (Unblocked shot attempts) 54%–46%
  5-on-5 High-danger chances for 50%–50%
  5-on-5 Expected goals for 51%–49%
  Face-off percentage 53%–47%

The Kraken are off Thursday but head back home to face the Edmonton Oilers Friday night. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.  Join us tonight as we have Darren Brown from Sound of Hockey on the Kraken Hostile Seattle Rinkcast to talk about the Kraken road trip and injuries.

The post RECAP: Red Wings out-pace Kraken in shootout appeared first on The Rink.

In the first three games of the year, the Hawks averaged 30 shots on goal per game, while allowing 36 per game. This past week, those numbers have improved slightly to 34 shots for and 32 against per game.

But, it is important to note: two of the first three games of the year were against defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, and two of the second week’s games were against lowly Detroit. So, the results the Blackhawks have achieved in each slate of games have to be weighted for quality of opponent. Net judgement: At 2–3–1 after 6 games, the Hawks are better than the worst team in the league, but far from being among the best.

Tuesday, Jan. 19: Point taken

The Blackhawks took the ice in Sunrise, Florida, hoping to reverse their early misfortunes. And they almost got there, losing 5–4 in overtime against the Panthers. Up until the end of the second period, the Hawks and Panthers slugged it out to a 2–2 tie, paced by two goals from last year’s scoring phenom and this year’s coaching doghouse resident, Dominik Kubalik.

Patrick Kane (19:10 of the second) and rookie Philipp Kurashev (6:06 of the third period) pushed the Hawks out to a 4–3 lead. Kane’s goal came on an end-to-end rush and one of his patented physics-defying backhands over a hapless Sergei Bobrovsky.

But Florida tied the game at 7:17 in the third on a power play goal by Patric Hornqvist, tipping a Keith Yandle blast past rookie netminder Kevin Lankinen, making his NHL debut.

Frank Vatrano won the game for Florida in overtime, with Duncan Keith, Pius Suter and Andrew Shaw skating for Chicago.

Friday, Jan. 22: At last, a win

Lankinen took the net again against Detroit in the Blackhawks’ home opener, signaling that Chicago wants to give the Finnish goalie a hard look—and why not, since neither Malcolm Subban nor Collin Delia had given them reason not to in the first three games. Lankinen got better results this time, saving 30 shots in a 4–1 victory for the first victory in his young NHL career.

The game was never really close, with Kane, Calvin de Haan, Shaw and Mattias Janmark tallying for Chicago. Although rookie Ian Mitchell was -6 for the year at this point, and has looked a bit overwhelmed by the pace of NHL play, he showed his offensive zone instincts, gaining the second assist on de Haan’s blast, with nice, nifty pinch and pass for the newcomer’s first NHL point.

Sunday, Jan. 24: A bit of a roll

What became clearly evident in today’s game (and Friday’s) is that as much as the Blackhawks are a “rebuilding” team, Detroit is a worse team. The Blackhawks humiliated the Wings in the matinee rematch at the UC, 6–2, behind a hat trick from rookie Pius Suter, and individual tallies from Mattias Janmark, Connor Murphy and Kurashev. Detroit’s two goals were scored by Tyler “Don’t call me ‘Todd,’ Pat Foley” Bertuzzi.

Takeaways from this game: Suter’s game is different from that of Kubalik, last year’s “Euro Import of the Year,” but Suter has the earmarks to possibly earn the crown this year. Suter’s game is quieter and greasier than Kubalik’s, but also effective in perhaps more ways than just scoring; he looks like another nice find for the Hawk scouting staff. Lankinen was again solid in net, albeit facing a season-low 27 shots against.

The Hawks did a very effective job taking away transition through the neutral zone and jamming up their own blue line.

After two weeks: What do we have here?

It would seem a very good way to evaluate this team is breaking their performances down into the three back-to-backs against Tampa Bay (0–2–0), Florida (0–1–1) and Detroit (2–0–0). The Hawks were dominated by arguably the league’s best team, were, meh, not-good-to-okay against a middling team in Florida and looked strong versus a bad Detroit team—a team that simply does not have a Kane, a Kubalik, a Keith, etc. The truth is, the Blackhawks are playing about as you would expect for a team that will finish about 12th through 14th in its conference, which is fine. After all, no one with a shred of sanity expects much better.

But, the rebuilding comparisons with Detroit are telling. After all, the Red Wings’ long, slow slide into a mediocrity and now 6-7 years’ long rebuild has been so arduous and painful precisely because they chose to rebuild, at first, the way the Hawks have: By retooling around the edges while holding on to highly paid, aging veterans.

Hawk fans can only hope—as Adam Boqvist struggles to find his footing in the NHL and alleged pillars of the rebuild, Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome, have looked pretty pedestrian for over a year now—that they were not facing today what they will be a handful of years from now, after Kane and Keith at minimum are no longer top players or even Blackhawks at all.

Still, nothing creates success like success. The new Hawks have had a little taste of it this week. Comment below.

The post RECAP: Blackhawks show progress, going 2–0–1 for the week appeared first on The Rink.

The Blackhawks were very shorthanded on the backend for Friday’s game. After news surfaced that Lucas Carlsson had entered concussion protocol after taking a puck to the head in Thursday’s game, Dennis Gilbert was recalled from Rockford. Initially, it seems like Gilbert was merely an insurance policy, as Nick Seeler was slotted to join the lineup instead of Gilbert. However, just before puck drop, it was announced that Adam Boqvist would not play due to a wrist injury, so Gilbert indeed drew into the lineup in place of the young Swede.

Another interesting note ahead of Friday’s game was Corey Crawford getting the start again in net. It is rare for a goalie to play both games of a back-to-back, but Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton went with the veteran netminder over giving newly acquired Malcolm Subban a chance in net against the league’s worst team.

The first period began well for the Blackhawks, especially for hometown boy DeBrincat. Just over a minute into the game, DeBrincat and Drake Caggiula had a two-on-one opportunity and DeBrincat, who was ultimately the trigger man, was robbed by Red Wings goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

The first period would not yield much else for either side and both teams went into the dressing room with no scoring in the first.

Just 20 seconds into the middle frame, the home team struck. After the puck was being played on the left-wing boards, Dylan Larkin found the puck and dished it from the boards to Tyler Bertuzzi, who was sitting just off to Crawford’s opposite side in the slot. Bertuzzi wasted no time and fired the puck past Crawford for his 19th of the season and a 1–0 Red Wings advantage.

Bert getting the party started! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/wwCGBBt2uA

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 7, 2020

The Hawks had two two-on-one opportunities following the Detroit goal, however neither worked out after a bit of a missed pass from Brandon Saad to Jonathan Toews and a quality save on Dylan Strome by Bernier.

Around the midway point of the second period, the Red Wings found themselves on the power play. Just after the 10-minute mark, there was a huge board battle in the left wing corner of the ice, occupying most of the Blackhawks’ penalty killers. After the puck was freed by Frans Nielsen, Gustav Lindstrom found Robby Fabbri and, with the puck on a silver platter, Fabbri found the back of the net on the one-timer to give the Red Wings a 2–0 lead.

Robby Fabbri.

WHAT. A. LASER. pic.twitter.com/8kSBkkwZK2

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 7, 2020

Both goals were excellent one-time chances for the home club. It is safe to say Corey Crawford did not stand much of a chance on either play. However, on the second goal, Fabbri’s shot actually deflected off of Gilbert, who dove in front of the shot to block it. Gilbert’s attempt changed the angle of the shot on Crawford and made the shot increasingly more difficult to stop.

The Blackhawks almost beat Bernier with around eight minutes remaining, as Kirby Dach thought he put the puck behind the Red Wings goaltender on a DeBrincat shot rebound. However, the puck clanked the post and danced along the line, but never crossed, and play continued.

It took the remainder of the period and a bit of line blending before the Hawks could beat Bernier. With just over a minute left in the period, Colliton threw Toews and Saad out with Patrick Kane to get something going. On their rush up the ice, Saad initially found Toews, but he lost the puck and it dribbled behind Detroit’s net. Toews regained possession and found Saad in front of Bernier. Without missing a beat, Saad quickly moved the puck to Kane, who was backdoor, and he potted his 31st goal of the season to cut the Wings’ lead in half at 2–1.

Toews Saad Kane

That's more like it! pic.twitter.com/0h2oHf54Qg

— Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) March 7, 2020

However, despite some good chances in the third period, the Blackhawks could not crack Bernier the rest of the way and saw their winning streak come to a screeching halt, as the Blackhawks dropped Friday’s contest 2–1 in Detroit.

Along the Boards

It is sad when the worst team in the league handles you as if it is nothing. Yes, the Blackhawks had some quality chances throughout the game, such as DeBrincat’s two-on-one snipe, Dach’s rebound chance and Kane’s goal, but this team never sustained any meaningful pressure on the Red Wings for much of the game. It is tough to beat a team on a back-to-back, but this Blackhawks team had a lot of success in the second half of back-to-backs this season.

Now, a big reason for that success was the goaltending duo of Crawford and recently traded Robin Lehner. Lehner started the first half of most back-to-backs and a healthy, strong Crawford cleaned up the second half. It was a sensational combination. However, fast forward to now, Lehner is gone, Malcolm Subban is now the Blackhawks’ backup goalie to Crawford, and this coaching staff refuses to play the new netminder.

Subban may have struggled this season in his time with Vegas, but you would think the young goalie would get a chance against the league’s worst team, right? Wrong. Subban once again watched from the visitor’s bench in Detroit, as Crawford took his second game in two days after helping the Blackhawks defeat the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night at the United Center.

It is also worth mentioning that Boqvist’s wrist injury really hurt the Blackhawks defensively, as did Carlsson’s injury. The two young defensemen were playing very well, and Boqvist was finding his touch as the offensive playmaker fans hoped he would become when the Hawks drafted him eighth overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Due to the injuries, enter Seeler and Gilbert, who both played an average game at best. Gilbert turned the puck over quite a bit and there were a few chances where Crawford bailed out his young defenseman.

It would be easy to blame Friday’s loss on the lack of defensive depth, but it really seemed that this team just looked tired. Fortunately for the Hawks, Friday’s game was only one of four road contests in the entire month of March. The Blackhawks get plenty of home cooking in March, restarting that trend on Sunday night when they welcome the Western Conference leading St. Louis Blues to town.

The Blackhawks are still mathematically in the playoff picture. However, I am going to be the pin that pricks the balloon. This team is not making the playoffs. They do not have enough depth right now to make a meaningful push. If Lehner was still in Chicago, Calvin de Haan and Brent Seabrook were healthy and the Hawks were at full strength coming down the stretch, I’d say there is a chance. However, Lehner is now in Las Vegas, de Haan and Seabrook are done for the year, along with Andrew Shaw and Zack Smith, and this team looks tired because of that lack of depth. They may hang in there down the stretch, but they will likely be picking in the top 10 of June’s draft if the standings stay the way they are. Now, this could be a good thing if the Hawks add another piece such as Boqvist or Dach, who were both top-10 picks over the last two years, but that will be up to Stan Bowman, or whoever the general manager is come June, to make a very meaningful decision for this team’s future.

News

Just before the submission of this recap, the Blackhawks reassigned Gilbert back to the Rockford IceHogs. This may indicate that Boqvist is healthy and will play Sunday since it was confirmed that Carlsson has a concussion.

ROSTER MOVE: Defenseman Dennis Gilbert has been reassigned to Rockford. #Blackhawks https://t.co/qbB18HIbVW

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 7, 2020

The Blackhawks return to action on Sunday against the St. Louis Blues. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CDT at the United Center.

The post Along the Boards: Blackhawks fall 2–1 to lowly Red Wings appeared first on The Rink.

Even though the Red Wings rivalry has lost its prominence in recent years, this was a very important game for the Blackhawks. Only one point behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild card spot, the Hawks needed to capitalize on the rebuilding Red Wings playing the second of a back to back. Jeff Glass would get his second straight start in net for the Blackhawks.

These were the Blackhawks starting lines:
Brandon Saad – Jonathan Toews – Vincent Hinostroza
Ryan Hartman – Nick Schmaltz – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – David Kampf – Anthony Duclair
Lance Bouma – Tommy Wingels – Patrick Sharp

Duncan Keith – Jordan Oesterle
Connor Murphy – Brent Seabrook
Gustav Forsling – Jan Rutta

The pace of the game was exciting to start, with both teams really flying around, but the excitement didn’t last very long for the Blackhawks. After some careless turnovers early in the first period, Andreas Athanasiou used his great speed, as he did much of the game, to drive the net and set up Dylan Larkin for a one-time goal at 4:08 in the first period.

As the turnover trend continued for the Blackhawks, so did the Red Wings goal scoring. Two minutes after the Larkin goal, Anthony Mantha used his speed to push the Hawks defense back on an odd man rush. He then stopped and dished the puck to the trailing Mike Green who fired another one timer past Glass, again to the glove side. The Wings had a 6-2 shot advantage at this point in the period, and really controlled the play.

But, to the Blackhawks credit, they seemed to respond well after the second Red Wings goal. During a nice shift by the fourth line, Bouma was able to draw an interference penalty to send the Hawks on the power play. But, despite sustained offensive zone time for much of the man advantage, the Blackhawks were unable to create any real pressure or high quality scoring chances.

After killing a slashing penalty by Saad, the Blackhawks went into the first intermission down 2-0, but winning the shot battle 10-7.

Early in the second period, the Blackhawks found themselves on the penalty kill once again, a penalty they would kill with relative ease. Regardless of the success of the Blackhawks PK unit throughout the second period, the penalties really seemed to stymie any offensive momentum they were generating. This was especially evident when the Red Wings began to show some signs of fatigue in the second period. After drawing a penalty by Athanasiou at 13:48 in the second period, the Blackhawks were unable to capitalize on the power play because of a careless penalty by Toews.

After accumulating three penalties in the second period, the shot totals turned in favor of the Red Wings, 18-15, through two periods.

Another trend that was painfully noticeable throughout the game was how overwhelmed Glass looked in net. Time and time again, Glass was found far outside of his own net, and it was surprising the Blackhawks made it out of the second period only down 2-0.

At the start of the third period, the Blackhawks found themselves with an opportunity to capitalize on the Red Wings lack of success on the power play. After a good shift by the Toews line, Tomas Tatar was called for hooking, sending the Hawks to the power play with 19 minutes left in the game.

But, instead of the power play resulting in a goal, the Blackhawks yet again looked unorganized and didn’t generate any scoring chances. At the end of the man advantage, Hawks fans in attendance showed their displeasure as boos echoed throughout the United Center.
Unfortunately, fans had a lot more to groan about as the third period continued. Mantha continued his strong play for the Red Wings, scoring at 5:46 in the third. The play was an embarrassing sequence for Keith and Oesterle, as the defenseman collided and found themselves both lying on the ice while Mantha buried a wrist shot glove side past Glass.

Chances were few and far between in the third period for the Hawks, as shown by another frustrating sequence on a 3 on 1. Toews, Kane, and Hartman entered the zone and bobbled the puck between one another until Hartman fired a half-hearted back hander on Wings netminder Petr Mrazek.

As the Blackhawks looked ready to pack it in, the Red Wings continued to pile it on. Tyler Bertuzzi, the nephew of former Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi, scored his first career goal off a rebound to make the score 4-0.

That is how the game would end, as Mrazek would complete the shutout, becoming the first Red Wings goalie to shut out the Blackhawks on the road since Dominik Hasek in 2001.

Pluses

• David Kampf continued his strong play, and was one of the few Hawks to play with any sort of energy. He continued his success winning faceoffs, played hard on the PK, and even created the team’s best scoring chance of the afternoon after a nice one on one move on Mantha.
• Although he didn’t make a ton of plays, I really like what I have seen thus far from Duclair. His speed is obvious, he has some noticeable skill, and he is stronger than people give him credit for. I’d like to see him get some more time with Toews and Saad, because I think his skills could really compliment those two guys.
• It was reported before Sunday’s game that Artem Anisimov may be back as early as Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders. This should be a nice boost for the Blackhawks after they come off of the bye week.

Minuses

• For a team with leaders like Toews, Keith, and Seabrook, it is embarrassing how the Hawks played Sunday afternoon. Any reasonable person would think they had everything to play for: an original six matchup, one point out of the playoffs, and a week-long bye week starting after the game. Instead, the Blackhawks came out and played a very entitled hockey game, reminiscent of last year’s playoff series against the Nashville Predators. They played as if they could just walk on the ice and win the game, and once the score was 2-0, they began taking dumb penalties and looked very frustrated. I know it was only one game, but it was very disappointing, especially considering the circumstances.
• The Blackhawks continue to turn over the puck too much. Whether they are trying to get the puck out of their own zone, or trying to generate chances in the offensive zone, they are far too careless with the puck. Against a team like the Red Wings who have guys who can fly up and down the ice, it creates an unacceptable amount of odd man rushes.
• The Blackhawks continue to struggle generating any meaningful scoring chances throughout their games. For a team near the top of the league in analytical categories such as pace of play and corsi for, they don’t score nearly enough goals. The Blackhawks refusal to score any dirty goals, or have any net front presence, is the biggest reason for their offensive woes. Until they switch their game from cute perimeter passes to pucks and bodies down low, they will continue to have a difficult time scoring.
• With Artem Anisimov coming back, it is time to sit Sharp, and sit him for good. I have always been a big fan of Patrick Sharp, but his days as an NHL player are over. Sharp is far from the reason for the Hawks inconsistencies, but he is slow, can’t score, and gets worked off the puck time and time again. I would much rather continue the trend of youth and speed in the top 9, followed by the grit of Wingels, Bouma, and Kampf or Hayden on the fourth line.
• I think it is safe to say that the Jeff Glass experiment is officially over. It was a nice story early on, but Glass was caught out of position all afternoon, and was lucky the score was only 4-0. It is clear that Glass is nothing more than an AHL goalie, and I would expect Anton Forsberg to have a firm grasp on the Hawks net as they come out of the bye week.

The post Recap: Detroit 4, Blackhawks 0 appeared first on The Rink.

Detroit Red Wings (17-18-7) at Chicago Blackhawks (22-16-6)

12:30PM Eastern/11:30AM Central

RADIO: WGN 720

TV: NBC, WGN

PROJECTED GOALIES:

Detroit:

Petr Mrazek (3-5-1, 3.78 GAA, .885 save%)

Chicago:

Jeff Glass (3-1-1, 3.01 GAA, .918 save%)

PROJECTED LINES/PAIRINGS:

Detroit:

Nyquist-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

Tatar-Larkin-Athanasiou

Helm-Nielsen-Abdelkader

Frk-Booth-Mantha

DeKeyser-Green

Ericsson-Daley

Kronwall-Jensen

Chicago:

Saad-Toews-HInostroza

Hartman-Schmaltz-Kane

Duclair-Kampf-DeBrincat

Bouma-Wingels-Sharp

Keith-Oesterle

Murphy-Seabrook

Forsling-Rutta

STATISTICAL COMPARISIONS:

Power Play:

Detroit 19.5% (15th)

Chicago 15.8% (26th)

Penalty Kill:

Detroit 80.5 (18th)

Chicago 82.7% (8^th)

Corsi FOR % (5-on-5):

Detroit  48.7% (21st)

Chicago 53.3% (2nd)

Faceoffs:

Detroit  48.6%  (24th)

Chicago 49.5% (21st)

SUMMARY:

This is a game that used to mean more than a badly needed two points for the Blackhawks. But with the Wings now a bottom-deeding team in the Eastern Conference, not quite s much. Still, with the likes of Justin Abdelkader and Niklas Kronwall on the ice, there’s sure to be some lingering bad blood. And, the Wings have enough firepower upfront to present the Hawks with some problems.

We’ll recap later today or  tonight. Join the conversation below!

Follow: @jaeckel

The post Preview & Game Thread: Blackhawks vs Wings appeared first on The Rink.