Yes, the Blackhawks have lost some ugly games in the last few weeks. But when you place those losses into context, they suddenly don’t look nearly as bad. Consider the following:
Jan. 19: 4-1 at Ottawa – This game was the Senators’ fourth win in a row; they would win 11 straight before finally losing on Saturday to the Leafs. In that stretch, the Sens would outscore their opponents 37-13 and would also beat New Jersey and Vancouver at home and Pittsburgh and Buffalo on the road.
Jan. 23: 5-1 at Vancouver- This game was also the Canucks’ fourth consecutive win at the time in the midst of a stretch of an 8-1-1 stretch. During that run, the Canucks would only lose to Ottawa and Phoenix while beating Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Vancouver would outscore opponents 35-23.
Jan. 30: 4-2 at Carolina – Again, the fourth win in a row for an opponent riding a hot streak. Yes, the Hurricanes’ record isn’t impressive, but they’re 7-3-0 in their last ten, with the victory over the Hawks in the middle of it all. In those ten games, the Canes outscored their opponents 35-23 (sound familiar?).
Feb. 5: 2-1 vs. Phoenix (SO) - This time at home, the Hawks were the Coyotes sixth consecutive victim in an 11-game stretch in which they went 9-2-0 and outscored opponents like Detroit, Calgary and Nashville 36-31. Maybe not the overwhelming numbers of the previous three opponents, but still a team that was scoring well over three goals per night. In fact, one of the two Coyotes losses was to a Washington team that hasn’t lost in 14 games.
Remembering that sprinkled among these losses were wins at Detroit, Calgary and San Jose, the Blackhawks have reasons to remain confident.
The grain of salt this laundry list of excuses comes with is that the Blackhawks could have, and should have, won all four of these games. The shootout loss to Phoenix was one of the worst efforts of the season, as the Hawks were outplayed in almost every aspect of the game. The loss in Carolina was at the end of a two-week road trip, but the Hawks had plenty of opportunities to win that game and didn’t finish. The games in Vancouver and Ottawa weren’t very good efforts from the Hawks’ goaltenders.
As we get into March, and the Hawks continue to press for the President’s Trophy, they will get their opponents’ best effort every night. Bringing a mediocre effort, like they did in the losses to Phoenix and St. Louis at home last week, will not only cost the team valuable points, but open players up to potential injury. Hopefully the win in St. Louis will help the team re-focus for a couple victories before the Olympics.
After an emotional victory on Sunday at Detroit, the Blackhawks had started a rough road trip with four points in their first two games. Heading to Ottawa, the Hawks hoped to continue their momentum against a team that, on paper, wasn’t their equal.
Unfortunately, numbers on paper don’t win hockey games and, from the looks of the Hawks’ effort on Tuesday night, nobody told the players.
The 4-1 loss in Ottawa on Tuesday night wasn’t even a case of a hungry team on the fringe of the playoffs giving the best team in hockey their best; the Senators only put 18 shots on net in the game. But the Sens turned the puck over less than the Blackhawks, took fewer stupid penalties, and their netminder stopped over 80 percent of the shots he faced, the recipe to beat a lackluster effort from the Hawks.
Ottawa did a nice job of breaking up the Hawks cross-ice passing in the neutral zone and collapsed in front of the net well, so they do deserve credit for playing a good team game. They were also more physical than the Blackhawks, out-hitting Chicago 29-12 in the game. Ottawa goaltender Brian Elliot also deserves a great deal of credit, making a number of clutch saves in the second and third period in holding the second-ranked offense in the NHL to only one goal.
But Tuesday was more of a case of the Hawks losing a game than Ottawa winning one.
Cristobal Huet was bad in net. He didn’t receive a lot of help, but the Sens weren’t getting one-on-none chances. There wasn’t a single goal that went in that Huet couldn’t, or shouldn’t, have stopped. The only one of the four that was understandable was the fourth and final goal for Ottawa, scored by Carrie Underwood’s fiancee Mike Fisher on the power play off a great pass from Nick Foligno. That goal went directly between Huet’s legs, though; unlike the third goal, Huet actually got into position to make a stop.
Huet allowed four goals on 18 shots and he showed some emotion for the second straight game after allowing the fourth goal. On Saturday in Columbus, he broke his goalie stick against the post late in the game. After Fisher’s goal, he slammed the ice with both hands. Considering that Huet is a goalie who relies on his confidence, his last two starts being poor might have a major impact on the rest of the road trip.
After the game, when coach Joel Quenneville addressed the media, he certainly didn’t jump at any opportunities to give Huet a vote of confidence, either.
Not helping the cause were Dustin Byfuglien and Kris Versteeg, both of whom took ridiculous penalties in the third period. Those two penalties, both taken while the Hawks trailed 3-1, effectively destroyed the Hawks’ ability to maintain an offensive rush. If not for a great pass from Duncan Keith to a streaking Marian Hossa, the Hawks would have been shut out by a netminder allowing over 2.80 goals per game on the season.
Hossa’s goal was his seventh in eight games. It was the only highlight for the Hawks, who only recorded three total shots on five power plays.
When Mike Fisher marries Carrie Underwood, she'll become Carrie Fisher. Yes, I just went there...
The Blackhawks will only play the Ottawa Senators once this year, on Tuesday night, so a brief introduction to the Senators for Hawks fans is in order.
Ottawa Senators
25-21-4 54 pts 2nd in the Northeast Division
4-5-0 in January; won their last three after a five-game losing streak.
Oustcored 29-23 in January; 16 of 23 goals have come in only three games (seven on Jan. 3, nine in their last two).
Ottawa Leaders:
Mike Fisher, C – 16 G, 22 A, 38 Pts, +10
Daniel Alfredsson, RW – 13 G, 24 A, 37 Pts, +5 (including a hat trick on Monday night)
Alfredsson missed time with a shoulder injury, and has played only two games since returning.
Philip Kuba, D – 3 G, 15 A, 18 Pts, -4, 23:31 ATOI
Kuba has played in two games since missing four because of an upper-body injury.
The goaltender situation is far-from-settled in Ottawa. Former Blackhawks’ draft pick Mike Brodeur has come up from the Sens’ minor leagues this year and has been solid, starting his season 3-0, with only three goals allowed in the three games. He has a shutout already as well. However, Brodeur missed Monday’s game because of the flu, so Brian Elliot was called upon. Elliot is 11-11 with a 2.83 goals against average. Ottawa’s regular starter, Pascal LeClaire, is injured.
Marian Hossa played the first seven years of his career in Ottawa, against whom he has three goals and 15 assists in 12 career games. Hossa has not scored in his last eight games against Ottawa, though.
Cristobal Huet is expected to get the start in net for the Hawks. Huet is 5-6-1 against Ottawa with a 3.21 GAA and .908 save percentage. He shut Ottawa out 2-0 last year.
The last time the Blackhawks played in Ottawa was Dec. 22, 2007, a 4-3 overtime win for the Hawks.
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