Antti Niemi was spectacular on Sunday night, stopping all 30 shots he faced in the Hawks 1-0 win.
After not playing for almost a month, it would be understandable if Antti Niemi was a little rusty. Despite getting off to a solid start in the wake of Cristobal Huet’s early season struggles, Niemi has had to watch as the Hawks have buoyed their more expensive veteran’s confidence over the past few weeks.
Huet, to his credit has responded by playing magnificent hockey over the past couple weeks, making Niemi a lost man on the back of the bench. But in the middle of a long road trip, in the second half of back-to-back nights with games against tough opponents, Niemi was the man on Sunday night.
The Canucks had a great addition to their offense with Daniel Sedin returning after a long absence due to injury, and were hoping to get a big home win against a key conference opponent. Especially the team that knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago.
On October 21, the Canucks came into the United Center and not only beat the Hawks on the scoreboard, but left them wounded as well. That was the night that Willie Mitchell knocked Jonathan Toews out of the lineup for a couple weeks with a concussion, and Brent Seabrook also suffered a concussion that night that would cost him a few games.
These two teams have a physical history, and Sunday night would be a great test for the young Hawks to see how strong the Hawks were on the road.
The Hawks, and Niemi, responded with a great, clutch performance.
Just as they did in Chicago back in October, the Canucks took the Hawks offense out of the game early and never let the Hawks find their groove. They held the Hawks to just 17 shots on goal, with only four coming in the third period. Many of those shots weren’t very good looks, and Roberto Luongo didn’t give up many rebound attempts.
Meanwhile, Vancouver did as good a job as any team this year of getting the puck on the Hawks net. The Blackhawks only allow an average of roughly 22 shots per game, but the Canucks got 30 shots on Niemi, with 12 coming in the first period alone. Niemi was up to the task, though, matching Luongo round for round.
Ben Eager mixed it up twice Sunday.
It was obvious from the get-go that this would be a physical game. Nearly every time the whistle blew there was an exchange of words, and on a couple occasions there were offsetting penalties called; Ben Eager took two such penalties on the night. Eager got himself into two fights on the night, and came out looking like the victor both times. His fight with Rick Rypien in the first period saw Eager land a couple solid left handed shots to Rypien’s head.
As the game progressed it became clear that it was going to come down to which team found an opportunity and capitalized. Thankfully for the Blackhawks, Bryan Bickell’s headache from Saturday night was gone.
Bickell put back one of the few rebounds Luongo allowed all night just 72 seconds into the third period to give the Blackhawks the lead, and the defense handled the rest. Niemi notched his second career shutout in only six NHL starts, and the Hawks extended their winning streak to seven.
The Hawks have now swept the first half of their Circus Trip, and will have a couple days off before a big test in San Jose on Wednesday night. It hasn’t been made official yet, but Marian Hossa should make his first appearance for the Hawks against the Sharks.
Are the Hawks interested in Canes' center Matt Cullen?
This past summer, especially after Marian Hossa signed with the Blackhawks, the team became a favorite in everyother trade rumor. A young team with lots of good players, both in Chicago and not yet in the NHL, that also happens to be suffocating on the salary cap is prime for speculation, and the Hawks have certainly had their share.
As the issues in goal and injuries started to hit the Hawks in October, the whispers again began. On November 3, we reported that there were a number of trade rumors swirling around with the Blackhawks involved. The next day, a response from a Blackhawks’ beat writer, ironically one that had printed rumor mill material back in August, brought further speculation to whether or not Stan Bowman would make a move before Christmas.
Over the last couple weeks, the Hawks have settled their goalie situation and the full return of Jonathan Toews, Brent Seabrook and Ben Eager have brought the mojo back to the Blackhawks.
Their mounting concern over the power play has subsided, their PK has stayed among the best in the league, and the Hawks rank third in the league in their ability to win faceoffs. So why would the Hawks start popping up in trade rumors again?
When Dave Bolland had surgery on a herniated disc in his back, it presented the very real possibility that he won’t be back at 100 percent this season. The doctors have estimated a three to four month recovery, which (counting on my fingers) puts him back on the ice in the middle of March.
Looking back at the summer, and the early parts of this season, Bowman did a nice job of presenting coach Joel Quenneville with options to fill in for faceoffs. Toews currently ranks third in the NHL in faceoff win percentage, and John Madden is also in the top ten. After that, the Hawks have added Tomas Kopecky (as a free agent with Hossa) and Andrew Ebbett (off waivers from Anaheim early in the regular season).
Kopecky, Ebbett, Kris Versteeg and Colin Fraser have all spent time in the circle in the past couple weeks, each with varied levels of success.
Versteeg has not only the best ability on the ice, but the biggest price tag among the group. He figures to best serve the team from his natural wing position.
Fraser has had some stretches recently where he’s been incredible in the circle. On November 6 in Denver, Fraser won nine of his 10 faceoffs.
The problem with Kopecky, Fraser and Ebbett is that none of the three has established a firm niche with the offense yet this year. Fraser, for all of his success in the circle and quality work on the PK, has taken some stupid penalties and is seen sprinting for the bench after many even-strength faceoffs. Kopecky has started to find a role in front of the net, but hasn’t been effective yet anywhere else on the ice.
Which makes the great question mark Ebbett. On a number of occassions in the last couple weeks, Ebbett has centered between Patrick Kane and Versteeg. That line is as fast on their skates as many of the fastest lines in hockey, but none of them is taller than 5′10; the obvious concern is that they can be pushed around the ice because of their size.
Ebbett’s ice time has drawn some speculation that the Hawks might make a move to bolster the center position via trade. And, circling back to the rumors from early November, the Carolina Huricanes are coming up again.
The ironic thing, again, is that the columnist that called out the rumors as being pure fancy on November 4 is now the one claiming there’s some validity, and potential, to a Hawks deal with the Canes.
In Sunday’s edition of the Daily Herald, Tim Sassone writes that the Hawks might have interest in Canes center Matt Cullen. A couple weeks ago, Hockey Buzzreported that the Hawks and Canes had spoken about trade options; Sassone quickly called these rumors false and dismissed the reports within hours of their publication. Yet now, just ten days later, it’s Sassone apparently confirming such a conversation between Chicago and Carolina.
Whether or not the Hawks make a move likely won’t happen until after Hossa returns to the ice, and Quenneville is able to feel comfortable with his bounty of forwards. Hossa, for what it’s worth, has spent some time at center in practice since he started skating with the team last week, but seems to be a distant option to play the position at length in games.
If Cullen were considered, there would need to be some salary concessions made to fit his $2.875 million salary onto the roster. Rumors out of Carolina have been that the Canes are looking for a defenseman to quarterback their power play. A logical fit with a similar salary would be Cam Barker, who has a cap number of $3 million; Barker’s name has been mentioned in previous rumors with Carolina.
It seems like just yesterday that many Blackhawks fans, including yours truly, were calling for the Hawks to make a permanent change at the top of their goalie depth chart.
Cristobal Huet went through a terrible stretch in the middle of October, and many of the issues that lost him the starting goalie job to Nikolai Khabibulin became glaring holes teams were taking advantage of regularly. Huet did not play very well in the Hawks loss in Detroit, and then infamously was pulled early in the first period of the Calgary game in which the Hawks climbed out of a 5-0 first period deficit to win 6-5 in overtime.
When the Calgary game felt like the bottom for Huet, the Dallas game five days later was perhaps his low point as a professional. After Antti Niemi started winning the fans’ favor, and played well enough for wins the Calgary and Edmonton games, Huet allowed four goals, at least two of which were embarassing, to the Stars in a tough home loss.
The fans were booing, and the rumor mill was swirling with questions about the Hawks willingness to continue giving the $5 million Frenchman chances when he had disappointed out of the gates for a team that was supposed to contend for the conference championship.
Names like Jaroslav Halak, Carey Price and Jean-Sebastian Giguere floated around the Blackhawks all over the web, and it was generally at the expense of Huet.
Then, on October 21, the Blackhawks collectively came out flat. They took the banged up Vancouver Canucks for granted, lost a game, and lost both Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews to concussions.
It was on that night, after suffering a 3-2 loss, that something clicked for Huet.
Perhaps it was the lost leadership of Seabrook and Toews forcing Huet to step up his game, or maybe it was the reality that he was on such thin ice, but Huet became every bit the goalie the Hawks paid the king’s ransom last summer.
Since that Vancouver game, Huet has started seven of eight games and has stopped 166 of 177 shots (93.7%). He has allowed more than two goals in a game only once in that stretch, and has lowered his goals against average to 2.21 for the season.
Once a goalie nobody wanted to see in the United Center, Huet just a couple weeks later ranks sixth in goals against average in the entire NHL and can be held personally responsible for the Hawks staying in a couple games when the offense didn’t show up for 40 minutes.
The two home games to begin this week-long four-game homestand have been great tests of Huet and the defense in front of him, and both have responded with exceptional performances.
Monday, the Los Angeles Kings came to town among the top five scoring offenses in the league, averaging over 3.30 goals per game. They were also averaging nearly 30 shots on goal per night.
The Blackhawks and Huet dominated the Kings, though. Huet stopped 17 of only 18 shots he faced in the game, and the offense responded to Toews’ return from injury to blow out the first place Kings 4-1 at the United Center. Even though there weren’t a lot of shots, there were tough chances from the Kings and Anze Kopitar, the league’s leading scorer, that Huet shut down well.
Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche played the Hawks for the third time already this year and all three have been tight contests. The first two saw 17 shooters from each team give their best in the shootout before the two games were settled, with the two teams splitting the games.
Whenever a competitor faces another athlete performing at a high level, it’s interesting to see how he steps up his
game. For Colorado, Craig Anderson has been among the best goalies in all of hockey this season and was nothing short of spectacular on Wednesday night. Anderson allowed only two goals in regulation and the overtime period despite facing 39 shots. Huet needed to answer.
And he did.
Huet faced 24 shots through only two periods, more shots than the league-leading Hawks allow on average for an entire game (22.6). But to Huet’s credit, despite a number of hot rushes at the Hawks net and a number of opportunities in traffic for a shot to understandably slip past him, he didn’t fold.
Only two slid past him in the first two periods, and he shut out the Avalanche in the third and overtime. He was also superb in the shootout for a third time against Colorado, allowing only one of the three shooters to score.
Huet is now being cheered, not jeered, at the United Center. He has been as good over the last couple weeks as he was bad in the early part of the season, and has gained the favor of his coaches and the Blackhawks fans back.
Punishing hits like this have made the Blackhawks defense the best in the league.
We’re now a quarter of the way through the 2009-10 season, and the Blackhawks are establishing themselves as the best defensive team in the entire NHL. It might be a historically football-based cliche, but if “defense wins championships” then this could be another special year on Chicago’s west side.
Even with Brent Seabrook missing four games with a concussion, and Cristobal Huet struggling for the first few weeks of the season, the Blackhawks defense has helped compensate for their offensive issues. While the team’s power play has disappeared, their power play killing unit has remained at an elite level. The rest of the team’s defensive statistics bear witness to the Hawks supremacy in the league.
The Hawks tandem of Huet and Antti Niemi ranks seventh in the NHL in goals against average at 2.40 goals allowed per game. The save percentage for the two hasn’t been exceptional, but they haven’t been asked to be too busy between the pipes.
The Blackhawks are allowing only 22.7 shots on goal per game, the fewest in the NHL by more than three shots per game. When you take into consideration how well the Hawks defenders accelerate the puck into the offensive end, the Hawks are getting plenty of offensive opportunities. The team’s shot differential is ridiculous (10.5) and almost double that of the Pittsburgh Penguins (5.4), who rank second.
Duncan Keith spends over 26 minutes a night disrupting opponents.
Duncan Keith leads the team in blocked shots with 33, which is tied for 20th in the NHL. Keith also ranks fourth in the NHL in average time on the ice (26:52). He has been superb in Seabrook’s absence and should be considered a contender for the Norris Trophy this year.
Through 15 games, the Blackhawks are also a consistent hitting team. Three Hawks have been credited with more than 30 hits already, with Troy Brouwer leading the way. Brouwer has been a stellar two-way forward so far this season, quietly accumulating 43 hits already. Dustin Byfuglien has 38, and Seabrook has 33 in only 13 games.
The Blackhawks also have a group of defensemenblocking a lot of shots. WithKeith leading the way, five Hawks have blocked more than 20 shots already. Seabrook has been credited with 29, Niklas Hjalmarsson 24, Brent Sopel 23 and Brian Campbell 20 so far. From just those five defensemen, the Blackhawks are blocking an average of nine goals per game.
Now place all of these numbers into the context of scoring. The only Hawks defenseman who is not statistically strong in traditionally blue line stats (hits, blocked shots) is Cam Barker, who spends a lot of his time as a trigger man on offensive power plays. And yet Barker and Sopel are the only two regular defensemen for the Hawks who have a negative plus/minus.
Sopel is primarily a PK specialist, so being -4 on the season isn’t a glaring indictment of his total game. Barker spending as much time as he does on the struggling offensive power play has played a big role in his plus/minus sliding to -3 already this season.
Seabrook is tied with captain Jonathan Toews at +7, followed by Hjalmarsson at +5, Keith is +3 and Campbell is +1. When you think about the number of minutes Hjalmarsson has been asked to play short handed this year, especially stepping up in Seabrook’s absence, his plus/minus rating is superb.
Niklas Hjalmarsson has been outstanding so far this year.
Hjalmarsson has really developed into an outstanding young defenseman. At only 22 years old, Blackhawks’ brass (Scotty Bowman) has used the name Niklas Lindstom in the same sentence with Hjalmsson, arguably the highest praise a defenseman can receive from the former Detroit coach.
The Blackhawks have a strong defensive group of forwards as well. Kris Versteeg has 14 takeaways already, and John Madden has 12. Both rank in the top-20 in the NHL, and aren’t alone in their puck pilfering. Andrew Ladd has nine thefts already, while Dave Bolland and Patrick Kane both have seven.
Management made a strong effort on the free agent market this past summer to address their overall team defense by specifically adding players that were quality two-way players. Marian Hossa is among the best defensive forwards in the game, while Tomas Kopecky led the Red Wings in hits last year.
Madden, of course, is known as one of the best defensive forwards in the game over the last decade. He won the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 2001 and was runner-up three times (2003, ‘04 and ‘08).
This group of forwards and defensemen have led the Blackhawks be one of the top PK teams in the NHL to start the year, currently ranking third in the league at 85.7 percent. The Hawks have two short handed goals, while only allowing eight power play goals.
Overall, the Blackhawks defense has been the best in the NHL so far this young season, and they have a growing track record that indicates they should continue playing exceptional defense. Once they get their power play back on track, this team should instill fear in opponents heading in to April and May.
This story was picked up on the front page of NHL.com and CBSSports’ NHL page on Monday, November 9! The screen shot is on a new page, highlighting CommittedIndians.com’s appearences elsewhere!
When the Blackhawks get healthy, who will disappear from the team photo?
It’s always unfortunate when injuries strike a roster, and the Hawks have certainly been more fortunate than some of their Western Conference rivals like Vancouver and Detroit. Chicago hasn’t been immune to the ijnjury bug, but that hasn’t kept them from accomplishing one of their goals – beginning November in first place.
Now that November has started, the return of injured players is expected to begin as well. Brent Seabrook came back on Thursday night last week and was a noticeable influence on the flow of the defense in both Thursday and Friday’s games. Seabrook, of course, isn’t the only key player to be missing from the regular Blackhawks rotation.
Forward Ben Eager has been out since the first week of October with what appears to be post-concussion symptoms. The team, and the fans, had great expecations for an enegetic fourth line of Eager, Colin Fraser and Adam Burish this year, but Burish went down with a torn ACL in the preseason and Eager has only played in two regular season games.
From watching the Hawks over the last couple weeks, it’s been clear that Eager’s physical presence has been missed. According to reports over the weekend, Quenneville and Eager both indicated that Eager’s head appears to be back where it belongs (he no longer thinks he’s Batman), and now it’s just a matter of him getting his legs back to full speed before the Hawks put him into a game.
Eager’s an important player in the Hawks’ lineup, but certainly doesn’t carry the cache of a name like Jonathan Toews or Marian Hossa. Hossa hasn’t stepped into a game for the Hawks yet because of summer shoulder surgery, but there’s no questioning his status as an elite scorer. The Hawks offense has been above average to start the year (2.92 goals per game, 15th in the NHL), and adding Hossa to the mix undoubtedly brings another fear factor to playing Chicago.
The loss of Toews, and the duration of his absence, has been troublesome, though. The Hawks’ 21-year old captain took a nasty shot from Vancouver’s Willie Mitchell on October 21 and hasn’t skated with the team since. In fact, it now appears that Eager is closer to returning that Toews; if Toews misses the same four weeks Eager did because of his concussion, the Hawks will continue to experiment with lines and hope for results.
Toews’ presence has been obvious on the stat sheet. With their captain in the lineup, the Blackhawks averaged 3.75 goals per game, and Toews was winning over 60 percent of his faceoffs. Without Toews, the Blackhawks are averaging just 2.00 goals per game, their power play has disappeared, and they’re breaking even in the faceoff circle.
Playing without Seabrook, Eager, Hossa and Toews has allowed coach Joel Quenneville to play with his lines like a fantasy hockey team, mixing up the talented players he has available to find a winning combination. It’s also presented a golden opportunity to youngsters like Jack Skille and Jake Dowell to get quality ice time with the big club. Even Jordan Hendry got time as a forward in Nashville.
But what happens when Eager, Toews and Hossa return?
When Toews was healthy, Quenneville appeared to be a big fan of a second line of Dave Bolland between Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Kane. In Toews’ absence, he’s stuck with Byfuglien and Kane being together, but has placed John Madden between them more often.
On the third and fourth lines, the wing and center situation has been mixed up pretty regularly in Toews’ absence. The team acquired Andrew Ebbett from Anaheim, a younger player with the ability to play both wing and center, and he’s played both positions in the last few games. In fact, he played center between Kris Versteeg and Andrew Ladd in Nashville.
Andrew Ebbett
Depending on who returns first between Eager and Toews, it appears the first decision will come down to either Ebbett or Fraser.
On paper, it would appear that Ebbett has been more productive and, based on ice time, has more of Quenneville’s confidence than Fraser. But that’s where statistics fall short of telling the story.
First, let’s not discount the fact that Fraser played well between Eager and Burish last year. When Eager returns, Quenneville might believe he can recapture the Energy Line’s effectiveness from last year by putting Eager and Fraser back together. In that case, it would be up to Tomas Kopecky or Ebbett to complete the line by trying to replace Burish.
Colin Fraser
Secondly, Fraser has been more involved in the Hawks penalty killing unit in Toews’ absence. that isn’t going to help any player accumulate points or have a solid +/- rating, so there needs to be some concession in the argument in favor of Fraser there.
Finally, Fraser has been center that has suffered from the revolving door between Chicago, Rockford and the injured reserve. He’s played next to Skille, Dowell, Kopecky, Ebbett and Hendry to name a few of the rotations Quenneville has tried recently.
Fraser, though, was apparently the final player to make the Hawks roster when Quenneville put the final roster together for the season; he won a stiff competition with Dowell for the fourth center position. Ebbett has a lot of skill, versatility, and upside, but Fraser is a known commodity.
In Ebbett’s favor, the Blackhawks are about to play a long stretch of games against faster West Coast teams, and Ebbett’s quicker on his skates than Fraser. His speed, and familiarity with teams like Phoenix, Los Angeles and Anaheim from his time on the Ducks’ roster, might make him a valuable asset in the coming weeks.
Either way, Quenneville has an interesting decision coming up.
As far as production on the ice, I would have to think Hendry is on the short list to leave town as well. Quenneville playing him at forward was as much a salary cap-related decision because of depth and financial concerns as it was because of Hendry’s ability to play the position; Hendry only played five minutes on Thursday and wasn’t effective in the minutes he was on the ice.
But, given Seabrook’s recent return from injury, odds are that Quenneville will keep a seventh defenseman around for depth.
It appears Hossa could be ready to return in just a couple weeks, perhaps in time for Jeremy Roenick Heritage Night on the 15th against San Jose, and Toews hopefully won’t be out much longer. The Blackhawks are off until Thursday this week, giving the roster time to get healthy before they play again.
When Hossa and Toews return, both exceptional two-way forwards, that could easily cost Hendry his position on the roster.
How Quenneville will align the talent he has when this exceptional roster is at 100 percent is another discussion completely, but which young player is on the move as these three veterans begin returning could be interesting over the next couple weeks.
Jordan Hendry will play forward in Nashville Thursday night.
After Thursday morning’s skate, coach Joel Quenneville made a couple announcements regarding the lineup for the Hawks game in Nashville.
Captain Jonathan Toews did not travel with the team, and is doubtful for tomorrow night’s game against the Canadiens at the United Center. Brent Seabrook will play, though.
To accomodate Seabrook becoming active, the Hawks will not recall Jake Dowell from Rockford. Instead, Jordan Hendry will stay active and play forward; the Hawks will dress seven defensivemen for this evening’s game. There has been no comment from the Hawks regarding the rumors of a trade involving Cristobal Huet, and all indications are that he will start in net tonight.
Brent Seabrook could return as early as Thursday night at Nashville
Brent Seabrook skated with the team during practice on Wednesday morning, and is progressing well. According to Coach Joel Quenneville, if Seabrook continues to feel better, he could play as early as Thursday night in Nashville.
Captain Jonathan Toews did not skate with the team on Wednesday; both Toews and Seabrook are suffering from concussion symptoms after each got banged up in last week’s game against Vancouver. Both are formally listed as “day-to-day,” but the two appear to be progressing at different rates.
In his comments after practice, Quenneville indicated that Toews will not travel with the team to Nashville, and though it has not been formally decided, the option of having seven defensivemen on the bench was something the Hawks were considering if Seabrook is healthy enough to go against the Predators.0
Seabrook took a skate to the head, and re-entered the game a couple times before the Hawks shut him down in the third period of the Canucks game. Toews, however, got lit up by Willie Mitchell and staggered to the bench. He did not return to the ice after the hit, and was taken to the locker room soon after arriving on the bench.
The two have missed just two games, both home wins, against Nashville and Minnesota.
The other update from Hawks practice on Wednesday was the first appearance of Marian Hossa on the ice with the rest of the team. Hossa was held out of any contact drills, but the importance of him skating with the team before joining the Hawks in a game is critical.
Because of the injuries to Hossa, Toews and Seabrook, the Blackhawks have not yet had their complete roster on the ice together yet this season. The Hawks are still in first place, though, and should only be better once they have their three injured stars.
Hossa could return as early as mid-November from summer shoulder surgery. A timetable for Toews’ return has not been established, but the fact that he has not yet skated since the hit, coupled with Quenneville’s comments, indicates that Toews will likely not play tomorrow or Friday when the Hawks host Montreal.
Jake Dowell is bouncing back and forth between Rockford and Chicago.
For the first couple weeks of the season, it was Jack Skille burning up the roads between Rockford and Chicago. Now, it looks like Jake Dowell has become the in between man.
Because of the Blackhawks’ salary cap situation, the Hawks have been running a shuttle between their minor league affiliate in Rockford and the United Center between games all season. Dowell, who made his first appearance of the season for the Hawks on Saturday night, was temporarily demoted for Sunday, but was recalled on Monday morning for the Hawks game against the Minnesota Wild.
Dowell, who played with Adam Burish at the University of Wisconsin, was the final roster cut before the season started. Coach Joel Quenneville opted to keep Colin Fraser over Dowell when the rosters were set to begin the season, but now both will see playing time together on the fourth line.
Because of the injury to Toews, still listed as an “upper body” issue, Dowell bring more versatility to the roster. His natural position is center, but he played wing exclusively on Saturday night. Andrew Ebbett played center in place of Toews, and both Dowell and Tomas Kopecky can play center as well.
On defense, Seabrook’s “upper body injury” is a concussion, suffered when he got kicked in the head in last Wednesday’s loss to Vancouver. Ben Eager is already missing from action with concussion-related issues, and hasn’t played since being placed on injured reserve October 8.
The decision on Toews and Seabrook’s eligibility for Monday night’s game has not yet been determined. Minnesota has struggled this season and is dealing with injuries, and the Hawks don’t play again until Thursday night in Nashville. Because the Hawks’ schedule isn’t necessarily loaded with top-tier opponents, saving Toews and Seabrook’s health for another few days might be the best option for the rest of the season.
UPDATE (5:05 pm CST) – Per Twitter, Quenneville has decided that both Seabrook and Toews are OUT vs. Minnesota tonight, and are still considered day-to-day.
Brian Campbell will play next to Duncan Keith in the absence of Brent Seabook Saturday night.
The Blackhawks will have to skate against last-place Nashville on Saturday night without two of their best players, captain Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook.
To accomodate the absence of Toews, the forwards will be lined up as follows:
Dustin Byfuglien - John Madden - Patrick Kane
Andrew Ladd – Dave Bolland – Kris Versteeg
Patrick Sharp - Andrew Ebbett - Troy Brouwer
Tomas Kopecky – Colin Fraser – Jake Dowell
With Seabrook not available, coach Joel Quenneville will start the defenders paired as follows:
Duncan Keith – Brent Sopel
Niklas Hjalmarsson - Brian Campbell
Cam Barker - Jordan Hendry
With Cristobal Huet in goal, the losses of Seabrook and Toews will test the young Hawks. Thankfully, Nashville is struggling as much as any team in the league.
POSTGAME UPDATE:
The only line that appeared to have any continuity on the ice on Saturday night was that of Madden, Byfuglien and Kane. Kane literally skated circles around the Predators on a number of occassions, and Byfuglien scored the first goal of the game; it ended up the game winning tally.
Ebbett played well in the circle and skated well with Sharp and Brouwer, but the line wasn’t able to get into the scoring column. They did, however, not take any cheap, stupid penalties in the game.
Huet played well in net, but didn’t get much help from his defense. The Blackhawks allowed 21 shots in the first two periods.
The Blackhawks will not play either captain Jonathan Toews or Brent Seabrook on Saturday night against Nashville, according to the team. Both are listed as having “upper body injuries” after hits in Wednesday’s game against Vancouver.
One roster move was made on Saturday morning to accomodate the two scratches. Center Jake Dowell was recalled from Rockford. Newcomer Andrew Ebbett or Tomas Kopecky could both play center on Saturday to fill Toews’ spot, and Dowell, 24, could see ice time as well.
To cover for Seabrook, the Hawks will benefit from getting Jordan Hendry his first ice time of the season on Wednesday, as he will now have to dress with Brent Sopel. Sopel was a healthy scratch on Wednesday.
