Blackhawks Ground Jets 4-1
On Wednesday night, the Blackhawks put their loss to the Flames and visit to the White House in the rear view mirror and returned to winning hockey games.
The Hawks’ top line of Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa was dominant the entire night. Toews opened the night’s scoring in the first period and Sharp closed the book for Chicago, scoring his fourth of the year and the fourth of the game for the Blackhawks.
Toews won 15 of 17 faceoffs in a complete performance. Sharp had the primary assist on Toews’ goal, giving him two points in the game. And Hossa led the team with five shots on goal.
Hossa and Patrick Kane saw extra shifts throughout the game as coach Joel Quenneville opted to scratch Jeremy Morin. Defenseman Sheldon Brookbank started the game as the right wing on the third line, but was on the ice for only 47 seconds in the first period. Thankfully, with the game under control for the final 40 minutes, Brookbank was on the ice for 8:14 in the game, keeping both Kane and Hossa under 20 minutes.
Kane had a special offensive night, handling the puck around and through the Jets defense on a number of occasions. He scored his team-leading ninth goal of the season with under six seconds left in the first period, a tally that help up as the game-winner.
Brandon Pirri scored his third of the season and the Hawks’ third of the night off a gorgeous outlet pass from Ben Smith in the second period.
Duncan Keith was credited with secondary assists on both of the first period goals. Brent Seabrook was also credited with an assist in the game. Keith now has 12 assists on the young season, putting him among the top 10 in the NHL (overall, not only defensemen).
Late in the third, Brandon Bollig put Adam Pardy into the first row of the seats – literally.
Corey Crawford was solid again, stopping 24 of 25 shots in the victory. His 2.10 goals against average ranks sixth among netminders with at least 10 games played this year, and his nine wins rank second in the NHL behind only Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury.
Both teams were 0-2 on the power play on Wednesday night. The Hawks have killed six of seven penalties in their last five games. Over those five games, in which the Hawks are 4-0-1, Chicago has outscored their opponents 22-11.
As they did for Dave Bolland when Toronto was in town, the Blackhawks had a nice moment for returning champion Michael Frolik during the game. Former Hawk Dustin Byfuglien was credited with the secondary assist on Devin Setoguchi’s goal in the third period.
a pretty good beat down of the Jets again, one of the best efforts of season. The top line has been great since they joined up for the most part. When Sharpie can get his shooting % up to a reasonable number instead of 6.2, look out! Bickell back down to around 10 min, barely ahead of Brookbank
Thanks for the write-up Tab!
Got a chance to listen to this one on the radio. This was a much needed regulation win as the Hawks get ready for a Road heavy remainder of the month. It seemed like montoya was stuggling on the glove side. I think 3 of the 4 goals were glove side if i remember.
I’m going to chalk up BB on the wing as a “we have a back-to-back sat/sun” so Q was keeping Morin’s legs for the weekend. We are in good shape and Im going to just trust Q to manage this season. No need to read into things too much right now.
Man, don’t you guys wish Dustin Byfuglien was still a Hawk!? He was on the ice for all 4 goals scored against. The guy can obviously care less about playing defense… yet he wants to play defense? Alright. Don’t miss him in the slightest.
Pirri looked a lot more comfortable in his own zone. Apparently the work he is putting in with Q is paying off.
Initially, I was really irritated about Morin being a scratch and dressing 7 defensemen… but after checking the schedule, I understand it. It still seemed pretty unfair for Brookbank who looked like a lost puppy while trying to play RW.
On we go
Also, the person that stole the helmet and the lady that dumped the beer on Pardy… go walk into traffic.
Very Nice game… Hawks controlled AND finished!
The Hawks are about to see some REAL teams soon… hopefully it continues.
Khabby will have to play sooner or later! Old your breath!
“The Hawks’ top line of Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp was dominant the entire night.”
It did look at times that there were two number tens on the ice.
I’ve made the comment before but it’s worth repeating – for as much as I liked the 20-19-81 line last season, the 10-19-81 is better – a lot better. I hope Q doesn’t let his itchy trigger finger break that threesome up.
And Kane was in his Bauer commercial mode last night. He sure is fun to watch when the opponent just let’s him dance around with the puck.
Duncan Keith – WOW! He may not have the shot one would want for a PP QB, but everything else he does is world class. He has one of the best sticks of any d-man in the league. I lost count of all the brilliant defensive plays he made in the game.
Granted, it was the Jets who aren’t really very good, especially when they don’t play their best player (E.Kane), but that was a dominant win for the Hawks and those are more rare than common so good to see.
The Hawks did exactly what they had to do, beat an inferior team.
In pre-season I had predicted the Jets to be the sleeper of the division and expected them to do a lot better than they have. I watched their last game against the Red Wings and the Jets dominated (without E Kane) putting 47 shots on net, winning 5-1. Are the Wings that bad??? No, the Jets have talent, for some reason the coaching staff is not getting the best out of their players.
Wall, agreed. Upcoming schedule is gonna be a lot tougher. Although the Hawks have not had great success so far against better teams I think things are falling into place. 5 games in 8 days then a trip to Colorado. I can’t wait.
BTW, Bollig is my choice for most improved player so far this year. Before our eyes he has matured his enforcer role into an agitators role. He may just be the Bolland type player we thjought we would miss this season.
It always amazes me watching the ex-Hawks play against the core of the two championship teams. It just goes to show how good 19, 88, 81, 10, 2, 7 and 4 really are. Ladd and Buff are nice players but you stick them with our guys and they become world beaters. I’ll be talking about these guys the way my dad talks about watching Hull and Makita.
I think Lindy Ruff’s quote about the 2010 Canadian Olympic team said it all. When asked who was the best player on the ice for Canada, his response: “Whoever is playing with Toews.”
Sorry, I don’t understand it – what’s the (real) reason for sitting Morin? (“…back-to-back sat/sun so Q was keeping Morin’s legs for the weekend” — why? Is Morin 35 or 38…40?)
I’ve never been a fan of dressing a 7th defenseman and “sticking” him at wing. (Unless of course it was Bobby Orr, or Ray Bourque/Paul Coffee in their prime…)
I dont have real logic for the train of thought Dickie… but if the thought is maybe giving 81 a rest, or something like that then you would want Morin chomping at the bit to come out and shine
All I was really trying to say was that The Hawks are in a good place, and if that means skating BB at Wing (in a win), im not going to question what “crazy idea” Q may have cooked up for the rosters over the weekend. We can save the “grab your pitchforks” mentality for a losing streak. No need to panic over playing BB if it didnt hurt anything.
Brookbank has been playing too good to sit, and since they played 1 game over a stretch of 5 days, they wanted to make sure Roszival got some action. It has nothing to do with Morin’s legs, but rather making sure the defensemen are getting time.
The depth of play making on this team is unbelievable. It’s not just Kane making precision behind-the-back passes and other change of pace plays—Hossa, Toews, Saad, Keith, Hammer—it’s something they’re definitely working on in practice and it’s fun to watch.
Hossa is a man among boys and looks great with Toews right now.
I laughed when Foley said Buff was 265. Yeah right, on his best day. He could play o-line for the Bears right now.
Buff was bulling his way to the net , and naturally got there, and CC was fortunate to not only make the save but remain healthy! I just felt something bad was about to happen when Buff was going full bore towards #50. No way hes 265. Its amazing the minutes he logs at that size, he’s topped 30 a few times already.
Another great team game by the Hawks…all 4 lines contributing…however, I did think that was one of the least impressive 3rd line games in a long while…Pirri is starting to look better all around and settles that 2nd line issue, at least for now…the 1st line was amazing, and the 4th line was very good too…much better efforts of late by Keith and Seabrook and they are both starting to play a lot better…Hammer and Oduya just keep on rocking…and don’t look now but Rozy is starting to play well…CC was excellent once again, and suddenly we are all just taking his performances for granted…that’s consistency…and remember, CC was a Rockford lifetime member…he was in the minors for so long, that many wrote him off as a joke…this is what happens when you stick with your kids and coach them well.
My only “frustration” was Morin out of the lineup…that 3rd line was playing great, and Q sits the kid…don’t agree with it one bit…however, when Brookbank finally got a chance to play, he was very responsible and did all the little things well…I am very happy to see Sheldon settling down and playing good hockey for the Hawks…but IMO Q has to stay with the kids and let them play!
Tim G, NOT a shot at YOU. I’m sorry if it came at you that way. I was just using that (guess?) as a reference. Morin is a young (and healthy) guy = playing Wed, Sat, and Sun shouldn’t be a big thing…whether Hossa plays or not.
I was at the games this wk. What a night, meet Rocky, we played really good, and saw Q and Kitchen when we were celebrating at the bar after the game. Beauty.
Q said (in postgame) he wanted to get/keep all the defenseman playing (why Moe wasn’t in).
here is my 2 cents on why BB and not Morin… Rosey has looked a little off all year-perhaps he is nursing something and Q wanted to make sure he had an xtra D man in case Rosey floundered…
in addition, Morin seems to be really scrutinized by Q- I don’t really always know why, but Morin must do a few things that really drive Q nuts… At first glance Morin appears to be the best of 28,37,11… but Q sees something in Morin that he just doesn’t like!!!
During a recent broadcast- Eddie O tele-strated why Q benched Morin for an entire period – because of his positioning on D half boards while Hawks trying to exit zone!!!
Q is really hard on the younger (no-core) players for the smallest details!
This is shaping up to be a GREAT year for hockey fans especially in the WC. Lots of inter-conference play so far, the West has dominated., the EC has 4 teams with 20+ points while the WC has an astounding 9 teams with 20+ points. Amazing. The lowest scoring team in the WC has more goals than 7 teams in the East. With conference play coming full bore the next month, gonna be some wild, physical exciting games. I can’t wait.
did anyone else see pardy butt end sucker punch bickel in the face in the saturday jets game? it was in front of the jets net after the puck had left the zone. bickel was skating across and pardy raised his top hand (still on the butt end of the stick) and blindside punched bickel in the face. bickel went down. nothing was called. i don’t think it was even seen.
i wondered was if the hawks had decided to look for him if the opportunity presented itself.
when bollig put him thru the glass i thot, “yep.”
Thanks Wall, I think you are correct…
This is the latest from Q…just like you suspected Wall…
Blackhawks forward Jeremy Morin was a healthy scratch for Wednesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets and was replaced by defenseman Sheldon Brookbank.
Quenneville said Friday that Morin could earn more consistent playing time by being more consistent on the defensive end.
“His minutes have been okay,” Quenneville said. “He’s kind of like [Brandon Pirri], in that same situation where offensively we know they can do things and that reliability without the puck and how they play in that defensive side of things is the measuring stick as far as how much and the quality. I think he’s been fine.”
Does anyone else notice how 19 gets scrutinized….? He brushes the goalie bang off for 2, taps a guy bang off for 2, yet he consistently gets cheap shotted & no call……. Just wondering…….
The other night after the game I did get a chance to talk to Kevin Magnuson. I wanted to say that that guy is very calm and cool. He is a really good guy with class.
I going to watch the games (dvr) when I get back, I didn’t/couldn’t see the punch with stick in glove to Bicks. That’s not cool, no wonder 52 heaved him through the glass.
Wall- your right about Q teaching, he did the same thing to Steeger (with D zone type positioning, non-responsible off.zone passing, etc.) in his first year.
(Nothing to do with Moe at all, but) Q is one man I would not want to piss off. That guy is a good coach and even though everyone doesn’t always agree with what he does sometimes. He knows what hes doing and hes good at it. You do not want to get him angry… which makes him an excellent coach. One of the best all time.
agree, 19 has taken a healthy dose of abuse so far, and his mins. are well above his norm. Just have to hope it will even up some over the season.
Big weekend b2b ahead. Should be interesting. Dallas has been on a decent run of late, and for gods sake, we should know better than to take Edmonton lightly. Getting 4pts sure
would look good. Will Khabby show up? Enjoy the games all