Hinostroza, Hawks Overcome Blues
For the second straight game, the Blackhawks had to put on an offensive display to earn two points. This time, the high scoring affair was against a hated division rival in St. Louis.
In Brooklyn, the first period saw the Hawks and Islanders score six combined goals. On Saturday, the scoring erupted in the second period.
The first period saw almost 19 minutes of nothing. Patrik Berglund scored 41 seconds into the game to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. At 19:34, Dennis Rasmussen scored his third of the season to tie the game.
Chicago and St. Louis alternated goals in the second period and five total shots found the back of the net. Kyle Brodziak started the fun 3:12 into the middle stanza with his fourth of the season.
Patrick Kane hadn’t scored a goal since Nov. 26 at the Kings. He had six assists in eight games in November, but no goals. He erased that drought to tie the game at two 10:44 into the second.
Trevor van Riemsdyk made a nice play in the defensive end and found Kane for the breakaway, and 88 finished the job for his ninth of the season.
Four minutes later, Berglund scored his second of the night and fourth of the season to give the Blues another lead, this time a 3-2 advantage. But the scoring wasn’t done there. Brian Campbell netted his third of the year to tie the game at three.
Campbell’s goal came with 61 seconds left in the second period, but the Hawks couldn’t hold the tie through the end of the frame. Alex Pietrangelo gave the Blues a 4-3 lead with 11 seconds left in the second.
Through two periods, the Blackhawks had actually out-shot the Blues 25-20 but Joel Edmundson had three assists and the Blues were leading.
Exactly 60 seconds into the third period, Niklas Hjalmarsson tied the game and equaled a career best.
The goal was Hjalmarsson’s fourth of the year, tying his career high in only his 32nd game of the season. Artemi Panarin was given his second assist of the night on Hjalmarsson’s tying goal.
Chicago got a power play seven minutes into the third but failed to capitalize. After Ryan Hartman and Ryan Reaves served matching roughing minors, a tenacious Vinnie Hinostroza scored second of the year to give the Blackhawks their first lead of the night.
Panarin would add an empty net goal in the final minute to cap the scoring at 6-4 in favor of the visiting Blackhawks. The goal is Panarin’s 14th of the season and gave him a three-point night to lead Chicago.
Kane (two assists) and Panarin had multi-point nights, but did it mostly without Artem Anisimov. The Blackhawks usual second line center only took six shifts, and after the game coach Joel Quenneville indicated Anisimov is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Marcus Kruger saw more action with Anisimov out of the lineup. He picked up two assists in 16:01 and won eight of 20 faceoffs; Jonathan Toews won 13 of 25 as Quenneville relied almost exclusively on his two veteran centers in a big road divisional contest.
Hjalmarsson led the Blackhawks with four blocked shots while Brent Seabrook and van Riemsdyk were credited with three blocks each. Gustav Forsling returned to the lineup and played his best game in some time, skating 14:06 in the victory.
Richard Panik was the only Hawks skater to be credited with more than one hit; he had three in the game. Ryan Hartman continued his strong play of late, leading the Hawks with two takeaways.
Darling finished the night with 23 saves against 27 shots.
Tyler Motte was a scratch on Saturday night but might return to the lineup when the Hawks return home on Sunday night to face the Sharks. The Hawks might need him if Anisimov can’t go.
Terrific win on so many levels. This is a great team with a destiny and don’t let any detractors sway you with their bloviating.
Regardless of on what yrs I believe the team will win one or two more Cups in the 5 coming yrs or so with this core.
This yr we havnt played a full 60 in that many games and we find a way in every different type of game. Dunks mentioned this at 1st intermission. How good are we, when we really want to play.
Long way to go in these 82 games. Keep getting better team game.
Scary thing is the team should get better each yr the next few yrs.
Wow a team of destiny and winning multiple cups? Huh!? I guess we will have to see about all that. Everytime this team wins Im thinking good, they will need these pts when their play catches up in the standings. I still feel like this team is playing WAY over their head. This Blues team is a pile of crap outside of a few studs. 15-1 home record huh next!
Great hard working greasy goals by Hino and Moose. TVR looks like he will be the #5 d-man for the long haul. Two weeks ago many thought he would be trade bait. I think Q really likes him. Stan better be working OT to figure out how to keep 72. You don’t let a talent like that go. Darling hung in there but he looks to be running out of gas.
It’s probably a case of they seem better than they are after a win and worse than they are after a loss. Even with the best record in the league I’m not convinced they are legitimate Cup contenders. However, as the saying goes, they are what their record says they are and an argument could be made that if the Hawks PK are merely adequate instead of awful through the first 8-10 games they would be running away in the standings.
Darling made some great saves but for the second game in a row he let in some soft or quasi-soft goals. He is human and he isn’t Price so I’m not complaining … just thinking he makes an above average backup goalie and I look for to Crawford coming back which hopefully is soon.
The one area I’m most optimistic about, in terms of being optimistic for the Hawks chances to contend for the Cup, is Jonathan Toews. Yes, that sounds strange given that he is having by far the most unproductive scoring season in his career, but that’s the point. I watched him play a couple games in the World Cup and he seemed like the same tenacious Toews we’ve come to know and I don’t believe he lost his ability from one month to the next. We know he has had or perhaps still has an injury so maybe he’s still not 100%. We also know even great players can have a crisis of confidence now and then. I’m not sure the reason(s) Toews has only 13 points with almost 40% of the season played, but I’m convinced he will round back into the same great player he always has been and the Hawks will then be a major step closer to being a legitimate contender.
Wall is an epic clown! One GM said way back before the Hawks won any Cups that Kane can win you a scoring title but Toews will win you a Cup. That is as true today as it was back then. Get a clue buddy and stop being a clown.
Great win against the hated blues. Are there bigger d-bags anywhere in the league? Hino cheaped after he scored, Panarin cheaped after kane goal.
Clearly Toews is still hurting. He struggled almost every shift and completed more passes to the blues than linemates when he did win puck in a board battle. Toews did save a potential game tying goal with stick lift in final minute and blocked out perfectly on Soupy’s goal but struggled in almost every other aspect of game.
Get well Jonathon.
If you want Toews to score goals he has to play above the goal line. He’s not going to score with his ass against the end boards. Q has to find a way to get him in front of the net otherwise he’s a wealthy Marcus Krueger. All this bullshit about him not having the right wingers on either side of him is getting old. Johnny change your approach and post your ass in the crease.
I agree with Hawks61, Darling is running on fumes and needs a rest. Instead, he has to play back-to-back tonight. I’ve got a bad feeling about today’s game.
Trap game tonight. If we come out flat no big deal. We overcame a lot of adversity and found different ways to win in each of the last three games. It was the kind of trip that galvanizes the team. There are still lots of areas where we can improve but this team is coming together way faster than just about anyone thought.
Campbell goal looked to me like a set play with him circling around Kane into the slot for the feed from Panarin. Whatever it was it was sweet.
StanIsTheMan nailed it (above), Wall is indeed a clown, but unfortunately for the rest of humanity there is zero chance Wall either gets a clue or stops being a clown. Blackhawks win 5-4 in a tough building, Toews logs heavy minutes with important assignments, is over 50% on faceoffs, and Wall deems it a negative Toews didn’t score any points and launches into his Bleeding Heart Ernie-esque salary cap nonsense.
Not to mention his stupid Rasmussen nickname …
At least no mention of his boyfriend Fabbri. Fabbri must have told Wall he’d send him another full length poster for above Wall’s bed if he didn’t mention him on a Blackhawks message board. Everyone knows, Wall. Come out of the closet and admit you play for the other team.
Have a nice day everyone, except the Imbecile Hall of Famer Wall.
Hey Big Fat Al do you even watch the game. Who was in front of the net distracting the dman and the goalie on Campbell’s goal. Oh that’s right it was Toews. Get a clue buddy. This team only goes as far as Toews wills it. He gives the Hawks the heart of a champion.
They are a team of destiny…if you look at the pattern the Blackhawks wins vs losses over any 7 game time frame we always win the “series”. This is the way it was as well during our 3 cup wins…rarely did we lose any 7 game period. Now this year despite numerous and significant injuries from our top guys, including our Goalie we continue with that winning pattern. This despite several rookies who are yet climbing uphill but with improvements each game. This despite ridiclous fans lemming like cliche’s regarding Hossa, and even TVR and now Toews, being sheer nonsense. We have the best record in the NHL and will stay very close to that.
Q has installed a mindset of a winning pattern and that combined with gradual improvements from the rookies, a coming together of top players from injuries and our superior and vast playoff experience = unprecedented success.
This team is currently not as good as it record indicates.
We are 15th in CF% in the league. Our possession game is regressing, and has been for years. That’s actually pretty good for now, carrying so many rookies. But we need continued improvements from our younger players as the season progresses. Not just one or two of them. All of them.
Our shooting percentage is 10th. Save percentage is 1st. We are a slightly above-average team that is getting lucky.
Travis is the same clown who said Hossa was done. Hey clown check the stats Hossa is leading the Hawks in goals!
And a follow-up response to people who hate Kruger’s cap hit.
The Hawks’ poor possession stats make Kruger indispensable. He starts in the offensive zone just 15% of the time. 15%!!!! Yet he’s over 50% in CF%. Given his wingers, that’s freaking incredible.
Worth every penny. He is one of our most important skaters. We need him desperately.
And no, I never said Hossa was done. He’s my favorite player. You’re confusing me with someone else.
Which ever teams in the East will have a higher record because they play an easier sch. Mainly because theres more bottom 10 teams in the East, which means they play 5/6 and 3 times each compared to the Cambell play those teams 2 and 2 times each.
Yes it looks like the East has more top 10 teams then they did in recent yrs but I still think the Cambell has more (LA/ANA/DAL/WIN/NAS/TB are better teams then PHI/CLB/EDM/whoever is not as good but has higher record). I would not ever go by higher records for which teams are better then others (because records are what they are because of sch. and how good the team has done, not necessarily how good they really are), its always about the roster.
I donot believe a word of that FLR bullshit.
What surprised the most in the first 20 games was how many top 10 teams from Cambell were still around 2or3 games over .500 and were still in that area after the long road trip. Then ANA was at 4, then STL got to 8. Now there are four teams around 6/7/8 over .500, which is why were ahead by as much as we are, instead of being tied with/same area as those teams.
We have only played a full 60 in however many games. We do that more often (play full 60) then were going to look like the team we really are. We play only a few every 10 then its harder to win like that (which we have done really good at but cant every time)(half or more would be good, and I think weve won/tied been 75-85 percent of those). I donot think the team gives a shit about one of the higher records just that we keep getting better team game and take it to another level. We play 3-5 of 10 full 60 then were not going to be as good as we know we are.
We wernt going to play really good at first anyways/was going to take a little bit of time because of the inexperience/not having played any games in league, these young guys have done good for being their first time. Only going to get better as we go along. It doesn’t mean that were automatically a top 3/5 team but when our core (the top core in hockey) has a deep roster we know what can do. We donot have to be as deep as we were on other yrs because none of the other top 5 teams are as deep as they were as well.
This team can contend for the Cup, but the defense (2, 4 , 51 and 7) needs to stay healthy.
The young players have revitalized some of the core, and 19 is crucial to this team and has returned at a good time to deepen the forwards. Toews is a world class talent, 100% or not.
This team knows how to win, and let’s face it Crow and Scott (Sasquatch) Darling have helped keep them at the top. But they have some important flaws and really can’t be called an elite team with their numbers. One of the better, yes.
Stan the numbers don’t lie, Toews is not living up to his massive contract. and this shit about him willing the team to win is stupid. I like you’re a fan but don’t be that stupid to believe such nonsense. And the verbal attacks never work so grow up.
Well I quess first place overall while playing half-assed isn’t good enough for some so what happens when we play full assed.
Hit the nail on the head big Al .
Do I wish Toews was scoring more points hell yes but the bottom line is they are winning. Where is the criticism for Bergeron and kopitar as they are Toews comparables. They aren’t exactly lighting it up either.
T.V.R ,.,.,the new Steve Auston ,.,.,.,.,., 6 million dollar man .
Stanton and Bladz, you hit the nail on the head, eh.
…..Hawks continue to roll despite key injuries and have won a lot of entertaining one goal games……..Biggest concern is play of Toews……Definitely off to say the least….Reminds me of of Sydney Crosby in his post-concussion years….If power play and penalty killing continue to improve and goal production increases…..Then we are back in the Stanley Cup business……GO HAWKS!…..