Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks Escape In OT
Jonathan Toews ended a frustrating night for the Blackhawks, scoring a game-winning short-handed goal in overtime to pick up the second point and send the United Center faithful home happy.
The story over the first 40 minutes was very similar to the Calgary game. Chicago out-shot Nashville 23-6 in the first two periods, but five failed power plays and a Shea Weber missile had the score tied at one as the third period began.
Credit the Preds for picking up their intensity and dominating a lot of the action in the third period. Shots were 11 each in the third period, but neither team was able to put one in the net.
Patrick Sharp went to the box for tripping early in the overtime period, and late in the penalty kill Toews took the puck away and closed the deal.
Johnny Oduya scored his first goal of the season in the first period, an awful goal for Carter Hutton to allow. Hutton played well after that, however, and finished the night with 35 saves in a tough defeat. Corey Crawford made 17 saves in the victory.
Oduya led the Hawks with five blocked shots in the game, and was back with Niklas Hjalmarsson as Michal Rozsival returned to the lineup. Duncan Keith led all Blackhawks with just over 25 minutes of ice time.
Toews played a magnificent game all over the ice, capping the effort with the game-winner. He won only nine of 19 faceoffs, but was credited with two takeaways, one hit and three shots on net.
Brad Richards won only one of seven faceoffs and skated only 12:06 (14 shifts) in the game. Jeremy Morin was limited to 11 shifts (6:12) but managed to get two shots on net and was credited with two hits.
The Blackhawks power play is now 1-12 in their last two games. With that being said, the Hawks have seven of eight possible points through their first four games.
TvR looked good
Shaw was terrible
PP was worse than Shaw… just a guess here… but I think the Hawk’s scoring % on the PK is higher then their scoring % on the PP… How many teams can say that???
91/29 meh again… Morin’s Days look numbered
4th line w/Cbomb was ok… if Cbomb could only finish… (if anyone could finish)
2011 BOS & 2013 CHI might have had a higher PK%.
Plenty of time to practice PP with 4games in 13 days. Watch us score a lot on the PP with no practice these 2wks coming up.
I’m not worried about the Hawks offense, they will hit their stride and everything on the offensive side will be fine (5v5, not the PP which is a different issue). What I like is the Hawks defense which in my opinion and the opinion of many others was the area most in need of being better than last season. I know it’s only 4 games and there have been a couple lapses where CC bailed them out, but on the whole I think the commitment and execution of team defense is improved. I’m very encouraged about it because if the Hawks can play defense a lot closer to 2013 than they did last season it will take them a long way.
Speaking of defense – I was a little nervous about moving TvR to his off hand but I thought he did very well. What a find this kid is. If Q is going to do a Rozsival/Rundblad rotation, at least it looks like he can count on TvR to play either side.
Although I acknowledged Versteeg didn’t play well down the stretch last season, I’ve never been a Versteeg basher. I like the guy and hope he can get back to the skating level he had a few years ago. It looked like he had done that in the preseason games but now – who knows? Hopefully he doesn’t come back too soon and make things worse. But when he eventually does come back, I think he will make the team better. His speed and tenacity will be an energy boost and hopefully he keeps the bonehead plays to a minimum.
How often have the Blackhawks scored a goal on the first and last shot of the game with nothing in between? I’m still liking Carcillos game and wish we could see him in some more “sustained” minutes because the guy is flying right, in fact that whole line looks pretty darn effective. Great determination and effort from the captain. Crawford was top notch…7GA in four games pretty impressive start.
Morrison- I am not talking about the PK % (kill rate)…
I am saying the stats show that Hawks have a better chance of actually scoring a goal on the PK – versus- scoring a goal while on a Power-Play!!!!!
Sad isn’t it!!! So the solution is to take more penalties!!!
Sat in section 104, thought tvr was a 1/2 step behind and looked a little shakey..
TVR continues to impress, always in perfect position great anticipation and has an BIG upside. I want to see him on the point with the first line power play. Hawks again have such poor execution on the power play f_ck Goals just accumulate quality shoots. Hawks play finesssss and puck possession which the “NHL” now knows how to STOP. Since Hawks are built this way intentionally when they need to DUMP AND CHASE a la LA KINGS and most other good teams THEY CANT, they don’t have the players. Shaw has been one guy “small in size” who puts it all out, Morin is actually effective on the dump and chase. And as Hockey fans don’t confuse the “chip and chase” with the dump. So on power play since they cant really dump and GET, they are forced to skate or chip and the defense just shorten the ice. BUT Hawks have so much talent, Bickel and Shaw need to anchor both Power Play lines, and be designated net presence. Other wise too many passers and stick handlers. Richards is way to slow, HAD-ZUS was slow but he was always in front of the net and in position. I think Sadly Richards needs to be on a top line and needs comfort of support players he’s not a one man show. HAWKS SUCK on the faceoffs as a coach, fan and old man player 90% of the game is face offs. Horible does not even begin the conversation and Towes as good as he is, is below average on big wins needed. it’s getting old and was the only reason i thought (wrong again) that Richards would at least add that value but nooooooo.
Carcillo is playing great is one guy who is not BUILT for DUMP and CHASE but plays that role very very well. Love the guy and he’s staying out of the BOX but most teams will get to him, like Philly and the Blues we’ll see if he can stay cool. so far so very good.
It felt like a game the Hawks could have easily given away. They were out of sorts early and took a number of careless penalties.
Richards looked good. Maybe at 33 years old its just taking him longer to get into game shape?
TVR looked okay. He hasnt made that bad play but hasnt made that omg play on offemse either. He appears serviceable that this point.
Toews GWG SH thats All him what a play!Go Hawks!
Wall, its dead even, both are scoring at 14.3%
I know it’s still early… but still seeing issues from late last season… Hawks are getting shots… but a lot of low quality/stoppable shots… and never any one around the net to get rebounds/dirty goals… AND the bigger concern- is less and less odd-man rushes… which HAS been a BIG reason Hawks always were in the top 5 in GF… if this trend continues…Hawks will no longer be in top 10 in GF/scoring will go way down…
The Hawks are built on speed/and transition…yet they continue to NOT get more Odd-mans than the teams they are playing.
So either the league has figured them out/and adjusted… or They aren’t as fast as advertised, or a little of both!!!
Like I said a few games ago… My concern is lack of 2nd/3rd wave to go after the rebounds… just not there.
Chicago has been one of the better f/o teams for 5+ years. Consistently in top 10 or even 5. 19 is the biggest reason why. Struggling vs. Nville is nothing new, and Preds led league last year. 65 has looked better early which is good to see.
When you turn on your hot water tap you expect hot water…. When it’s Johnny on a takeaway breakaway shortie in OT we know what to expect. He is that good. Crawford bringing it every game. Upcoming St. Louis game could get nasty. As someone mentioned I hope Carcillo keeps his head becuase his game is pretty good right now. He should have 5 goals …just a little better puck luck/bounce and finish …perhaps extra practice on just that part of the game…i’m anxious to play the Habs, Sharks, Ducks, LA
Someone mentioned that Richards played well-I’m sorry I didn’t see it-he’s not a third line player in today’s game-I’m still hoping he improves his game-
some key giveaways by the Hawks-I’m glad they got the 2 points
Agreed that 7 of 8 points is good given how poorly they’re finishing.
But, is the challenge with that is it’s deceiving, because of the 3 point games. The OT wins against Dallas & Nashville make that 7 of 8 good, but not great.
Wall,
yea I know what your saying. I am sure the scoring PK% for the ’11 & ’13 teams were not as high as PP% but listed that because the PP sucked & the PK was so good for the ’11 & ’13 teams. It was like it was higher…
I do not care about specifics in the first 5or so games. What I do like very much is that we are getting the points in 4on4/SO garbage that we didn’t get in ’14 (not sure the numbers but in ’14 it felt like we only got 5out of20). Getting anywhere between 10-15/20 is a huge diff.
We havnt played anywhere near as good as we can. I think we do in NOV&DEC. Just warming up the jets.
Ok so that game was painful to watch. I don’t care how many shots they had I agree with wall, very little substance and zip on second chances.
Too many 2v1’s and clear cut breakaways. That is very bad. Good teams put those away.
I don’t think Rad Brichards was awful but I don’t like the way he’s being used so there’s that. If he’s not going to play with skill guys my as well stick T2 in Shaw’s spot and let the chips fall where they may.
As we’ve seen the individual efforts of Keith hammer Toews and Kane can carry them to a point but ughhhhhhhhhhh. At some point the other lads have to play and figure it out or they need to, god forbid, change their game plan. Hossa at +21 minutes is stupid. It is seriously idiotic. Don’t care how many games have been won. Points here or there this early are not worth that.
But 2 Cups. Yikes.
When does Brian Bickel get benched? We have 77 games to play before the playoffs begin and we need some production from him NOW!
Of course you can’t dismiss 7 out of 8 points. That’s very good, even against an insanely weak schedule to start the season. But there are definitely things to be concerned about.
Richards has been terrible. I was concerned he could no longer skate, and sure enough that is the case. Good fans of the Rangers told us as such. But what is more problematic is that Richards doesn’t fit the style of play we have here. We are CLEARLY season the reasons why no other team bid for his services. I’m afraid he’s got to go. Give him his $2 M and show him the door. I’m dead serious.
Bickell has been nothingness all over again. And this one IS on Bowman. He paid big money for a Ben Eager clone. I can count on one hand how many times Bickell hais managed to get in front of the net thru 4 games. I don’t understand why he isn’t in Q’s doghouse.
Shaw MUST be moved to RW permanently. I love him to death but I don’t want to hear this crap that he can be part of an electric line with Saad and Kane. My goodness. Get Teuvo or Danault up here to put with Saad and Kane. A REAL Center. And let Shaw thrive as an excellent RW option.
Somebody might want to tell Smith and Kruger that the regular season has started. They both have been sadly inconsistent.
TvR? He’s done okay. Then again we haven’t gone up against the powers of the Western Conference yet.
Wall,
Some great comments about the PK & PP scoring. Gave me a good laugh. I also agree about the 2nd wave, we are getting low quality shots on goal that have a very low percentage of going in the net. We need net front presence and screens of the goalie. We were lucky on Oduya’s goal. Someone else said our speedy transition game was always our strength. There is no question that has given us a competitive advantage in past years. That is why we suck on the PP. We slow it down too much and play with the puck looking for that pretty pass. Get it to the points, pepper the net with shots, and make sure we have at least one guy screening the goalie. Ladd taught the guys on the 2010 team how to get those dirty goals. When we started doing that, we kicked butt. The games so far have been painfully boring to watch, but we have 7 of 8 points and you can’t complain about that. GO HAWKS!!!
lots of issues on this knowledgable board, main one is Coach Q lack of skill, chemistry and balance on the lines. Bickel has to be on a top line . . . Towes, Hossa and Bickel otherwise he will wander as will Brad Richards, line chemistry is easy, Q makes it complicated and as i have yelled over and over if ya got players with big ass salaries and you gotta shake up lines to get them to perform we’re in trouble. TVR is the real thing and as someone mentioned playing D on your “off hand” like Hammer is not fair and is the reason Hammer leads the league in turnovers in his own end, PLAY TO YOUR STRENGTH, Philly game will be a good test and Blues will be a great test we’ll see how good Crawford really is doing, so far so good.
Rufus can’t disagree with any of your post-but we know that Coach Q is slow to change-he will be patient.
Danault or TT might be the answer to 2C, Richards isn’t-but Shaw will need to be there until this all sorts out.
Rufus, don’t know what your problem with Shaw playing center for Kane and Saad? He has improved his F/O work and knowing the type of player he is, he will continue to work hard and if he stays at 50% shouldn’t be a problem. TT and Kane on the same line puts 2 of the same type of player together when it seems that 65 20 88 seem to compliment each other and have shown some good chemistry.
We need to figure out the other lines so their is balance and we can get back to playing 4 lines. The failure so far of the Richards addition is screwing up any balance we might have had. Ben Smith has been really good so far and still wins a lot of faceoffs in limited opportunities, if Richards doesn’t improve by the time Versteeg is healthy I say let Smith center a line with Morin and Carcillo, lot of energy there and Krueger gets a combo of Bickell, Richards, and Versteeg for the 4th line.
Bryan Bickell please wake up and play to your ability and pay scale!!!
Its not 91 fault for the 3rd line. The best the 3rd line looked (for a/the few wks it was together) since ’13 was with 29/12/11. The 4th line rolls better w 28 & 16 so I like them together. With a healthy and playing well 23, will make 3rd line better (nobody knows yet if 91 & 23 work well together). Lets not forget, other then the few wks, the 3rd line hasn’t torn it up since Stals was on it. Its not Stals, but the combination of Stals and 29 w/65 playing well together (one of the top 3rd lines in league). We need that ingredient that gets/works with 29 & 23/65/11. I think/want 86 to get a good 10games to see how he does with the diff. lines. I am guessing 65 is at C until 86 is up for good. The trickle down effect will boost the 3rd line and 4th.
We have 4of6 guys set for the lines. 13 can be that guy during reg. season, but we want D quality FW’s in the other two spots (ie. 36/67). I believe 86 is good on D.
I’m sorry, what do people expect from Bickell? He’s a 3LW on the Hawks and is a pretty solid all around player. He’s capable of jumping to the top line when the matchup dictates, but he isn’t a better player than Sharp or Saad. He is what he is. He isn’t overpaid, he’s paid just fine.
As far as this game went, it was awful. The Hawks looked drunk. It’s like they thought the Preds didn’t change coaches and were going to come with the same attack that they have for the last decade. They didn’t, and the Hawks looked lost and confused.
Funny text message I sent to AJ during the second period. JS: Whenever toews wants to score, that would be a good thing.
Good news is that the Hawks have been dominating play and they still don’t have a third or fourth line. Also, with the busier schedule upcoming, I imagine the 4th line gets more minutes. If they don’t, expect a lot of losses.
Did I miss something? Is SrBrad on hiatus or is his absence likely to be permanent? To paraphrase ole Mike Murphy “miss a minute, miss a lot”.
Well, I sold my tickets for Sat Preds game for all the right reasons. Games against them over the years have typically been yawners and tedious affairs. Sat was no exception, even without the diminutive and defensive minded Trotz behind the bench for Nashville. So I watched this on tv and was glad to be on the couch for this one. Tv still sucks though compared to live hockey. Tv limits so much what you can watch. Only advantage is you get replays aplenty or you can rewind DVR to check back on a play you want to see again that the TV guys don’t show. It still a mystery to me why we get so few replays at the UC. Why is this??
Bad power play continues to be confounding as another season is unfolding. Other teams have figured out that point man and puck pressure quickly breaks down Hawks PP. No change there. I still think that as this season progresses the PP grail will be revealed when TT gets his shot in the show. He and Kane together are lethal IMO and will wreak havoc once they get joined up. I can dream can’t I?
As mentioned by astute posters, but worth repeating. Hawks are getting lots of shots, but NHL keepers if they are on their game will stop just about everything they can see when they have time to get set up and play the angles. It’s about getting qulaity scoring chances and I think the Hawks ratio of quality chances as a percent of the shot totals have been fairly low. Yes, net traffic is very important, because the rebounds have been there. Sure puck luck has played a role in lack of those said rebounds not getting put back to net, and that will even out in Hawks favor at some point.
CC is really earning his pay these days. Very impressive stature between the pipes. Philly will be interesting tomorrow night, and I will be happy to be back at the UC. That game should be a good one for the fans with both teams probably pushing hard.
Man oh man, how competitive is the Western Conference with the exception of a few teams. While not an advert, I am enjoying having NHL Center Ice available. Worth the dough IMO. Overall, we should be pleased to have our present record. It’s good to win when not hitting on all cylinders.
Lets Go Hawks!
Phil- agree on TT w/ Hawks/PP/Kane— TT will make all better…As I stated before season… TT is would be/score better in the NHL vs. AHL… where playing with Guys w/ High IQ will be on Par with him.
Phil- I have to disagree on your “Puck luck” statement… they ain’t scoring on rebounds… cuz they aren’t any where near the net!!!
November will be a true test/barometer on where the Hawks are… I am not that optimistic due to the Play of 91/29 and juggling of 28 back and forth… hopefully 23 can come in and make things better… but just counting on that is enough reason to make me queasy!!!
Monday morning practice…
10-19-81
23-65-88
29-91-20
13-16-28
And so the story continues on what the heck to do with Bad Richards. Meanwhile Bryan Bickell has officially become a $4 million cap hit for the privilege of being a dime a dozen Ben Eager type.
JS, I expect Bickel to either score from in front of the net, or but a body on someone. The guy is making $4mil a year and he’s playing like he should be in Rockford.
Right now, I would drop him to the fourth line and put Carcillo on the third line. At least Carcillo takes people off the puck.
Don’t know what motivates Bickell, but Reg your idea works with me. Clearly the Hawks need more from 29. This one is on SB, but Q needs to set Bicks down and have a little chat with him about what his role is on this team. Morin gets benched for trying hard and doing what Bickell should be doing and isn’t.
Like I said… Mo’s days are numbered…
agree about 29… and 91 can’t play on a checking line – so???? Really puts Hawks/Q in a bind
replace 29 w/ 28 on the PP… he is quick to retrieve pucks… and has a PULSE!!!
Bickell is going to struggle to get to the front of the net when the 3rd line is struggling to maintain possession in the offensive zone. Whatever, the Hawks need a whipping boy and it will be Bickell for another 3 years even though he signed under market value.
Looks like Morin’s minutes are indeed done… until Hossa goes down with an injury since he’s playing 20 minutes a night.
Also, I disagree about the Hawks not getting to the front of the net for rebounds. I’ve actually noticed something else- Goalies seem to be kicking their rebounds out into the slot, past the 1 or 2 Hawks that are hovering in the crease. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but I often see the puck rebounding too far for the guys in tight to have a chance to get it in. I think Dineen actually talked about this in the game against Buffalo. That they might need to give a little more space from the goalie to better pick up the rebounds.
Sometimes I wonder if Morin is dating one of Qs daughters. I am happy with Carcillo’s play to this point, but that will not last. Morin has more skill and can agitate just as well. 11-16-28 would be a hellava 4th line. 23 will not take 20s place on the second line….so I guess Q is trying to send a message…..but to whom !????!
The Hawks just need to start PLAYING GAMES. All this time between games is killing continuity. I am trying to NOT form too many opinions until we start playing every other night and some back to backs.
Never in the history of mankind have so many devoted so much time to an irrelvant subject that is Jeremy Morin. Good Lord. Morin, at the zenith of his NHL value, is a 12th or 13th forward on a playoff caliber team. And guess what, he has done nothing on the ice through 4 games to secure permanent playing time. Just let it friggin go people.
Going to have to strongly disagree on Bickell. Last season he was crap. And through 4 games he is invisible crap. A big mis-allocation of $4 M per season based on what he is. You don’t pay Ben Eager $4 M a season in this league, and that is precisely what Bickell has devolved into. It’s a problem too given the cap crunch because we are team left with no forward beyond the smallish Shaw who is prepared to get his body into the crease on a night in and night out basis. If Bowman had a “do over” I guarantee he would have let Bickell walk.
Rufus-
That’s a fair assessment on Bickell. I have always backed up Bickell but the salary cap will obviously affect this team harshly the next few years. Do you know of any players like 29 that are cheaper? I think Bickell is still an asset on this team but I’m interested to hear who you would like to see in an Indian head sweater.
Why does a team with the talent the Blackhawks has suck so bad on the PP? The two games that went to overtime this year should have never got that far with all the empty PP’s.
Montana,
I am not sure if anyone can explain it/knows, but the PP hasn’t been on fire since Soupy was here. Every yr Soupy was here the PP kicked ass.
Rufus: If Q simply gave Morin the minutes and shifts, he’d score and make an impact. You are blind–as always.