Marian Hossa, Blackhawks Get Revenge On Coyotes
After being thoroughly frustrated during the playoffs, the Blackhawks solved Mike Smith and stayed undefeated on the young season.
At the center of the controversial series in April was the concussion suffered by Marian Hossa. In his return to Glendale, he led the offensive assault.
Hossa continued his ridiculous start of the year, scoring two more goals. Dave Bolland also scored twice and added an assist in the game, while newcomer Michael Rozsival added a couple assists against his former teammates. Rozsival had a strong game on both ends of the ice, including a pretty cross-ice pass on Hossa’s first goal.
Almost every player on the Blackhawks roster has registered a point in the season’s first two contests. Viktor Stalberg and Patrick Sharp scored their first goals of the season, while Bryan Bickell, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya were credited with their first assists. Sharp and Nick Leddy each had an assist and Patrick Kane was credited with two helpers in the victory.
Unfortunately, a dominant offensive performance wasn’t a comfortable win because of mediocre play between the pipes by Ray Emery. Emery struggled with rebound control throughout the game and allowed a few soft goals that, frankly, kept Phoenix in a game in which they were outplayed. He was credited with the victory, but allowed four goals on 29 shots.
On the Hawks’ blue line, Hjalmarsson and Leddy both had solid games. Hjalmarsson was credited with two hits and three blocked shots in 21:20, while Leddy was credited with one hit, one takeaway and one blocked shot with his assist.
Quenneville once again spread out the ice time on the blue line exceptionally well. Oduya led the team with 22:04, followed by Duncan Keith (21:52), Hjalmarsson (21:20) and Seabrook (20:37). Rozsival was on the ice for 16:15, of which almost two minutes came on the power play.
The Blackhawks have now put up big scores – 11 total goals – against two of last year’s better goaltenders in the Kings’ Jonathan Quick and the Coyotes’ Smith. They’ll get another shot at a great netminder in the home opener on Tuesday night when St. Louis visits the United Center.
Tab what is your comment on how Saad played? I think he played pretty well.
Really can’t find anything to complain about w/ Saad’s game. Had a blocked shot, hit, and a takeaway in 13:31 and saw 54 seconds of powerplay time. Skating on a line w/ Hossa & Toews is a great opportunity for any player, but I think Saad did a really nice job on both ends of the ice.
Totally agree! :)
Another great 4 line, team effort by the Hawks…every line knows its role…every line has players that are doing the little things to win puck battles and thus games. I really liked the addition of Rozsival on the back end with Leddy…that was a BIG improvement over the Brookbank/Leddy pairing the day before.
Toews, Hossa, Sharp, Bolland, and Kane all looked strong, but I was really impressed by the new 3rd line of Shaw, Bickell, Stahlberg…they are positioned well defensively, they all hustle, they all take the body…they all move their feet in the offensive zone, and they all are going to the net…this is a good line, that is going to continue to score goals and be plus players…and although Kruger and Frolik ended up -2, they both played VERY WELL again, and are both getting significant minutes of playing time, contributing to these Hawk’s victories…
Coach Q, and staff, are off to a strong start as well with the focus they have driven into this team…they are thinking defence first, and then are playing things simple and smart in the offensive zone…puck control…going to the net, and keeping the puck in front of them, limiting odd man rushes against. These are not “flashy” things, but they win hockey games (and we have scored 11 goals in 2 games against the 2 best defensive teams in the WC).
In terms of concerns, hey it is only two games, but Johhny Oduya scares me. The Yotes went right back to their intimidation game against he and Hammer, and it worked significantly against Oduya (Hammer played another strong game). Again, it is only 2 games, but the rest of the WC is going to know what every other team seems to understand, and that is run at Oduya and his game falls apart. He is going to have to get “tougher”, hang in and take some hits to get the puck safely out of his zone, or he is going to struggle mightily in this abbreviated schedule. I thought Leddy was much better tonight paired with Rozsival, who is a true pro…
Finally, Bollig is going to have to contribute to stay on this roster…he was horrible in his 5 minutes tonight…he got into a fight, took a lazy penalty, and was non-existent on the 4th line with two vibrant line mates. The Hawks need 4 lines to roll to consistently win, and we can’t have yet another John Scott wasting a roster spot for 5 underwhelming minutes a night…can’t a veteran like Jamal Myers take that winger spot on the 4th line, maintain that level of toughness and give us 8-10 solid minutes a night??? Regardless, Bollig needs to get better, and fast…
Overall, another great win for this inspired Hawks team! And congrats to Hossa who overcame a lot to maintain his focus again tonight and played yet another stellar hockey game…great player!
I forgot Emery…what can you say? It was one game, and as a proven veteran you have to believe he will get better…goaltending must become a strength for this hockey team if we are going to win another Cup this year.
Bollig isn’t that bad. Remember he is out there to eat 8-10 minutes and smash people and fight someone if called for.
The guy is positionally sound for the most part, can skate and can hit. Really not there to do anything else and I feel he is a much better option than Carcillo. It is a mistake to think the guy should produce anything other than going unnoticed, a big hit or two (which he executed) and PIM’s.
I was very please all around. Emery could have been a little sharper, but games like this are to be expected early on by most goalies in the NHL.
Hossa looked like a man posessed, Toews was gritty as usual, Kane was skating with purpose, Sharp showed his sniping ability, Bolland shows his offensive touch, Bickell played with his size, Stalberg and Shaw were very good on a checking line rush, Saad was less than flashy but was every balanced for his 3rd career game, Frolik and Kruger shows lots of hustle, Bollig won his fight and ate up a couple minutes without hurting us. The Defense needs to be a little better, but again, early on we just need work out the kinks.
This was an A performance, and is we play like this, we are going far.
Rosey, had a great game… That was a brilliant/patient pass to Hoss…
Really liked the way he used his head and shoulders like a can-opener between puck carrier and wall- to peel the man off the puck. Rosey is a little slow (Sopel-like) but seems to have decent instincts.
Saad, had a very good game- only negative thing- seemed to put himself into some reckless ( injury type) positions trying to do too much. Please don’t get hurt kid! Would love to see him on PK some day!
As stated from practice I attended… 10-36-88 is a very SKILLED line!
All lines are skating well!!!!
Lastly, Emery was awful!!! Yes, it is only 1 game… but if it should continue- Hawks need to look elsewhere!!!!!!
Tab to what extent has Carcillo been hurt was it the same knee the same surgery or is it something new the guy is snake bit
Tab, you are right about Emery. But I dont’ think Crawford had a lot of pressure in the opener so dont’ know what he would have done in Phoenix. Tab, dont’ you agree this team has the scent of 2010? It seems like after the 2010 cup hangover and dismantling Dales’ team due to the Cap that things have fallen into place. The only problem is between the pipes. In 2010 Niemi stepped up with really spectacular saves to take us to the promised land. What will happen when Crawford gets the real pressure and starts losing confidence? I think its a mental problem and not a problem of talent. He cant’ get rid of the fear. Remember last years soft goals which costed the series against Phoenix when he was petrified. What do you think has to be done?
Over the first 2 games, again, same as last year, our hit totals were low compared to our opponents. I hope we can get a bit more physical out there.
re: hitting, I’m not sweating the total number of hits at all. Last year, teams got physical with the Hawks and took them out of their game. Through two games against good, physical teams, the Hawks have scored 11 goals.
re: Steve – I’m willing to give Crawford the benefit of the doubt to begin the season. We’ve seen 2 versions of Crawford: a confident netminder that carried the Hawks vs Vancouver in the 2011 postseason, and a cluster**** that let in two fugly goals that cost the Hawks games vs. Phoenix. If this Hawks team can stay healthy and has continues a balanced offensive attack with good defensive play, and Crawford can play like he did at times during the 2010-11 season, I think they’ll be OK. Emery has to be better than he was last night if/when the Hawks need to put him on the ice, though. What needs to be done is the skaters in front of him need to work hard and help Crawford out; against Los Angeles, they did.
I agree, so far so good on the hitting front, however, with the shortened schedule though I hope our guys are getting enough protection… especially with Carcillo out for a while. The team with the least injuries and most depth will have the best shot at the cup.
Hit totals are going to be lower when the Hawks have the puck the majority of the game.
That is math. More possession = less time the other team has the puck = less opportunities the Hawks have to rail people = eruption of 11 goals over two games.
Will take it.
Good point, guess I didn’t look at it from that angle. Thanks.
Also with the hitting you have to consider that the Hawks were playing away both games. Home teams tend to get more hits because hits are subjective, and the home team is the one counting the number of hits. Its not an official NHL statistic.
I really like how the Blackhawks are playing. But the key areas the team needs to pick up the pace is the faceoff dot. Jonathan Toews doesn’t need to be the only man to win the faceoffs. I would like to see David Bolland especially and Michel Frolik in the dot over this season.
Marian Hossa is going to be one of the three stars of the week, especially with his point totals.
I think Patrick Kane benefited the most of playing overseas and we can already tell he is more confident in shooting the pucks on net this year.
Brandon Bollig, is a great player, but I pretty sure he is doing what he does best and drops the gloves.
Kompon is doing exceptionally well with the defensemen and limited the ammount of minutes they play. Nice to see Keith not around 27:00-32:00 a game.