Patrick Kane, Blackhawks Hammer Stars
The Blackhawks celebrated Brad Richards’ 1,000th career game with a third period offensive explosion, blowing the Dallas Stars out 6-2 in their final home game of November.
The Hawks jumped out to an early lead as Patrick Kane set up Duncan Keith 78 seconds into the game for the reigning Norris Trophy winner’s fourth goal of the season. Unfortunately, Dallas scored twice in the next 4:10 to take a brief 2-1 lead.
But on this night, the Hawks wouldn’t let sloppy play get them off their game.
Brent Seabrook scored a power play goal at 11:58, also set up by Kane, to tie the game. The first period – and second – would end with the score tied.
Unfotunately, the Blackhawks lost defenseman Trevor vanRiemsdyk after only four shifts. He was hit by Trevor Daly and left the ice, and then was helped to the dressing room. After the game, coach Joel Quenneville used the dreaded “he’ll miss a while” when speaking about TvR, and said the team would likely have to recall a defenseman from Rockford to take the rookie’s place.
With only five defensemen – including Michal Rozsival – skating the rest of the way, the Blackhawks and Corey Crawford were able to shut down the Dallas offense.
In the third period, the two teams skated up and down the ice for four minutes before the flood gates opened.
Kane scored the eventual game-winner off a pretty pass from Richards at 4:49 to give the Hawks a lead they wouldn’t surrender. The Hawks then added three goals in less than three minutes to blow the game open.
Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg and Brandon Saad added the insurance goals in a flurry of offense the likes of which the United Center crowd hasn’t seen in some time. Chicago put 23 shots on net in the final 20 minutes and Kari Lehtonen was no match for the barrage.
Chicago finished the game out-shooting the visitors 47-24.
Kane and Versteeg each had one goal and two assists in the game to lead the onslaught. Toews and Keith had one goal and one assist each, and Richards posted two assists in his best game in the Indian head sweater.
Richards was on a line with Kane and Versteeg and the three clicked immediately, leading to Keith’s goal early in the first period. The veteran center skated 18:20 and won eight of 19 faceoffs with five shots on net and one takeaway.
Marian Hossa added two assists and tied Toews for a team-high seven shots on net in the game. Andrew Shaw fought Antoine Roussel in the middle of the first period and led the Hawks with three hits in the game, while Keith and Johnny Oduya led the team with two blocked shots.
Even with vanRiemsdyk out after only four shifts, Quenneville was able to spread out the ice time on his blue line. Keith predictably led the way, but only skated 25:31 in the victory. Rozsival played 19:55 and was credited with an assist in the game.
In his first game back up in the NHL, Joakim Nordstrom played 12:15 and was credited with two takeaways and one blocked shot. Bryan Bickell and Daniel Carcillo were the lowest ice time recipients on Sunday night, skating less than nine minutes and 16 shifts each in the win. Bickell was minus-one and had one hit in the game, while Carcillo managed two hits and two penalty minutes.
Crawford was phenomenal again between the pipes, keeping the Hawks in the game as Dallas carried the action in the first period. He made 17 saves in the first two periods before the Hawks took over, limited the Stars to only five shots in the third; Crawford finished the night with 22 saves against 24 shots.
The Hawks killed the only Stars power play of the game after Carcillo went to the box for the game’s final 1:31. Chicago converted one of their three power play opportunities.
The United Center won’t host another Hawks game until Dec. 3, as the Hawks head out on their annual Circus Trip. We’ll have to wait and see who gets the call from Rockford to fill vanRiemsdyk’s spot on the roster.
Pokka or D-Beck Please :)
Also – Shaw v. Roussel is becoming a regular attraction. That was a fight and a half, my vote goes to Shaw though.
Safe pick on call up- Dbeck… but I would like to see what Brennan or Pokka can offer
watching that game revealed a couple things:
– nordstrom, smith and bickell (when motivated) can actually take a dump and chase entry and turn it into a shot on net
– nordstrom seems to be stronger on the puck than he was when we last saw him
– the hawks were getting very predictable in the O-zone and when they mixed it up, pucks started going on
– kudos to the Hawks – guys like Steeg and Saad *needed* a night like that
– about that issue of dominance…
Given the players on the roster, I thought those were the best line combinations we’ve seen. Players seemed to be categorized. Had the perfect shutdown/defensive 4th line with players that have been focusing/specializing in that for a few years. The gritty 3rd line, though a little scary defensively. Kane Richards and Versteeg seemed to click and had some great passing plays. And toews hossa and saad have that hockey sense and maturity. Really hope they will stay intact for more than a game.
Kane and Versteeg redeemed themselves after their brutal turnovers Friday night.
Good for Richards, great game and a great accomplishment of 1,000 career games
I agree with those advocating for Dahlbeck. I believe he brings a different element and he looked good in the preseason. Hopefully TvR isn’t out too long, though.
Let’s go Hawks!!
Solid game all around…well except for Bickell as usual. Feel bad for TVR, he has been playing well but he’ll be back at some point. I hope that they call up Dahlbeck, he is more than ready in my opinion. Q will love the kid too, he is a rock in the d-zone who will add size and toughness the team needs…and he’s no slouch on the offensive end either. Although most likely it will be Brennan getting the call since he has prior NHL experience (29 Games), is leading the Hogs with a plus/minus of +12, and is 3rd on the team with 11 pts (3G,8A). I’m good with either one, and Johns would be fine too (but doubtful). Clendening isn’t ready in my opinion, and would be in Q’s doghouse quickly which would defeat the purpose, same goes with Pokka. Cumiskey is an AHL veteran type who should only be an option if Brennan, Dahlbeck, and Johns were injured/unavailable.
Nice to see the Hawks finally explode in the 3d. A rode weary Stars just could not muster anything to counter a solid Hawks attack.
You have to love Shaw’s shear determination. After that first punch he could have just clutched onto Roussel, but instead defended himself and sent a message to the Stars. I hope Bickell was watching. Speaking of, the Hawks are gonna have to figure out what to do with their $4mm man who plays 8 minutes a game.
TvR is a bummer. 32 and 5 will not see more than 10-12 minutes a game based on the situation. That will cause problems on the upcoming road trip.
Carcillo, whatever. Your up 6-2 and put your team shorthanded????? I was glad (sort of) to see Regin sent down and kept Morin up. But scratching Morin in favor of Carcillo does not make sense to me.
Big road trip coming up. The roster will be interesting. Team/opponent speed will be a big issue on this west coast swing.
Also, nice to see Raanta get the win last night for the Hogs, who had to be dog tired. 3d game in 3 days.
ftr– good point on the O -mixing it up… I don’t know if it was intentional/on purpose…or just happenstance… but the Hawks appeared to be doing a lot less ring- around the rosey- (their predictable cycle) and made some quick plays between the circles…
what was intentional- early- was the Hawks breaking out with D men in the rush…while it did help ignite them early… IT IS a risky tactic… which led to a few odd-mans for the Stars later
Glad to see Richards finding his comfort zone here in Chicago. When you see how young his son is, moving to a new city, having a new born, getting older, you can appreciate why he may not have been on his game at the start of the season.
imtgrill – Agree with the lines staying this way for a while. Q keep your finger off the blender switch and lets see what happens when guys get to know where their linemates will be on the ice.
Please bring up anybody but Cumisky. Who do the Rockford watchers feel is most ready?
Losing TVR hurts, literally! I really liked in an odd way the physical force of the line Bryan Bickell, Carcillo and Shaw. To actually just have one “brut force” line worked for me. Skilled enough to score too but that 3-some can rock it. Shaws fight was great, he earned even more respect around the league with that fight. Richards as stated many times will do we’ll when on a line with some speed that will create “gaps” for him to do what he does best, score, pass! Seabrook is playing like Seabrook! A good game but again the STARS sort of are sucking it up lately. A win is a win! The Hawks will do well on this extended road trip, time to turn it around and they will.
Love the unselfish pass from Toews to Saad. If that had been Crosby he would have shot it. Q turned off the blender and the Hawks get consistency and dominate. I would love to see Dahlbeck called up but I am afraid we may see 32 for 6 games. Runblad will get some good ice time to see what he can do.
At any rate, the injury had good timing. Whoever comes up has 3 days before the next game to get settled in.
Yes Hawks 1961, Crosby definitely would have shot it. Probably why he has 18 assists to 7 goals on the year. You know, more assists than Toews has points.
The loss of TVR does suck, he’s been incredible and capable of playing with Keith when Seabrook has his stupid games.
Speaking of Seabrook, his gap was awful on that first goal and Keith just let McKenzie fly by him. Not good.
You know what’s ridiculous? It took 18 f’ing games for Q to do what Bowman gift wraped him. Brad Richards was acquired to skate with Patrick Kane and they were ridiculously good together. Why did it take that long? Because for some reason Q thought Shaw was deserving of 2C? Stupid.
Speaking of Shaw, him and Carcillo on a line together is going to be bad, like it was for the second goal against. Both of them were out of position and it didn’t take long for Dallas to pump that one in. Did Shaw have a partial labotomy over the off season? Love the kid, but he’s clueless this year.
Cumiskey has been a little banged up in Rockford but don’t be surprised if he gets called up (assuming he’s healthy) due to low cap hit.
They may want to give Brennan a look too, he has been pretty good. As for the young guys, Dahlbeck looks most ready to me, he is steady and has actually been showing a little snarl in his game – he went after a guy the other night.
Richards is skating much better… Hope he makes me eat Crow (not 50)…
BUT- Richards still should be a wing/NOT a Point on PP!!!!
JS- agree on all of Crosby, TvR, and Shaw being terrible most of the year…
as far as call ups… I Hope they give us a chance to see TJ or Pokka… (the SAFE call would be Dbeck (like Regin)) – but TJ is putting up great #’s so far- especially +/- , vs. his past year… SO perhaps he is really “Built” for Hawk’s style and will be lightning in a bottle… I KNOW that both Pokka and TJ would be assets on the Hawk PP 2nd unit!!!
I also liked 42’s game… We still need to see if he has improved his “wetting the bed vs. a good forecheck” …
I too liked the all bad- 29/65/13 line… Play them Minimum minutes,,, scare the other team with that trio… and at least 13 pushes the puck in the right direction… which compliments 65- who has pushed the puck toward the Hawk’s end WAY too much this year!!!
BUT– Hawks still gave up WAY too many odd-mans… If that isn’t cleaned up in BIG way… it is still going to be a long year!!!
Wall- just read some of what you said in the Red Wings wrap and you nailed something I said a few weeks ago. Teams aren’t doing the crazy forecheck anymore. They are sitting in the neutral zone because they know the Hawks are going to have their forewards sitting at the blue line so even if a pass magically gets through, they won’t have any speed entering the zone. So now even more than in previous years, they really need their forwards to come back into the d zone to help with the break out. People want to pooh pooh on Rundblad for his turnover that led to the third goal for Detroit, but where was he supposed to go with the puck? He had zero support.
42 will work perfectly on a checking line. He still has a limp wristed shot, but if they are deployed like they were last year, I really like that line. That third line though… woof.
JS- Re: agreed on forecheck… most noticeable vs. Ducks… who normally Pound the Hawks D men… they were happy to just sit and wait…
also, agree on the Runbad TO… If he didn’t let go of that pass… I think his other option would have been to skate over Center ice (which would have looked pretty cool-
basically 10 players between Blue line and Center line)… but not much of option…
Also noticed that the Hawk’s forwards worked on passing off boards to exit blue line/and beat pressure… Eliminating/reducing that “nifty” pass to the middle of the ice near Hawk’s zone blue line (that has been picked off/read way to many times this year and turned into goals!!!!)- at least if the other team jams that board pass… it will take a lot longer for them to make/skate into an attack!!! AND it might actually trickle out of the zone- forcing the other teams to tag up!!!
Richards has had a lot of success on the point over his career. A good share of his points have come on the PP. When he put up his big seasons he had I think +35 there.
Pretty sure he knows what he is doing power play related. The other guys on the ice and/or the cute system that the Hawks play is probably a bigger issue there than anything.
I didn’t get to see the games this weekend but just an observation that i have noticed there are always so many more comments when the Hawks lose as opposed to when they win.
^ lol GoldenBladz, I notice that too! I think it’s because there are several here who like to blame the coaching every time they lose – according to them it must be the reason, or maybe it’s because they just need someone to blame. When the team wins though, it’s the players.
We have another Q apologist. The infallinble Joel Quennville, incapable of any error in judgement. Every decision the one that gets them a ring. The players would be nothing without him, first round out at best.
JS- Such talk is blasphemous! Let us never question the esteemed ONE.
So what we have here today is subliminal attacks on Q… Why?!? Because he didn’t play Jeremy Morin. Yes, THE Jeremy Morin, the Rockford shuttle type that is showered with irrational and dumbfounding praise by some of you. Nordstrom is a better and more complete player than Morin 100 out of 100 hockey games. He can skate, and he can play defensive forward hockey.
End o’ subject
Morin can do a couple of things (+) that Nordstrom can and never will be able to do. Period. They are both potentially good (not great) NHL players. I did like the way Nordstrom looked.
@JS – F off clownshoes. I am in no way a Quenneville apologist but I’ve got enough hockey smarts to know this – at least 25 other teams would line up to get him if he ever left Chicago. I never said he was incapable of making any errors in judgement but it appears you just like talking out of your ass. I’ve noticed you’re good at it.
The problem with dunce caps like you and your bestest buddy 1961Dope is this – you need somebody to blame every time they lose. You probably do this in baseball too. You don’t have enough brains to figure out exactly who to blame, but you have to blame SOMEBODY, so that’s the coach. Why? Because it’s easy for you, and most simpletons like easy because it’s the only thing they can figure out.
The coach puts in the systems and has the team practice them. The players execute. As long as the coaching staff helps keep the locker room tight, they’re doing about the most they can do.
You have problems with losses? Look at the players, oh wait, there’s too many for you to count, let alone figure out who to blame. I’ll make it easy on you, go crybaby about the guys who bring the players in – the front office.
And take your apologist remarks and shove them up where the sun doesn’t shine, you and 61Dolt both.
Sorry guys been very ill lately….what the 2014/15 Blackhawks are is the big lion hiding in the tall grass on the Serengetti …lets play a great game here and there and not burn ourselves out before the big games start…stay below the radar, out of sight, make them all shrug us off …then wham..all comes together at the right time…of this I have no doubt.. There is parity across the league but we are not the rest of the league…we are the big Lion and we are staying low and quiet and saving our best and greatness for when it is time
Hofmeister, you missed a perfect opportunity to slip in your condescending “big picture” argument that you like to throw around. That would have made your last post even more retarded.
The fact is Q continues to make baffling decisions, win or lose. Hawks1961 is right when he refers to him as stubborn and needs a shaking.
@ Ivan, welcome to the dunce cap club! I’m sure 1961 can show you around. Have him give you the big picture …
Whoa Hof. Strike a nerve much?
P.S. Go find posts where I blame Q for loses and tell me how I’m wrong. I’ve blamed him for line combinations this year and I believe that’s about it. Unless you think Shaw was a better center for him than Richards will be. Everyone has opinions I guess.
Oh! I also said he was skating his stars too many minutes. Burning out your stars to chase points in October is usually not an effective strategy. Especially when the numbers show that they are a more efficient team when they are playing less minutes.
Take a breath man. Maybe share some of your SUPERIOR HOCKEY WISDOM to us simple folk that don’t know how to watch games.
Rufus did anyone even mention Morin? Woof. Calm down brother.
Mining Man- feel better soon, my friend.
I also need to not post from my phone. It’s a disaster.
Thank you JS…greatly appreciated…came close this time!…darn near bought the farm…I’m a wee bit suprised at the start for just about everyone this year but I solidly believe we have the best hockey team and will win it all this year…let the others trip over themselves…our timing for a playoff run is going to be flawless…easy does it guys and then we give em hell….gotta luv it.
Mining man, The Lion. I love it.
Probably the best line combos of the year. Saad and Toews make a nice pair. Nice to see Richards picking up his game. Steeger has played like a top 6 forward this year. Its about time Q is skating guys in spots where they can be successful.
Bickel has been awful again the guys lack of hockey IQ will prevent him from ever being more then a role player during the regular season. Shaw has been less then steller, and Ben Smith and Kruger while they try hard arent more than bottom 6 forwards.
Lets hope the Hawks can follow up with anothet good game.