Playoffs are 2 weeks away, and with the Chicago Blackhawks sitting pretty at the top of the league, President’s Trophy all but locked up, you’d think the team would take it easy on their opponents every once in a while.

Unfortunately for their opponents, that’s just not how Jonathan Toews and the Blackhawks roll.

Always the overacheiver (I have a feeling he’d be the type of straight-A student that everybody hated in school), Captain Serious has not gone 2 consecutive games without scoring a goal since March.
And although their impressive 24-point streak ended months ago, Chicago has not shown signs of easing up on their dominance.

Tonight, the Blackhawks played like a team desperate to make a playoff push. And they played against a team that is desperate to make a playoff push. But a big win eluded the 9th place Stars, who are tied with Columbus at 45 points and just 3 points shy of overtaking Detroit for the coveted 8th spot.

The opening period was all Chicago. Not surprisingly, it was Toews, Marian Hossa and the rising rookie Brandon Saad who created magic midway through the first. A tic-tac-toe pass from Saad to Hossa to Toews resulted in Toews’ 20th goal of the season, a tip-in that came at 12:54.

3 consecutive penalties  and a couple of sloppy plays did not help Dallas’ situation in tying up the scoreboard, and in the second, Viktor Stalberg took the opportunity to show off his speed, barreled through a few Stars and shot one past their tendy Richard Bachman.

However, just minutes after Stalberg’s goal, the Stars were able to capitalize on a 3-on-1 and Jamie Benn cut the deficit in half. Benn’s wrister put a stop to Ray Emery’s shutout bid. Emery, (who, as a backup goalie, has more wins than the entire Florida Panthers team) was running off a season-high 5 shutouts in his last 8 starts. The goal boosted Dallas’ momentum, and despite the shots being 22-11 for Chicago, the game remained 2-1 by the end of the second.

Early in the final frame, the same duo who got Dallas on the board—Jamie Benn and Ray Whitney— closed the gap and tied the game at 2. The tie didn’t last long (just a little over a minute) as Andrew Shaw’s shot, on a feed from Patrick Kane, sent the puck to the back of Bachman’s net.

Having a 1-goal lead certainly didn’t mean the Blackhawks would stop searching for opportunities to drive to the net. Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa both picked up their second point of the game with assists on Niklas Hjalmarsson’s slap shot. 2 goals in 3 minutes. It’s like Chicago has something to prove.

The last few minutes of the game were a scramble on both ends. Dallas pulled their goalie with 2:44 left in the period, and despite numerous chances by both team (and despite no one tending goal in the Stars’ end), no pucks were finding their way to the back of the net. Finally, with only 27 seconds left to play, Hossa reluctantly took a shot into Dallas’ cage for the empty net goal.

The 5-3 win extended the Blackhawks’ league lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins to 6 points. And with only 6 games left in the regular season, Chicago has the potential to take the lead and run off with it.

Next up, the Hawks face the Nashville Predators, who are lingering near the bottom of the Western Conference.

All good things must come to an end.

When it came to the Chicago Blackhawks’ 24-game point streak, not everyone considered it a good thing (particularly the team’s division rivals) but nonetheless, the streak had to stop somewhere.

And it stopped in Denver, Colorado at the hands of the 28th place Avalanche. The 6-2 beating on Friday night marked the Blackhawks’ first regulation loss in almost a year.

For Blackhawks fans, the game started off promising. A little over 5 minutes in, a tic-tac-toe display by Marian Hossa to Jonathan Toews resulted in the captain’s 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 lead for Chicago.
It wasn’t until the last 5 minutes of the opening period that Colorado was able to even up the scoreboard. Paul Stastny’s tying goal came on an ensuing Colorado powerplay, with Bryan Bickell in the box for hooking.

No big deal, right? The Blackhawks had proved for the entire 2013 season so far that they could battle adversity, overcome ties and trails and still emerge victorious in the end.
Unfortunately, adversity is not a word that can even begin to describe what Chicago faced in the second period.
Matt Duchene and John Mitchell scored, just seconds apart, in the first few minutes of the second. Then Ryan O’Reilly’s slapshot and Jamie McGinn’s wrister gave the Avs a 5-1 lead as the period closed out.

Not surprisingly, Corey Crawford was pulled and Ray Emery took his place in net for the third period. Entering the final frame, the situation looked bleak for the Blackhawks, but hockey experts and fans alike still held their tongues about a possible regulation loss for the league-leading team.
It was Bryan Bickell who finally managed to put a puck past Semyon Varlamov, just shy of the period’s halfway mark.
Sadly, that was the only catch-up effort put forth by Chicago, and PA Parentau sealed their fate with less than 5 minutes to go in the third, padding the Avs’ generous lead to 4.

Since NHL opening day on January 19th, Chicago enjoyed immense success, several outstanding performances by the superstars on their roster (Patrick Kane, anyone?), and admiration from athletes throughout every other pro sport.

The point streak was destined to end at some point, but a 4-goal deficit was not the way any Blackhawk had envisioned it.
Nevertheless, Chicago still left this game sitting pretty atop the standings, with a 10-point lead over the 2nd place Anaheim Ducks.

The Chicago Blackhawks are so good, it’s scary.

Coming into tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Hawks were riding high on a 20-game point streak. Not one loss in regulation yet.

Columbus hoped they might be the team to put an end to that, and though they did give it a valiant effort, it’s no easy task matching up against Toews. Kane. Stalberg. The Hawks’ blue line alone boasts 3 Olympians.

Blue Jackets’ left winger Vinny Prospal put up a fight right from the get-go, beating Ray Emery 31 seconds in. With an even amount of shots on goal for each team, Columbus netminder Steve Mason managed to keep his team up by 1 for most of the period.
But it was only a matter of time before Chicago’s powerhouses struck. With assists from Patrick Kane and Brandon Saad, Viktor Stalberg made it a tie game less than 5 minutes left in the opening frame.

In the second, the Blue Jackets once again fought back, both literally and figuratively. A little over a minute into the period, Dan Carcillo and Nikita Nikitin dropped the gloves, each getting a few good shots in and each getting a 5 minute major misconduct.
Halfway through, Artem Anisimov gave Columbus the go-ahed with a slapshot from the point that found its way to the back of the net.

Blackhawks fans didn’t need to worry (not likely that any of them ever did) as two goals scored within 59 seconds, courtesy of Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell, put them ahead as the second period closed out.

Still battling hard in the final frame, both Mason and Emery remained solid on either side of the ice. Mason stopped all 17 shots Chicago threw on net, but of the 8 Columbus delivered, a wrister by Ryan Johansen once again lit up the goal lamp and tied up the game.

The last 8 minutes of the third period solved nothing, and with one point picked up, the Blackhawks once again headed into overtime.
With a few minutes winding down the OT period, it almost looked like the game would go into a shootout (always a pleasure watching the Blackhawks in a shootout), but a cross-ice feed from captain Toews to Brent Seabrook eliminated that option.

Final score: 4-3. Put another in the win column, Chicago.With an 18-0-3 record and the longest scoring streak from the start of a season in NHL history, every other team in the league should be scared. Very scared.

Tonight in Phoenix, the Chicago Blackhawks exploded right out of the gate meaning business. Not like they had something to prove…blazing into their 11th game with 20 of a possible 22 points, the Hawks are enjoying the hottest streak in the NHL.

Almost right off the bat, Jamal Mayers dropped the gloves with public enemy #1 Raffi Torres. 6 minutes later, Andrew Shaw with the puck managed to pass it to himself, and then send it off to Viktor Stalberg, who gave Chicago the 1-0 lead.
From then until the end of the period, Patrick Kane decided to become a one-man highlight reel. He banged home a rebound after Patrick Sharp failed to net the puck. Minutes later, his pass found Dave Bolland’s stick and the ensuing slap shot lit the lamp for Chicago once again. And before the Coyotes’ hapless goalie Mike Smith could even catch his breath, Kane again went on the attack. His powerplay wrister elevated the Blackhawks to a 4-0 lead as the period closed out.

Martin Hanzal gave the Coyotes a glimmer of hope to start the second, but the Blackhawks put an end to that quickly enough. Midway through the frame, Marian Hossa found Jonathan Toews, who put away his 5th goal of the season.
After Brian Bickell made it 6-1 for the Hawks, Smith was out and Jason LaBarbera took over in net for Phoenix.

LaBarbera fared better than Smith for the remainder of the game,  stopping any Blackhawks players from scoring. With a minute left to play, Raffi Torres, who got the game going with his fight against Mayers, managed to slip one past Ray Emery and bring the final score to 6-2

With this dominant win that spoke volumes of their intent, the Chicago Blackhawks have taken their place as the top team in the NHL thus far.

After a short 3-day hiatus, they fly to Nashville to take on the 5th place Predators in the west.

The top two NHL teams in the league. Until yesterday, both were undefeated in regulation. One of them had to end their streak tonight.

The Chicago Blackhawks served the San Jose Sharks with a 5-3 loss on the Sharks’ own turf tonight and kept their own record of regulation wins perfectly in tact.

The showdown in San Jose saw 5 of the league’s top point-getters on the ice (Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa for the Hawks and Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton for the Sharks), which almost guaranteed a great game regardless of the outcome.

It didn’t look so great for the Hawks at the beginning of the game, however.
Less than 5 minutes into the first period, Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels both scored, giving San Jose an early 2-0 lead. But by the midway mark, Brandon Saad answered back for the Hawks with the first goal of his NHL career.
Michal Handzus restored the Sharks’ lead shortly after, but back-to-back goals (less than a minute apart) by Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger tied the game at 3-3 by the end of the opening period.

Needless to say, goaltending on both ends of the ice was atrocious in the first.

The second period went slightly smoother for Corey Crawford and Antii Niemi. 11 minutes went by before someone scored the go-ahead goal, and who else would be responsible for it other than the Blackhawks’ two superstars. Jonathan Toews, with a great steal, fed it to Patrick Kane and number 88 found the back of the net with a pretty little wrist shot.
2 penalties following Kane’s goal gave the Sharks a chance to tie it again, however solid defense on behalf of Chicago kept them up  a goal heading into the third period.

The Sharks outshot the Blackhawks 11 to 9 in the final frame to no avail. With under two minutes to play and Niemi pulled for the extra man, Kane sent another wrister to the empty net for the 5-3 win.

With tonight’s loss, San Jose has now dropped their last 2 games in regulation, while the Hawks cruise on to play the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night with hopes of picking up at least another point.

Up until last Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks had been undefeated, posting their best season start in franchise history. It was the Minnesota Wild who spoiled what would have been the Hawks’ seventh straight regulation win, but Chicago still managed to pick up a point as the game went into a shootout.

Tonight’s game against the Vancouver Canucks may not have been the most exciting one, considering the bad blood between the two teams, but leave it to the Blackhawks’ bitter rival to spoil their fun.

5 minutes into the first period, on a feed from Zack Kassian, Alexander Edler’s wrist shot beat Corey Crawford to put the Canucks up by one. Following Edler’s goal, Roberto Luongo stayed sharp, and the Blackhawks failed to capitalize on several key man advantages, leaving the scoreboard reading 1-0 for the next 45 minutes of play.

But halfway through the third period, Patrick Kane wheeled around from a tough angle and went top shelf on Luongo, giving his team a chance to continue their point streak.
3 Chicago penalties threatened to revert the score back in favor of the Canucks, but Corey Crawford played solidly in net –and with some help from Marian Hossa, who single-handedly defined the meaning of a good penalty kill– the Hawks were able to push forward into overtime.

A crucial 5-on-3 for the Hawks in the extra frame solved nothing (on the contrary, the Canucks almost got the game winner on a breakaway during the Chicago powerplay, if not for Hossa, who sped across the ice and knocked the puck away just before it made its way past Crawford).

The first round of the shootout saw impeccable performances from goaltenders on both ends of the ice. Heading into the second round, it was an unlikely hero who won the game: 22-year old Canucks center Jordan Schroeder, who scored on his first attempt. Nick Leddy failed to beat Luongo, and Vancouver skated away with the victory.

Of a possible 16 points, the Chicago Blackhawks have now picked up 14 and hope to get a full 2 points tomorrow at the Saddledome against the struggling Calgary Flames.

Forget December 25th, Christmas Day came a little bit later for hockey fans. Saturday, January 19th saw the return of the NHL after a lengthy and dramatic lockout and 13 games were played that day. Among them was a matchup between the reigning Stanley Cup champs, the Los Angeles Kings, and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Coming into a shortened season with only a 6-day training camp, predicting how each game will go becomes nearly impossible. And certainly the outcome of Kings home opener was not what most people would have expected.

Before the game, it was all about L.A., as the team raised their banner and received their championship rings. But once the first period was underway, the Kings got lost in the midst of the Blackhawks’ offense, as Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Michael Frolik all scored to take a 3-0 lead.

Kane’s goal (the very first goal of the NHL season!) was a beauty of a slapshot, assisted by Hossa, and came on a Blackhawks powerplay 3 minutes in. Halfway through the period, Hossa netted a goal of his own, which was followed up shortly by Frolik’s wrister.

The Hawks continued to pad their lead just minutes into the second, as Jonathan Toews took a feed from Kane and got himself on the scoreboard, despite suffering from the lingering after-effects of a flu.
As the period closed out, the Kings’ Rob Scuderi finally managed to beat Corey Crawford and get his team on the board.

Midway through the third, Matt Greene’s shot was tipped in by Jordan Nolan, cutting the Blackhawks’ lead in half, but the Kings’ celebration was short-lived. Hossa scored his second of the night 15 seconds after Nolan’s goal, and Chicago emerged victorious, with a final score of 5-3.

In the battle of the goaltenders, Crawford was a little more akin to a Stanley Cup champion than Jonathan Quick was, making 19 saves.

The very next day the Blackhawks were in the desert, looking to go 2 and 0 against the Phoenix Coyotes.

David Moss opened up the scoring for the Coyotes at the 3-minute mark (at almost the same time that Kane scored his first goal the day before) but another Dave (Bolland) tied the game 10 minutes later on a Blackhawks powerplay. The score remained even throughout the initial frame.

After winning a faceoff Antoine Vermette picked up a rebound and scored the go-ahead goal for the Coyotes, early in the second. But on an ensuing play 5 minutes later, Bolland fed the puck from the perfect spot, and Patrick Sharp caught it with perfect timing, to once again tie the game.
As the second period was coming to an end, Marian Hossa was sent to the box for slashing. The Hawks made it through the penalty without letting in a goal, and as soon as Hossa got out of the box he was off on what would have been a spectacular breakaway, had he not been stopped by Mike Smith at the other end. Hossa made up for his shortcomings, however, just minutes later with a wrister that found its way to the back of the Coyotes net.

Oh, but it didn’t end there. A third unanswered Blackhawks goal came 50 seconds later courtesy of  Viktor Stalberg and Chicago found themselves with a 2-goal lead as they headed into the final period.

The ‘Yotes barely had time to adjust themselves to the ice in the third as Marian Hossa again  found the back of the net –this time 14 seconds into the frame– with a controversial goal that was deemed good upon review.
Not long after, Phoenix narrowed the deficit with a goal by Martin Hanzal. Then the captain Shane Doan, on a clutch play, buried the puck past Ray Emery less than a minute after, slimming the Blackhawks’ lead to 1. Unfortunately for the Coyotes, David Bolland and Patrick Sharp decided to team up again on a perfectly-timed shot and brought their team back up by 2.

3 goals in 1.12 minutes. Needless to say, the offense in this game was a bit stronger than the defense, on both ends of the ice. Chicago came away with the 6-4 win.

Opening weekend was a success for the Chicago Blackhawks, especially for Marian Hossa, who now leads the league in scoring with 4 goals under his belt.

Next up for the Blackhawks is their home opener on Tuesday, January 22nd against the St. Louis Blues.

As badly as the players would like to play (and as badly as the fans would like to see their team play), it may not necessarily be the end of the world for the Chicago Blackhawks to take a bit of a hiatus from the high-paced, action-packed 8 month period called the NHL season.

Sure, there are plenty of cons that will arise, should this lockout last the entire season.

Like the fact that the veteran Hawks on the roster, such as Patrick Sharp, Sheldon Brookbank, Steve Montador, Johnny Oduya, Jamal Mayers, Michal Rozsival and Marian Hossa (all at the ripe old age of 30 or older) could get rusty after a year of inactivity. With the short life span of hockey careers, being out of practice could take a considerable toll on the physicality and performance for players nearing the end of their prime.

For the younger sprites on the team who decide to continue playing hockey in Europe, there is the risk of injuries abroad, which could jeopardize the players’ NHL contracts should the lockout end prematurely.

But then there are the pros.

In the immediate wake of the lockout, the Blackhawks sent 26 of their players and prospects back down to the minors. Sure, a lot of these youngsters will be bummed at their missed chance at some ice time in the big leagues, but an extra few months developing and honing their skills can only help the Hawks when the NHL season does resume. Take Adam Clendening, for example. The 19-year old, who was drafted by Chicago 36th overall, will have the opportunity to fine-tune his abilities and truly become the puck-moving defenseman the Blackhawks are envisioning him to be.

The unexpected downtime could also benefit Corey Crawford. Last season, the goalie was good but not amazing. A few months of being out of the spotlight and pressure of the NHL would help the Crawford focus on his goaltending game and improve upon the 2.72 GAA he had in the previous year.

And last but certainly not least, a delayed or missed NHL season could do wonders for the recovery of the players who were injured during the last few years.
Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa suffered troubling concussions in 2012, and as we all saw with Sidney Crosby, time is everything when it comes to a proper and full recovery.
Patrick Kane, who underwent wrist surgery this summer, could also use a few extra months of strength and conditioning to get himself back into top shape and retain that sharp-shooting puck-burying reputation of his.
With these three in full health, the possibilities of success in the following season could be endless.

All points mentioned, there’s still no doubt that the NHL lockout will generate more negative reactions than positive, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to look at what good it could possibly bring.

Who knows, maybe Gary Bettman’s grinch-like decision could be credited for solidifying the core of the Chicago Blackhawks roster and turn them back into the Stanley Cup-winning champions they were in 2010.

It wasn’t the most exciting game they’ve played this season, and against the San Jose Sharks tonight, the Chicago Blackhawks were handed their third straight loss.
Despite the Sharks taking 5 of the 8 penalties of the night, the Hawks failed to capitalize and fell 1-0 to Joe Thornton and company.

The Hawks’ best chance at getting a goal in the first period came at the 10 minute mark. With Dan Boyle in the box for tripping, Jonathan Toews came close to beating Antti Niemi. Though the Hawks outshot the Sharks 10-5 (Yes, you read that right: the total shots on goal in the first were only 15) the first period closed out scoreless.

It was the second period that saw all the action, but unfortunately it was not in the favor of the visiting team. Boyle’s little puck-over-glass trick sent him back to the box —his third penalty by this point in the game— but yet again the Hawks couldn’t benefit from the man advantage.
The same could not be said for the Sharks. The only goal of the game, courtesy of 23-year old Sharks defenseman Jason Demers, came seconds after Dave Bolland took a penalty for hooking.

In the final frame, the real star of the night proved to be Niemi, who managed to survive a flurry of activity around his net on a Chicago powerplay, keeping the puck out to maintain his team’s one goal lead, and eventually skated away with the shutout, his first of the season.

Though the Blackhawks have been pretty inconsistent so far this season (they have only won 10 of their 22 games to date) they are still sitting at third in the West, tied with San Jose at 27 points.

The Hawks continue on their 6-game road trip, with the next stop being Anaheim to face the struggling Ducks. In the last meeting of these two teams the Hawks narrowly escaped with the win, thanks to a game-tying goal and a shootout goal from Patrick Kane.

Now this is what a team with so many stars on it should look like on the ice.

The Chicago Blackhawks came down fast and hard on the Columbus Blue Jackets right from the get-go. After several nice rushes in the Columbus zone, a rebound off of Viktor Stalberg’s attempt earned Jonathan Toews the first tally of the game, 7 minutes in. And the action kept on coming steadily throughout the first period, with a great tilt between Steve Montador and Derek Dorsett, followed by a powerplay goal for Columbus to even up the scoreboard. But with 3 minutes left in the first, the Captain wasn’t done yet. His second of the night gave the Blackhawks the go-ahead goal.

Halfway through the second the Hawks did it again, this time thanks to a powerplay goal from Andrew Brunette. With his fight in the first and credit for the assist on the Brunette goal, it was a big night for Steve Montador, who potted his own goal shortly after.
In the final minutes of the second frame, Patrick Kane took a pass from Dan Carcillo and shot the puck passed an overwhelmed Steve Mason. The shots on goal came to 30-19 in favor of the Hawks, and they closed out the period with a 5-1 lead.

The explosion of offense continued, literally seconds (32, to be exact) into the final period. Captain Toews got himself a 3-point night with his assist on Marian Hossa’s wrister.
Thankfully for the Blue Jackets fans sitting in the stands, Mark Letestu and Grant Clitsome managed to put a couple of pucks past Corey Crawford, avoiding a total undressing of their team by the surging Hawks.

Brent Seabrook, Steve Montador and Nick Leddy also skated away from the game with multiple points, making it a lovely joint effort and victory from the former champs. It was a glaring difference from the way the team had been playing of late, and after a 3-game losing streak, the Hawks finally got to put one in the win column.

Next up, the Blackhawks host the Calgary Flames, who have been struggling themselves with only 6 wins in 14 games so far.