With 8 straight wins, Chicago is flying high in the standings at 9^th overall with 80 points.  They have been creeping up in the standings since the All-Star break when they were out of contention, and now seem to be unstoppable.  The Hawks have found their stride.  Can they keep it up going into post season?  16 games left in regulation play.

After taking care of the Maple Queens, I mean Leafs, 5-3 last night, the Hawks take flight for a game on Tuesday in Florida and take on the struggling Panthers.  The following day, they visit 7^th place Tampa for a VS. game.  They stop in DC Sunday for an 11:30 NBC game of the week.  Both teams seem to play up their game when they know they are going to be viewed by the world on NBC, so this should be a great game.

Let’s take a look back at their undefeated week.  On Monday, they took care of the Wild in Minnesota 4-2.  They won two straight games at home beating the Flames 6-4 on Wednesday, and the Hurricane’s 5-2 on Friday.  Last night, they began their road trip in Toronto for 5-3 win.  The Hawks are back.

Coach Q’s return proved to be something successful for the team.  Maybe the ulcer was a blessing in disguise and gave the coach some time to rest and ponder his lineup. Thank goodness it was nothing more serious.  While in Edmonton, he made a change that would take the NHL by storm.   I’m new to the team, so I’m not sure if they have played together before, but it makes great sense.  Your three powerhouses Toews, Sharp and Kane all on the same line.  Why not?  They have been making a serious impact as of late scoring 14 goals and 40 points in the last 10.  They should call this line the “Triple Threat”.  Since making the move, Hossa has turned up his potential and went on a four game goal streak. He and the rest of the crew together have contributed 18 goals.  This is a great move by the coach.  It makes room for other players to step up, and poses a threat to the opposing teams defense. It’s great!  Glad he’s back.

Patrick Sharp is a league leader with 33 goals, Jonathan Toews is ranked 10^th with 65 points and 27 goals, Patrick Kane has 57 points with 21 goals. All ranked in the top 20.  Let’s not forget our D-men.  Brian Campbell is ranked 1 with 27 plus minus. Niklas Hjalmarssonis up there as well with a 12 plus minus.

It may help that Chicago has a goalie named Corey Crawford who is 2^nd to Tim Thomas with a 2.19 GAA.  Crawford wasn’t supposed to be their guy this year, but he has been so great, you have to play him.  He is ranked 3^rd overall behind Thomas and Pekka Rinne.

Chicago went from being out of contention in 11^th place in the West, to 9^th overall!!  What a great comeback, I hope it continues, because with the team as they are now, they can be serious contenders to reclaim their title.

While on their trip to DC, they will stop by the White House and say what’s up to the Obamas, and try to get them to a game since he is from Chicago.  It’s a tradition for the Stanley Cup Champs to visit the White House with Lord Stanley.

Now if you’re not doing anything, go catch the Rangers beat up on the Flyers on the NBC game of the week!

The Chicago Blackhawks jumped from 9^th place to 5^th in the west today after winning their 5^th straight game against the Wild tonight.  Corey Crawford gets the 2^nd star of the week in the NHL helping the Stanley Cup Champs back into the playoff race with a record of 3-0-0 with a 1.95 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and a shutout.  He stopped 88 of 94 shots last week, registering his 4^th career shutout.  Crawford stands second to Thomas with a 2.13 GAA.

The Hawks beat the Coyotes in a shootout at home on Sunday night, and doubled up on the Wild in a 4-2 win tonight putting them in 5^th place in the West with 74 points right behind Phoenix who has 76.  With 5 wins in a row, solid goaltending, Coach Q back behind the bench, and a few more trades, the Hawks are looking good.

The first period remained scoreless with Chicago getting 14 shots on goal, and Minnesota 9.  Patrick Sharp is living up to his name scoring with 44 seconds in the second period making it 33 for the season. .  He is 2^nd in the league behind Stamkos who has 41 goals. Kopecky and Toews also get one in the second giving the Hawks a 3-0 lead

The Wild try to make a comeback in the third and score twice. They went on the PP and had a chance to tie it up, but couldn’t get past Crawford and his D-m.  The Hawks forced a turnover, and Toews to Hossa scored a shorthanded goal.  The Hawks are hot, and Crawford is on fire!!  They  meet the 7^th place Calgary Flames on Wednesday at home, and then again against the 8^th place Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.  Hopefully the Hawks can continue their momentum into March.

Defenseman Chris Campoli has also joined the team from Ottowa in exchange for Ryan Potulny, and a 2^nd round draft pick. Campoli, the 7^th round draft pick from the Islanders, has recorded three goals and 11 assists in 58 games with Ottawa this season.  Chris is a great defenseman.  I used to watch him in Long Island, and think he will be a great addition to this team.  I think Chicago made some great trades, and should be ready for action heading into the stretch.  Their goaltending has been solid in Crawford, their defense has been outstanding, and Sharp, Toews, and the rest of the offense have been great.  The defending Stanley Cup Champs can make a run this year if they keep up their game.  I’m looking forward to March madness in the west, and hoping this team can be a threat to the rest.

The Hawks, from the Windy City, flew into St. Louis and left the Blues singing a sad tune.   After a shootout win over the Penguins yesterday at home, Chicago hit the road and Blew by the Blues 5-3.

The Blues scored the first and only two goals in the first period.   They came out strong against Chicago, and it looked like the Hawks were going to have a long game.  I don’t know what happened in that locker room after the first period, but it was like a different team emerged than in the first.

Viktor Stalberg would start things off right away for Chicago, from a faceoff at 2:18 getting one from Kopecky & Johnson.  Only 1 minute later, Bolland would get another from Hossa, and Bickell.  This clearly was a different Chicago team.  Patrick Sharp stated on NHL on the Fly that after coming off a win against Pittsburgh, and playing the way they did in the first period tonight was unacceptable, and they needed to step up their game.  That they did, because about 3 minutes later, Patrick Kane would score his 20^th from Toews and Sharp.  This is starting to look like the Hawks that we are all familiar with.  Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, at 12:40 in the third, Toews joins Kane and scores his 20^th point from Kane and Seabrook.

It was 4-2 going into the 3^rd.  The Blues were singing a different tune.  St. Louis would try to come back, and got one by Crawford, who has been playing a lot of games over Turco.  He has been great for this team.  Crawford has played in 34 games winning 19 out of 12.  Turco has seen 28 games winning 11 and losing 11.

That would be all for the Blues, as Chicago played excellent D in the third, not giving St. Louis a chance to score on the Powerplay.  Hossa would close the deal with an empty netter making it 5-3.  Not exactly how you may have thought this game was going to turn out after watching the first period.

Chicago gained 2 points, but the West is so close that Minnesota, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Anaheim all have 68 points!  What a close race this is, as Patrick Sharp also realized, and stated in an interview, that it will come down to the last 5 games, so they will need to keep up their play as it has been in these last few wins.    The Hawks are off until Thursday as they visit sunny Florida to take on the Panthers who have 57 points and are are also trying to fight for a playoff spot.

Today was Hockey Day in America, as presented by NBC.   The Hawks were ready for their close ups.  They knew all of America was watching, and they wanted to show us their skills, as Patrick Kane said during his warm up interview.  The first period was all about the Hawks.  The Penguins couldn’t even get the puck out of their zone.  I thought for sure the Hawks had this win in the bag.  They were controlling the play, and the puck, passing well, and were all over the Penns.  One of Chicago’s most beautiful people scored the first goal.  Patrick Sharp from Toews, and Hjalmarsson, giving Sharp 31 for the season.

Things were looking good for the Hawks, even though Sharp took a 4 minute high stick penalty, and The Hawks had to kill that for about 3 minutes to end the first, then started the second killing a penalty. Chicago had 13 shots on net in the first while Pittsburg only on 7.

Pittsburgh looked a little better in the second, getting 11 shots over the Hawks 8.  The Hawks were not as strong as they were in the first.  Maybe the penalty kill tired them out a bit. This gave Pittsburg a chance to put some pressure on Chicago.   Pittsburg was getting a little more physical, and was able to get the puck to the Chicago net. They made up for it in the 2^nd scoring 11 over the 8 Chicago shots.  Everybody’s favorite Matt Cooke, coming off his 4th game suspension, got one by Crawford from Talbot and Orpik.

The game was now tied at 1 on Hockey Day in America in Chicago with the whole world watching.  Coach Q was still not present, as he was recovering at home from gastrointestinal bleeding.  He is out of the hospital, and hopefully will be back behind the bench soon.

Bryan Bickell would get one for Chicago at 1:09 starting things off in the 3^rd from Bolland & Keith.  Just when it looked liked the Hawks had this one, at 16: 32, Sterling would tie it up for Pittsburg from Staal & Kennedy sending the teams to overtime.  What a great game for both teams on Hockey Day.  OT would remain scoreless.  Fleury would make 29 saves, and Crawford 24.  It came down the goalies and the snipers.

To the shootout we go, and it was the second shootout of the day.  The Redwings took Minnesota in a shootout in an earlier game.  Who would come away with the win in Chicago on this great day?  Well, it was a fairy tale ending for Chicago at home as none other than Patrick Kane scored the winning goal against Fleury.  Both goalies were stellar in the shootout, and no one could beat them.  Who better than to score the winning goal against Fleury, other than the winning goal scorer for the Stanley Cup Championship.  Patrick was the third Hawk to go up against Fleury, and must have done his homework, because he deeked him until next week.  What a great win for the Hawks, Chicago, and Hockey in America!

Chicago still sits in 11^th place in the West with 66 points, just behind Anaheim, LA, Dallas, and Minnesota, who all have 68.  If the Hawks can keep up these wins, they just might have a shot.  Eddy O asked Patrick Kane how they can go about and come back from their losses, but Kane explained that they have no problem coming back from losses, it’s keeping the winning streak going.  Hopefully, the Hawks can keep their winning streak when they visit St. Louis tomorrow for a 1:00 game.  The reams are tied at 2 wins each this season.   The Blues came off a big win over the Ducks the other night, as they acquired Stewart and Shattenkirk from the Avalanche.

The trade deadline approaches, and the Hawks have made their trades.  They acquired Frolik, and Salack.   Not sure if Chicago is going to make anymore moves.  If anyone has any comments, please feel free to voice your opinions.

The Hawks released a statement  today on the health of Coach Joel Quenneville.  Early Tuesday morning, Coach went to the hospital complaining about abdominal pain.  Turns out, he had a bleeding ulcer otherwise known as gastrointestinal bleeding.  The cause was determined to be from an aspirin.  The Coach is resting and recovering, and should be released from the hospital in the next few days.  The Chicago Blackhawks will update the public upon his release and return behind the bench.  The Hawks next game is at home against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday at 7:30ET.   At this time, it is uncertain if Coach Q will be ready for Friday’s game.

Coach Joel Quenneville

After a 2 week 6 game road trip, winning 2, the Hawks get their first win at home in a month.  It was exactly a month ago that Hawks beat Predators 6-3 at home.

Tonight was a special win for the team, with coach Joel Quenneville hospitalized late Tuesday night due to an undisclosed health issue.  Coach Q has been with the Haws since 2008.  Prior to that, he spent 3 seasons with the Avalanche and the majority of his coaching career in St. Louis.   There has been no update on his condition as of yet.  He will remain in the hospital to undergo more tests.

In his absence, assistant coach Mike Haviland stepped in to take charge. “I just talked about the importance of the game and went over a little bit about Minnesota,” said Haviland, from NHL.com “I talked about what we wanted to do in the game and then just said, ‘Hey, it’s time. It’s time for us to make a stand here. We know we can do it in this room. We just can’t wait for tomorrow.’ Basically what I said is just, ‘Look forward here, play 20 minutes at a time and don’t worry about anything else. We win 20 at a time and go from there.’”

Crawford kept busy in the first ten minutes keeping the game scoreless.  The Wild outshot the Hawks 11-2.  At 11:37 Matt Cullen would be sent to the box for a high sticking.  That would give the NHL’s best power play a change to score by Defenseman Brian Campbell from Bolland and Hossa making it 1-0.

In the 2^nd, The Hawks would go on the power play 3 times but would not prevail.  Chicago gets 18 shots on net, and Minnesota 8.

Matt Cullen would then redeem himself in the 3^rd by tying the game by scoring a PP goal at 6:59.  The Hawks would answer right back taking advantage of another PP goal by Troy Brouwer from Bolland again and Keith.

That wouldn’t be all for the Hawks, as Jake Dowell gets the empty netter from Bolland and Hossa again coming away with a 2 pt win 3-1. Crawford would get 33 saves.

This was a much-needed win by Chicago.  They get the 2 points, but still sit 1 point behind the Wild with 64 points.  Chicago is 4 points behind the 8^th place Calgary.  The Hawks will meet the Blue Jackets on Friday at home for the 5^th time this season.  Their record is 3-1.

The Hawks come away with 2 points beating the Oilers tonight, but still sit in 11^th place in the west with 60 points. Tom Renney was not present for his Oilers this evening. He was at his father’s funeral.  Edmonton is having a rough year, and they are in last place.

Sharp started off scoring for Chicago registering his 27^th goal of the season on a nice setup by Toews.  Bickell scored in the 2nd, and Kane followed with two goals in the 3^rd giving him 17.  Edmonton only had 4 shots on net in the 1st.  They came back in the second, and both teams had an even 12 shots.  Edmonton managed to slip one past Crawford in the 3^rd with only 3:40 left on a breakaway by Eberle crushing Crawford’s shutout.  Crawford would make 23 saves giving him a .958 save percentage for the game.

The Hawks are1-1 on this road trip thus far, and make1 more stop in Dallas before flying home.   After their loss in Calgary, a trip to Edmonton may be just what the Dr. ordered before visiting the 8^th place Dallas Stars.  The Stars were shinning brightly in January winning every game except 1 at home against the Rangers.  February is not as bright for Dallas, as they have lost 4 games in a row.  The Hawks kicked their 2 game losing streak, while the Stars can’t seem to kick theirs.

“Every game is huge for us right now,” Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. “There is no waiting anymore or saying there is lots of time because we don’t have a lot of time anymore. We are going to have to be desperate every game and come out flying like we did in the first period. There is no reason we can’t do that every game.”

The Hawks made some trades today sending Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman, and David Pacan to Florida for goalie prospect Alaxander Salak and center Michael Frolik.

The Hawks face the Stars at 7:30 Friday night.

Chicago has won the last 9 out of 10 against Calgary with Crawford getting the win in their last meeting, but has been sitting as backup to Mary Turco for the past 2 weeks.  With the home team prevailing in each matchup this year thus far, the Flames continue to keep the winning streak at home, by burning by the Hawks 3-1.  Miikka Kiprusoff comes away with 22 saves making his record 7-0-1 in the last 8 games.

Calgary comes out strong in the first period with a nice goal by Mikael Backlund at 14:33 from Bouma and Pardy. Chicago only had 3 shots on net, while Crawford stopped 9 out of 10.

Chicago answered back in the 2^nd at 5:56 with a goal by Patrick Kane, making it is 15^th of the season, from Toews and Brouwer. They had 3 powerplay chances in the 2^nd, but couldn’t score on any of them.   Chicago leads the league with 24.3 % PP but couldn’t make it work tonight.  At 8:37 in the 3rd, The Flames get ahead when Curtis Glencross gets one past Crawford from Jokinen and Regehr on a nice steal from Chicago in a 3 on 3.  The Hawks get another powerplay chance but failed, as Rene Borque gets the empty netter at 19:35 when Chicago pulls Crawford in making it 3-1.

Tonight’s win put Calgary in playoff contention with 61 points in 8^th place.  Chicago stay’s in 11^th place with 58 points, winning just 1 out of their last 5 games.  They will continue on the road as they visit the Oilers on Wednesday night for the 4^th time this season. Chicago won 1 out 3 games, losing both games at home, and beating the Oilers in Edmonton in their last matchup November 17th.

Video Highlights

Good new for the Avalanche

Now I know all of you may not be big Fan’s of the sport of Hockey, but it is February, and that means there are only two more months of regulation play.  Stanley cup Playoffs are approaching upon us fast.  The race is a tight one, especially in the west.  Speaking of the west, lets stalk about the Avalanche, which pretty much sums up this teams season thus far: 1 nice big Avalanche.

This is a team that was winning every single game in the beginning of year. This past week, they had three home games and had a chance to gain up to 8 points to stay in the race.  Well folks, it wasn’t all a-boot the Av’s this week. They lost all three.  A team that was sitting comfortably in the 8^th position in the west is now slipping down in the ranks.  They now sit 4^th in the Northwest Division, 12^th in the West, and 20^th over all with 56 points. It’s not looking so good for the Av’s as they are sitting 4 spots out of the playoff race.

The good news is, the team announced today that Peter Forsberg, the two-time Stanley Cup champion, has signed a 1 million prorated contract with them for the remainder of the season.  Forsberg stated “After testing my abilities with NHL players over the last few weeks, I feel confident that I can play at the NHL level and help this team.” taken from the Avalanche website.

The Av’s take off for a road trip for a week playing four games before they come back home to take on the Flames and the Penguins.  Forsberg is expecting to start playing with the team during this road trip.  Hopefully, he can help turn things around for this team.

The King’s sit in 8^th place with 60 points, Minnesota, and Calgary are tied with 59 points, Chicago’s in 11^th place with 58 points, and the Av’s are hanging on in 12 with 56.

Every game is crucial.  If the Av’s want to be a contender in the playoffs, they need to win every game.  Hopefully Forsberg can help this team come back to life.  For a team that was sitting pretty in playoff contention, they are now struggling to get a win.

Hawks visit the Flames

With the reigning Stanley Cup champions chasing the Flames for a playoff spot, the two teams will meet in Calgary tonight.  The first two matches between these clubs this season, the home team prevailed.  Only 1 point separates them in the standings in the west.  If Chicago can pull off a win, they can pass the flames and Minnesota tallying 60 points moving them closer to 8^th place.

Both teams are coming off a loss. Calgary losing to the King’s in a shootout at home, and Chicago losing to Vancouver by 1 goal when they were leading in the third 3-2 with ten minutes left.  The Flames are 1 point out of playoff contention, and the Hawks have 30 games left on their schedule to secure a spot.

“It’s not a position you want to be in, especially after the 82 games are over, but we’ve got about 30 games left and are playing teams we’re competing with,” said winger Patrick Kane. “If we put it together, we should be OK.”  Taken in a statement from the Toronto Sun. “It almost seems like the playoffs now, even though we’ve got 30 games left,” Kane said. “There has to be some veteran leadership from what we went through. “We’re sitting in 11th place today, you can sit around and panic, but I don’t think that’s the kind of group we have. I think everyone’s confident in what we have in here.”

It will be interesting to see what pans out of this close matchup whose records are 27-21-4-58 for Chicago, and 26-21-7-59 for Calgary.  Calgary is 14-9-2 at home, and Chicago 11-8-4 on the road.  The game starts at 8:30 at McMahon Stadium.  Chicago continues on to Edmonton, Dallas, and Phoenix before returning home against the Wild on February 16^th.