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.

After a good start to the infamous Circus Road Trip, the Hawks have been less than stellar the last two days. After losing a tough one in Calgary on Friday, the Hawks effectively decided not to play any defense against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

The score, 9-2, explains it all for me. 9 goals? This is after holding the Canucks to 1 goal and the Oilers the previous week to only 3 goals. The only difference this time was that Corey Crawford wasn’t in goal. It is safe to say that Ray Emery isn’t as good as we thought he was and our penalty kill, which had been making a climb in the league’s ranks, also isn’t as good as we thought it was. The Hawks let the Oilers score 4 powerplay goals which is a recipe for disaster.

I guess I can’t complain too much since the Hawks are still 12-6-3, but it would be nice to get back on track and start getting to consistent winning once again. The game on Wednesday at the San Jose Sharks is a good place to start, but it is still going to be tough. The California leg of this road trip consists of playing at San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles. The Hawks have played only Anaheim out of these three teams this year and beat them in Chicago.

The keys to the rest of the roadtrip are the following: Corey Crawford in goal, no ill-advised penalties, and never play prevent defense when we have the lead. Always keep the pressure on.

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.

In their first regulation loss at home, the Chicago Blackhawks were defeated by their old foe, the Vancouver Canucks.

The two teams’ famed rivalry was most recently spotlighted in the first round of the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Blackhawks managed to overcome a 3-0 deficit to take the President’s Trophy winners all the way to Game 7, only to lose in overtime. It was a nail-biting series indeed, chock full of surprises and last-minute goals.

Tonight’s game was the first meeting of the ‘Nucks and ‘Hawks since the 2010-2011 postseason, but it was considerably less exciting that the last one before it.
The Canucks were dominant from the start, outshooting the Hawks 17-9 in the first period, but Chicago’s Corey Crawford was quick and on point, only allowing one Canuck  goal (a powerplay goal by David Booth at the 6 minute mark) in. Michael Frolik answered the goal shortly with a wrister of his own to bring the scoreboard to 1-1 at the end of the frame.

Unfortunately, Booth’s goal was one of many to come for the Canucks, who managed to convert 5 out of 6 powerplays —3 in the second period and 1 in the third— and take the 6-2 victory. Marcus Kruger notched the only other goal for Chicago, late in the second.

It was the crucial matter of defense for the Hawks tonight, and it simply wasn’t there. Jonathan Toews was the first to admit it, saying that “[their] penalty kill went for a hike today, too.”

For the first time in a long time, the Blackhawks weren’t able to shake Roberto Luongo, who stopped 38 shots tonight. But on the other end of the ice, Corey Crawford stopped 32 shots of his own, and despite letting in 6 goals, made some pretty nifty saves to avoid any further running up of the scoreboard.He didn’t receive much help from his fellow teammates in that department, to say the least.

The rapidly-developing new NHL rivalry will be renewed between these two teams in just 10 days, when the Hawks travel to Vancouver in hopes of avenging this tough loss.

Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien had not been back in Chicago since they helped lead the Blackhawks to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals. Yet here they were, skating on familiar ice, but for the opposing team as part of the new Winnipeg Jets.

The visiting team got right down to business in the first, with center Jim Slater scoring a pair of goals just 3 minutes apart. If the first half of the period was any indication of the rest of the game to come, it could easily go without saying that the Blackhawks would fall to their former teammates. The second goal could have been prevented; no Blackhawks defenseman could be found around their own net as Slater skated right towards it.

But minutes later, the Hawks retaliated, and it was Andrew Brunette (who, coincidentally, was one of the players on the roster for the very first Atlanta Thrashers game ever) who cut the deficit in half.
Thankfully, the home team didn’t stop there. A beautiful feed from Marian Hossa –which involved him practically skating right over the Jets’ Toby Enstrom– to Patrick Kane resulted in a one-timer that found the back of net.
Hossa then added a goal of his own in the second, assisted by Kane, and Dave Bolland flipped a wristshot past Ondrej Pavalec to double the lead.

The Jets’ Kyle Wellwood soon found himself on a breakaway with a chance to get his team caught up, but took a tumble on his way to the net and lost the puck. Wellwood was, however, able to redeem himself with a backhanded goal late in the second.

The scoreboard tally did not increase in the third, though not for a lack of trying on both ends of the ice. The shots on goal were 11-8 for the Jets. Ray Emery made a couple of outstanding saves to hold on to the lead, and when the final buzzer sounded, the Blackhawks walked away with the victory, leaving the Jets without a win since the start of the season.

With the way the Hawks were playing in the first few minutes of the game, it seemed like the team was about to send Joel Quenneville right back to the hospital judging from the look on his face behind the bench. But his worries were quelled soon enough as his famed offense began to light up.

The Blackhawks have now won 2 of their last 3 games and will take on the current Stanley Cup champions the Boston Bruins at home on Saturday.

If there was one star in Dallas tonight, it was Kari Lehtonen, who stopped 37 shots to help his team get a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Coming in at a close second was the Stars’ PK, which successfully fought off 4 of the night’s 6 penalties.

The Hawks, however, were not shining as brightly as expected in their first game of the season. Though both teams were held scoreless during the first period, the second saw a one-timer from Alex Goligoski sail past Corey Crawford. Jamie Benn added to the lead a few minutes later with a backhanded rebound from a slapshot by Sheldon Souray. There certainly wasn’t a lack of effort from the Hawks’ bench in the second, as they led the scoreboard in shots 22-12.

With 4 minutes remaining Patrick Sharp found himself on a solo rush to cut the deficit in half but was stopped by Lehtonen in an impressive way.

Youngster Nick Leddy was the lone goal-scorer for the Hawks, and that came 13 seconds shy of the final buzzer, with Crawford on the bench in favor of a sixth attacker. Captain Jonathan Toews credits the loss to [making] too many mistakes and giving up too many chances.

Though the majority of the penalties taken went to the Stars, the Blackhawks failed to capitalize on the man advantage, and despite some pretty acrobatic saves from Crawford (particularly on a Benn breakaway at the end of the first period) Dallas managed to skate away with the first two points of the season.

The Hawks have another chance to get the W against the Stars tomorrow night on home ice.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/6830367/chicago-blackhawks-agree-five-year-extension-patrick-sharp

**Rating system for “Plus/Minus” Series**
+3 = Major Upgrade
+2 = Upgrade
+1 = Slight Upgrade
0 = Same as prior year
-1 = Slight Dowgrade
-2 = Downgrade
-3 = Major Downgrade

Team: Chicago Blackhawks
2010-11: 97 points, #8 in Western Conference

GOALIES

Returning: Corey Crawford

Arrivals: Alexander Salak
Departures: Marty Turco

Grade: +1

This grade is more about how bad Turco was last year, rather than how good I expect Salak to be.

DEFENSE

Returning: Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Leddy, John Scott

Arrivals: Steve Montador, Sean O’Donnell, Sami Lepisto
Departures: Brian Campbell, Chris Campoli, Jordan Hendry

Grade: -2

People rip on Brian Campbell all the time, but lets remember that he put up 27 points in 65 games, boasted a +28 plus/minus rating, and averaged close to 23 minutes per game. Chicago added depth on the blueline, but they will struggle to replace Campbell.

FORWARDS

Returning: Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Michael Frolik, Bryan Bickell, Viktor Stalberg

Arrivals: Andrew Brunette, Rostislav Olesz, Dan Carcillo, Jamal Mayers, Marcus Kruger, Ben Smith
Departures: Troy Brouwer, Tomas Kopecky, Jake Dowell, Fernando Pisani, Ryan Johnson

Grade: -1

Losing Brouwer hurts, but the Hawks did a very good job adding depth to their top 3 lines, and adding some size and nastiness to their fourth line. The key for Chicago is how quickly their top forward prospects (like Morin, Beach, McNeil, Hayes and Pirri) become NHL ready.

OVERALL RATING: -2
2011-12 Prediction: #6-#8 in Western Conference

The Hawks will still be a playoff team this year. They had an off year in 2010-11 because of all the trades they needed to make in the offseason, but I expect that they will be a dangerous team in 2011-12 and beyond.

Just like in recent years past, the Chicago Blackhawks’ selection at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft did not cause that much of a stir. The last two picks, right winger Kevin Hayes and defenseman Dylan Olsen, have yet to play in the big league since getting drafted by the club. Now that’s not to say that this year’s 18th overall pick, Mark McNeill, will have the same fate, but the talk in Windy City is focused mainly the trades made that will possibly make a huge impact on the 2011-2012 Blackhawks roster.

Defenseman Brian Campbell was asked by GM Stan Bowman to waive his no-trade clause in order to move him to the Florida Panthers in exchange for winger Rotislav Olesz. And Troy Brouwer was sent to the Washington Capitals for their 26th pick in the draft, forward Phillip Danault. The moves have  freed up quite a big chunk of the Blackhawks’ cap space (Campbell had 5 years left on his contract, getting $7.14 million per season) which the organization plans to use for both long and short-term situations. Expect Nick Leddy to help fill the void left  by Campbell’s depature. The 20-year had a memorable season with the team, and is showing promising signs of taking on a much larger role in the Hawks’ defense.

Two other restricted free agents, Chris Campoli and Michael Frolik, will take up most of the Blackhawks’ spare change if they end up staying.

As I had mentioned before, physicality was one aspect of the Blackhawks’ game that was sorely lacking in the 2010-2011 season. With this new cap flexibility, Bowman can look to add some of that missing force and also focus on retaining star forward Patrick Sharp, whose contract ends in one year.

Defensemen Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, who are taking up a little over $11 million of the salary cap, are not going anywhere, and obviously neither are forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, who combined take up nearly $13 million.
With that being said, the roster is looking quite different from the one that won the Stanley Cup in 2010. In addition to Keith, Seabrook, Toews, Kane and Sharp, only Marian Hossa, Dave Bolland, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jordan Hendry remain. And given the struggles the Blackhawks faced in the 2010-2011 season, it is clear that the team needs to start rebuilding themselves into a dominating force on the ice once more.

Corey Crawford’s outstanding performance in the last season guarantees him his spot as starting goaltender, but it is unlikely that UFA Marty Turco will stay with the team as the backup goalie. Bowman has said that 24-year old Czech Alexander Salak is “the best goalie in Europe” and has stated that he would like to see him serve as the backup, almost guaranteeing that Turco is not going to stay in Chicago.

As the NHL free agency free-for-all nears, here is a breakdown of the Blackhawks’ current cap situation:

FORWARDS: $30, 529, 167

Patrick Kane $6, 300, 000 (No move clause)
Jonathan Toews $6, 300,000 (No move clause)
Marian Hossa $5, 275, 000
Patrick Sharp $3, 900, 000
Dave Bolland $3, 375, 000
Rotislav Olesz $3, 125, 000
Marcus Kruger $900, 000 (Entry leve)
Ben Smith $812, 500 (Entry level)
Bryan Bickell $541, 667 (RFA)
Michael Frolik $1, 275, 000 (RFA)
Viktor Stalberg $850, 000 (RFA)
Jake Dowell $525, 000 (RFA)
Fernando Pisani $500, 000 (UFA)
Ryan Johnson $500, 000 (UFA)

DEFENSEMEN: $16, 467, 628

Brent Seabrook $5, 800, 000 (No move clause)
Duncan Keith $5, 538, 462 (No move clause)
Niklas Hjalmarsson $3, 500, 000
Nick Leddy $1, 116, 666 (Entry level)
John Scott $512, 500
Chris Campoli $1, 400, 000 (RFA)
Jordan Hendry $600,000 (UFA)

GOALTENDERS: $3 279, 267

Corey Crawford $2, 666,667
Alexander Salak $612, 500
Marty Turco $1, 300,000 (UFA)

Physicality is the one aspect of the Chicago Blackhawk that was glaringly absent in the 2010-2011 season. But a good chunk of the team’s cap space is designated to keeping defensemen Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell, Brent Seabrook, and Niklas Hjalmarsson so it won’t be likely that any major changes will be seen on the defensive end.

In terms of forwards, the Hawks have several promising players in Kyle Beach and Jeremy Morin, who are expected to find themselves playing in the NHL in the next couple of seasons. And Nick Leddy, who was 16th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by Minnesota and traded to Chicago a year later, has proved to mesh well with his new teammates. But remember, they are all still prospects. On the permanent roster, the forwards are that offensive punch that they could really use (excluding, of course, the ever-serious captain Toews).

With that being said, drafting a skilled and versatile forward should be the Blackhawks’ main objective this time around. In the past, the organization has tended to pick up college-bound players (12 of the last 25 picks were headed for the NCAA). It’s been a slight trend in the team’s recent history, and it’s likely to continue this season as well.

Personally I would like to see the Hawks take Boone Jenner, the 18-year old Oshawa Generals center who is unstoppable in the faceoff circle and plays a blue-collar, hard-working style of hockey that gets all the results without all the flash. His style of play emulates that of a young Jarome Iginla. Jenner would fit in nicely as a third-line center who I’m sure could be counted on to move up if need be.