Weekend Wrap-Up

When the Blackhawks took to the practice ice on Sunday, they did so without Dave Bolland.  The good news was Jonathan Toews was skating on a line between Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien.  Since Toews wasn’t skating on a regular line when he first came back to practice, it appears as though Toews will make his return on Monday night when the Kings come to town. 

Ben Eager skated on the fourth line with Colin Fraser and Andrew Ebbett. 

Kris Versteeg skated in Dave Bolland’s place as the second line center. 

Based on that evidence, it’s fairly obvious the Hawks don’t think very highly of Ebbett.  That’s fine, he hasn’t really given them much to think about.  Unfortunately, they’d probably be better off just giving him his flat-out release than asking him to play out of position and to skate on the fourth line.  There are plenty of guys in Rockford much more physically-suited to play the type of game the Hawks will be expecting out of their fourth line wing for a very similar cap hit.

As for Versteeg as a center, there shouldn’t be many surprises here.  Last year, Versteeg filled in admirably when Patrick Sharp was hurt and before Sammy Pahlsson was acquired.  Some games, he looked very good and others, he looked woefully out of position.  Expect more of the same on that front. 

The only thing I wonder is - Is Versteeg that big of an upgrade at center over Ebbett that the Hawks are willing to make themselves significantly weaker at the wing?  Let’s hope he is, otherwise it may get ugly until Marian Hossa makes his glorious debut.

As for making a trade to acquire a center, Tim Sassone says not to hold your breath.  

Would the Hawks go out and trade for another center if they lose Bolland? It’s not likely. Their bigger need is for a defenseman to run the power play.

This is starting to become a broken record, but why-oh-why would the Hawks need a defenseman to run the power play?  Whatever you think of him, when Brian Campbell was signed to a 7-year contract, the Hawks announced to the entire hockey world, ”We have a defenseman to run our power play for the better part of the next decade.”

Now after one year, they’re going to give up players for a position they just filled? 

That’s without taking into account, the only thing Cam Barker can do above-average (at this point in his career) is run a power play. 

I understand the Hawks power play has been less than stellar so far, but there is absolutely no reason to slam on the panic button and start giving up players (or draft picks) for a position where the Hawks are already relatively stacked.  If anything, someone needs to start asking harder questions for Coach Q and his staff about the personnel they’ve employed on their power play thus far.      

*On the Farm*

–The Rockford IceHogs went 1-1 this weekend in a Friday and Saturday showdown against the Abbotsford Heat. 

On Friday, they lost 4-2.  After falling behind 3-0, Peter MacArthur scored on the power play a minute into the second period.  Evan Brophey and Daryl Boyle were credited with assists.  Abbotsford responded with a goal just a minute later to cease any momentum for the IceHogs.  Corey Crawford was pulled after stopping only 10 of the 14 shots he faced.

Bracken Kearns scored six and a half minutes into the third to close the scoring for the night.  Joseph Fallon stopped all 27 of the shots he faced in relief.

Saturday night was much better.  Fallon got the nod in goal and responded by stopping nearly every shot he faced in a 2-1 victory.  Halfway through the second, Nathan Davis put Rockford on the board with his sixth goal of the season.  Matt Keith and Jake Dowell got the assists.  Seven minutes later, Evan Brophey scored on the power play with assists from Mark Cullen and Pete McArthur.

Fallon was one minute away from his first shutout of the season before the Heat snuck one past him.  He held on the rest of the way to give Rockford a weekend split against Abbotsford.

–Byron Froese had an assist in the Everett Silvertips 3-2 overtime loss to the Calgary Hitmen on Friday night. 

–Kyle Beach scored the first goal for the Spokane Chiefs in their 3-1 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday night.  On Saturday night, Beach assisted on the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Giants.  For the season, Beach has 14 goals and 4 assists in 15 games played.

–Shawn Lalonde didn’t get a point in Friday night’s 5-2 loss to the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors but he was on the ice for both of Belleville’s goals.  He was also held pointless in the Bulls’ exciting 3-2 comeback win on Saturday.  Trailing 2-0 with less than five minutes left in the game, the Bulls scored three goals in two and a half minutes to beat the Brampton Battalion. 

–In a WCHA weekend showdown involving three Blackhawk prospects, Colorado College and Minnesota-Duluth split the two-game set.  Friday night, UMD won 4-3.  Dylan Olsen had an assist while Dan DeLisle was held scoreless.  Billy Sweatt had an assist and three shots on goal in the losing effort. 

Saturday, the Tigers came back with a 6-2 win.  Sweatt scored six and a half minutes into the second period to give Colorado College a lead they’d never relinquish.  He added his second goal of the night with four minutes left in the game.  He also had an assist.  Dylan Olsen assisted on both of the Bulldog goals.  Dan DeLisle did not dress.

–Brandon Pirri had a goal and assist in RPI’s 5-2 victory over Yale on Friday night.  He scored RPI’s first goal on Saturday in their 3-1 win over Brown.  Pirri is currently second on the team in scoring with 6 goals and 4 assists in 10 games played.  He’s also second on the team in penalty minutes with 20.

Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 3 (SO)

It’s a proverb as old as Chris Chelios’ shoulder pads: What the forward on the power play point giveth, the forward on the power play point taketh away.

Indeed, the Hawks jumped out to an early lead Friday night in Colorado, thanks to a Dustin Byfuglien point shot on the power play.  Then, just a few minutes later, Duncan Keith worked a give-and-go with Kris Versteeg, who was camped out behind the Avalanche net.  Keith hit Versteeg with a pass, and Versteeg quickly found Keith coming through the slot.  Keith put it past Barrington native Craig Anderson to double the young Hawk lead.

It wouldn’t last.

With less than two minutes left in the first frame, hard work by Matt Duchene’s group forced a Blackhawk icing.  During the ensuing play, Ryan O’Reilly undid half of the Hawks’ solid period.

It would only get worse.

After a slow start to the second period, Adam Foote had a plan; he would take a roughing penalty in an effort to force a Blackhawk forward to the position of defense.  And, Joel Quenneville fell right into his trap.  A minute into the power play, David Jones undressed forward-turned-pointman Dustin Byfuglien on his way to the net.  (Byfuglien later admitted to believing Jones, the Colorado winger, was the immortal pirate with the same name from Pirates of the Caribbean.  He certainly treated him as such as Jones came down on him.)

Just a minute later, O’Reilly scored his second of the game to give the ’Lanche its first lead of the night.

Later in the frame, following a solid Blackhawk power play, Andrew Ladd found himself alone in front of Anderson with a Patrick Sharp rebound on his stick.  He slipped the tying goal behind the Avalanche goalie.

The third would come and go without a goal; as would overtime.  Then, the Hawks and Avalanche found themselves in familiar territory: a shootout.  Unfortunately, this one wouldn’t end with an Andrew Ladd game winner.  This one would start with a Patrick Kane – the first shooter – goal, but would see Versteeg, Sharp, Tomas Kopecky, Andrew Ladd, who hit the post, Cam Barker and Dustin Byfuglien miss.  Marek Svatos would score for the ’Lanche to take it to “extra innings” – as Pat Foley calls it – and Chris Steward would score to win.  The goal came in the eighth shootout round.

Extra, Extra, Read All About It

– That is why I don’t enjoy watching forwards on the power play point – and why anyone who thinks Byfuglien should be a defenseman is on acid.

– Annti Niemi would get kicked out of Morehouse College with those hockey pants sagging off his hips.  Pull those pants up.

– Did anyone hear the Blackhawk dads were also taken on the trip?  Huh, hadn’t heard.

– Mike Haviland’s complexion looks much better this season.  No longer does he look like a teenage girl with acne who’d been crying for an hour.  Good for him.

– Hold on.  The dads were on the trip?

– Maybe Patrick Sharp’s dad should have stayed in Ontario.  Sharp had 346 chances combined in Phoenix and Colorado and had no goals.  He missed the net 87 times.

– Andrew Ladd received a scare when he took a skate boot to the face in the third.  It appeared that Ladd was lucky enough to avoid the skate blade, but that the boot broke his nose.  He returned.  After all, he’s a hockey player.

– Tomas Kopecky continues to be a different player recently.  One thing’s for sure, though: he’s not a fourth line player.  And, in this case, that may actually not be a good thing.

– With Dave Bolland out, Versteeg centered Kane and Ladd; Andrew Ebbett was in between Sharp and Byfuglien; and Madden centered Troy Brouwer and Kopecky.  Colin Fraser, Bryan Bickell and Jordan Hendry formed the fourth line.

– The Hawks outshot the ‘Lanche 32 to 22.

Coyotes 3, Blackhawks 1

The Coyotes committed four crucial mistakes:

• In the first period and on the penalty kill, a Coyotes defenseman whiffed on a clearing attempt instead feeding a wide-open Cam Barker at the point.
• Late in the first period and on the power play, Adrian Aucoin allowed Kris Versteeg to sneak behind him.  Versteeg beat Aucoin to the loose puck and came in alone on Bryzgalov.
• In the second period, the Coyotes got caught with too many men on a rush.  Duncan Keith intercepted a pass and sprung Patrick Sharp on a clear breakaway.
• Not even a minute later, Patrick Kane got a breakaway of his own.

On most nights against NHL teams, at least two of those mistakes would have been buried in the back of their net.  

On this night, the Hawks didn’t even register a shot on goal from any of those chances.  Patrick Kane came the closest when his shot grazed the outside of the post and went out of play. 

Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, and Patrick Sharp all missed the net.  

That pretty much sums up the Hawks night.

Three minutes into the game, John Madden made a careless pass behind the Coyote net.  Ed Jovanovski picked it up and gained the red line where he fed Martin Hanzal.  Brent Sopel gave Hanzal a ton of room.  Hanzal gladly accepted; took the puck wide and fired a shot towards the net.  The puck went between Cristobal Huet’s legs and Coyotes drew first blood.

After the Coyotes killed off the Hawks first power play of the night, the Hawks defensive pair of Brian Campbell and Cam Barker didn’t have the opportunity to get off the ice.  The Coyotes took advantage of the tired legs when Shane Doan threw the puck towards the net where it was re-directed by Hanzal.  With two Coyotes in front of the net and Campbell having to choose who to cover, the rebound went right to an uncovered Peter Mueller. 

Halfway through the second, Kris Versteeg got caught too far down in a forecheck and Phoenix came back the other way on a 4-on-3.  After some nifty passing, Scottie Upshall buried a shot and the ‘Yotes were up 3-0.

The Hawks cut into the lead just three minutes later when Patrick Kane picked up a loose puck on the penalty kill.  He forced the Coyotes defense to keep backing up and left a drop pass for Versteeg.  Versteeg put a shot towards the net and the puck went right between Bryzgalov’s legs. 

Later in the period, the Hawks generated some major pressure on the power play.  Bryzgalov made two huge stops on Tomas Kopecky tips and kept the lead at two goals going into the intermission.

In the third period, the Hawks thought they had cut the deficit to one goal with ten minutes left but Colin Fraser clearly kicked the puck into the net and the war room in Toronto took a whopping 15 seconds before disallowing it.

Bryzgalov carried it home the rest of the way for the Coyotes turning away whatever else the Hawks threw towards the net.

Quickies

-Yes, the power play went 0-for-6 tonight, but at least it resembled a professional unit for parts of the night.  You couldn’t say that a week ago.

-Not the best Dave Bolland performance I’ve ever seen.

-Speaking of performances, there was a Tomas Kopecky sighting tonight and I’m not just saying it because his newly hired PR staff of Pat Foley and Ed Olcyzk told me to.  He actually was getting to loose pucks and making plays happen.  Now if we can just see that on a more consistent basis….

-Keep this in mind before you grab your pitchforks and torches in the hunt for Cristobal Huet, the Hawks scored one goal.  Just one. 

*On the Farm*

-Shawn Lalonde made his return to the Belleville Bulls lineup on Wednesday night.  He notched an assist in their 4-3 shootout loss to the Peterborough Petes.  He also was stopped as the second shooter in the shootout.

Getting High in the Desert

While the internet finally cools off after nearly burning down from a napalm storm of make-believe Blackhawk trade rumors (I wonder if Brian Burke woke up on Wednesday morning and thought he’d have to answer questions regarding a rumor from Hockey Buzz.  And another thing, if any person with half of a brain cell knows any post from that site is about 10% fact, 90% fantasy, how do their blog posts become an international story?) let’s take a look at some of the reality facing the Hawks in the next two games:

-Jonathan Toews returned to practice on Wednesday.  The ‘meh’ news was that Toews didn’t skate with a regular line so it appears as though the Hawks still aren’t counting on him just yet.  At this point, though, it’s encouraging for him just to return to the ice.  To get the go-ahead from the medical staff would mean his concussion symptoms are finally subsiding. 

-It’s kind of surprising how shocked people are about the Phoenix Coyotes start to the season.  I suppose all the off-season drama plays into it.  What people forget is Phoenix was in the hunt for a playoff spot last year until early February.  Once they reached their high water mark of 5 games over .500, that’s when the wheels came apart.

Getting superb goaltending is certainly helping their cause in the early going.  Ilya Bryzgalov and Jason LaBarbera have combined to stop 93% of the shots they’ve faced.  With Bryzgalov getting the start against Colorado on Wednesday night, it will be interesting  to see who Dave Tippett turns to in the Thursday night match-up with the Hawks. 

Other than Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski, the Coyotes are a mish-mosh of veteran players.  Some familar names you’ll see- Robert Lang, Adrian Aucoin, Jim Vandermeer, Radim Vrbata, Vernon Fiddler, and Matthew Lombardi. 

They won’t be raising the Cup in June, but they could prove to be a formidable opponent for teams taking them lightly.

-As for Colorado, back-up goalie Peter Budaj got his first start of the season on Wednesday night.  At this point, it’s not a matter of if Craig Anderson reverts to his career numbers, but when.  A heavy workload combined with having no defense in front of him isn’t exactly the key to surviving the grueling regular season.

Going into this week, the Avalanche were tied with the Edmonton Oilers for the worst shot differential in the entire NHL.  Puck Prospectus uses this statistical measure to help figure who the lucky teams are and who the good ones are.  I’ll let you try and figure where they think Colorado stands.

-Another bizarre thought from Tim Sassone today.  After unmerciful spanking to the blogger who started the rumor firestorm, Sassone offers this:

 Who wouldn’t want Kaberle, a terrific defenseman and a power-play quarterback? The Hawks need both.

Um, come again. 

Two Julys ago, the Hawks gave Brian Campbell the richest and longest contract in team history to fill the role of power-play quarterback.  Not to mention, power-play quarterback is the only thing Cam Barker can say he actually does.  So no, the Hawks don’t need a power-play quarterback and probably won’t need one as long as those two guys are wearing an Indian head.

-As for the rumor mongerers among us, I just have one request: Is it asking too much to start throwing some other names out there?  The ’Tomas Kaberle, Anze Kopitar, and Alexander Frolov to the Hawks’ rumors have officially entered the ‘Chone Figgins to the White Sox’ and ‘Brian Roberts to the Cubs’ zone.  

If we’re going to wildly speculate about players, why is it always the same three guys?  Give us someone new to make fun of you about.  I’m not asking for much. 

*On the Farm* 

–The IceHogs took out a weekend of frustration on the San Antonio Rampage with a 5-3 win.  Rob Klinkhammer, Akim Aliu, Bryan Bickell, Mark Cullen, and Jassen Cullimore were the goal scorers.  Cullen added two assists and Klinkhammer had an assist as well.  Corey Crawford stopped 30 of the 33 shots to nab third star honors. 

–Byron Froese scored his second goal in as many nights in Everett’s 3-2 loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

–Kyle Beach continues to leave behind a trail of scorched Earth.  He scored two goals in a 5-1 win over the Chilliwack Bruins.  The goals were just over 30 seconds apart.  He scored his first goal with 15 seconds left in the first period.  Then he scored again 18 seconds into the second period on the power play.  Beach leads the Chiefs with 13 goals.

The Hardware Factor

Something has been gnawing away at me for a couple of weeks and it’s not when did “The Office” turn from one of the few can’t miss shows on television into just another mediocre sitcom. 

When we wrote our article for “The Committed Indian” last week, we examined the relationship between Stanley Cup winners and their head coaches.  To recap, we found that almost every head coach had at least won a conference championship by his fifth year of coaching.  

In the aforementioned article, I went as far back as 1980 to discover Jacques Demers and Al Arbour were the only coaches of Cup champions with more than five years experience who hadn’t at least a conference championship. 

This time, I went as far back as the 1967-68 campaign a.k.a. when the NHL expanded from six to twelve teams and discovered the number of coaches stays the same.  Demers and Arbour were still the only coaches in the exclusive club. 

Now before I go any further, let me make this clear- This isn’t meant to be an indictment of Joel Quenneville. 

What I’m really interested in figuring out is why this seems to be the case.  Why is it that the head coaches of Stanley Cup winners, as a rule, had to have won at least a conference championship by their fifth year?

Let’s try and clear up the obvious first.  The fact that the NHL was dynasty driven from the late 60’s to late 80’s plays a fairly large role.  The Montreal Canadiens won 8 Cups in the 70’s with Scotty Bowman directing them to 6 of them.  The New York Islanders and Arbour won 4 to start the 80’s and the Edmonton Oilers with Glen Sather (coach for 4) and John Muckler (1) closed out the decade with 5 of their own.  

In 42 years, that’s 17 Cups won by only three teams.  Not to mention, Bowman also won 4 more Cups with Pittsburgh and Detroit.   

That still leaves 21 other Cup winners, so the lingering question remains, and to be perfectly honest…….I don’t have a slightest clue as to why this is the case.  Sure, there are a few cogent theories.

The life span of NHL coaches is relatively short to begin with.  There aren’t many coaches that get more than five years to prove their chops.  In most cases, if a coach hasn’t righted the ship by his third year, then he’s going to get canned and he may not get another shot at redemption.      

The more playoff failure a coach experiences, the harder it is for him to shake it.  Joel Quenneville is actually a pretty good example here.  Last year in the playoffs, Hawk fans were given an up-close and personal view on some of Coach Q’s warts.  His incessant line-matching can be maddening and his epic meltdown in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals didn’t exactly help the situation.  The longer it takes for a coach to win, the more they try to force the issue.

Scotty Bowman.  Nowadays, Scotty has assumed the position of Black Hand within the Blackhawks organization previously held by Bob Pulford.  Before that, he was, without question, the best coach in NHL history.  Of the 42 Cup Champions since league expansion, Scotty was a part of a ridiculous 24% of them.  How many coaches lost their chance at immortality because of him?  At least 10, including Joel Quenneville.

For the most part, though, there is no concrete evidence as to why coaches need to win at least win a conference championship by their fifth year.  It really shouldn’t make a difference, but just a mere glance at 40 of the last 42 years proves otherwise.

With Joel Quennville never winning more than 9 games in a playoff campaign throughout his 13-year coaching career, it would certainly behoove him to start reversing this trend as soon as he can.

*On the Farm*

–Byron Froese scored a goal and was a +2 in Everett’s 3-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday.

Going Farming

Before I cover the weekend happenings of Blackhawk prospects, the Hawks, once again, took to the practice ice on Monday without Jonathan Toews. 

I was told by someone with far better medical knowledge than me that for serious concussions, the recovery time is usually around 30 days without symptoms before medical clearance is given.  After 11 days and seemingly being no closer to returning to the ice, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to realize that Toews may have suffered a pretty serious concussion.

I’m not saying Toews is going to be out for a month; I’m just saying he’ll probably need to have more than a few days in a row without symptoms before the medical staff dreams of giving him the ok to come back.  That’s what Joel Quenneville means when he says someone with a concussion isn’t making progress or suffers a setback (i.e. the Ben Eager situation).

Or like he said about Toews before last Friday’s game.

“Progress hasn’t been exactly where we wanted it,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Some of that is going to take some time. Every day there has been some progress, but at the same time, we’re just waiting to see. We have the weekend here and a couple of days next week.”

After missing practice on Monday, I would venture to guess Toews will not be playing come Thursday night against Phoenix.

As for Ben Eager, without having any inside info and going strictly by what Joel Quenneville has been saying, it certainly seems like he tried to play through a mild concussion without notifying the team and likely made it worse than it already was.

Let’s just hope for Eager’s sake Joel Quenneville isn’t as salty as Ozzie Guillen is when his players try to hide injuries from him.

–The Rockford IceHogs had a particularly tough weekend.  A three game stretch on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday against the Milwaukee Admirals (on Friday and Saturday) and Chicago Wolves (on Sunday) saw the IceHogs drop all three tilts scoring a combined three goals.

On Friday night, the Admirals won 2-1.  Rob Klinkhammer opened the scoring with six and a half minutes left in the first period.  Corey Crawford picked up the lone assist.  The Admirals responded with two goals in the second period and that was all they’d need.  Crawford turned away 33 of the 35 shots in a losing effort.

The score remained the same on Saturday in Rockford.  This time, the Hogs entered the third period trailing 1-0.  Matt Keith scored the equalizer two minutes into the frame with helpers from Bryan Bickell and Bracken Kearns.  Four minutes later, Cal O’ Reilly scored the game-winner for the Admirals.  Corey Crawford got the start again and stopped 23 of 25 shots.

In Chicago on Sunday night, the IceHogs could only muster 1 goal again in a 3-1 loss to the Wolves.  Bryan Bickell scored for the Hogs halfway through the second period with assists from Bryan Ewing and Jake Dowell.  With the score tied 1-1 and less than five minutes left in the game, Chris Chelios scored his first goal as a member of the Wolves.  An empty netter with less than 15 seconds left cinched up the win for Chicago.  Joseph Fallon got the start for Rockford and was named third star of the game after turning away 22 of 24 shots.

Rockford Tidbits- The Wolves have now won 3 of the 4 meetings against the IceHogs thus far.  The Admirals have beaten the IceHogs in 2 of their 3 meetings.  Rockford’s power play went 0-for-12 over the weekend.  Don’t know when this happened, but Rockford now has Jassen Cullimore playing on its backline.  Let’s pray we never see him in a Blackhawk uniform again.

–The Everett Silvertips won both their games this weekend.  Saturday night, they beat Red Deer 3-0.  Sunday, they beat the Edmonton Oil Kings 2-1 in a shootout.  Byron Froese didn’t show up on the scoresheet in either of the games but was a +1 on the weekend.

–Kyle Beach is on a tear for the Spokane Chiefs.  Beach followed up his hat trick on Wednesday night with two goals and an assist in a 4-3 Friday night win over the Kelowna Rockets.  Saturday night, he didn’t do anything along with the rest of his teammates in a 2-0 loss to the Portland Winterhawks.  Then on Sunday, he scored a goal in Spokane’s 3-0 win over Portland.

–Dylan Olsen had an assist and 3 shots on goal in UMD’s 4-1 Friday night win over Clarkson.  Dan DeLisle had two shots on goal.  Saturday night, Olsen and DeLisle were held scoreless in a 4-2 win over Clarkson.  This weekend, UMD will face-off against WCHA rival Colorado College led by Billy Sweatt. 

–Brandon Pirri scored a goal for RPI in their win Friday night 4-3 over Union.  He was scoreless in their 2-1 loss to Army on Saturday night.  RPI outshot Army 40-16 in the loss.

Kritic’s Korner

Friend of the Feather and all-around hockey man, Dave Morris, recently reviewed every Blackhawks book ever penned for Kukla’s Korner.  It’s a deep look into Dave’s soul, so go it alone only if you must.

Gorgeous, I Say

There’s much to be excited about on this first day of November, but none should exceed the excitement one feels when he/she views the uniforms the Canadiens wore last night in Montreal.  Sure, we saw the multi-striped Habs uniforms during last season, but the gloves … the gloves … they’re … they’re … beautiful.

Pairing old-style, leather-colored gloves is a brilliant touch to a throw-back uniform originally worn during an era when leather-colored gloves were the norm.  And, this true-to-time touch far exceeds the look of the same uniforms last season, when the Habs wore blue gloves to match the plain blue pants.

It begs the question: Has this ever been done before?  I can’t recall a time when an NHL paired throwback uniforms with throwback leather gloves.  Anyone?

Blackhawks 3, Canadiens 2

It’s 11:00 in the a.m., and if you’re reading this, I can only assume you either (a) saw last night’s game or (b) already read a re-cap.  I’ll spare you the recap, and get right to my thoughts from last night’s Original Six tilt.

– Of course, Andrew Ladd was given the boot early for his jarring hit on the Canadiens’ Matt D’Agostini.  With hits to the head being the hot button issue of the NHL day, Ladd’s trip to the box following the play seemed to be short-lived.  Indeed, the refs asked him to exit the box and sent him off the ice with an elbowing major and a game misconduct.

What to do now?  Well, the NHL will review the hit and likely revoke the game misconduct assessed on the ice.  Translation: don’t worry about a suspension.  It’s quite clear on replay that Ladd (a) didn’t elbow D’Agostini and (b) didn’t leave his feet to make the hit.

So, if (a) the NHL currently uses instant replay for certain situations to make sure the call on the ice was correct and (b) it’s clear, in this situation, that Ladd was not guilty of the serious infraction called against him on the ice, why not allow the referees – or the NHL “war room” as it were – go to the video to assess penalties when a misconduct would – or maybe should – be called.  It’s nearly impossible to decipher whether a player skating as fast as Ladd elbowed another player skating as fast as D’Agostini, so why not allow the refs to slow it down and make the right call? 

After all, it cost Ladd his night.

– Kris Versteeg was once again masterful on Friday night.  He dangled all over the ice in Patrick Kane-like fashion.  Coach Q even used the two together in an effort to jumpstart his offense. 

Needless to say, Kane was fantastic himself.

– Sure the Hawks won, but their offense has struggled of late.  Of course, this isn’t surprising as they’re missing Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa.  But, it seems most forwards have caught a case of Patrick Kane-itis.  Now, whenever any forward enters the zone, rather than going hard to the cage, the puck handler stops just inside the blue line and waits for trailers to pass to.  While Patrick Kane and Wayne Gretzky have done well using this strategy, it’s not exactly the best idea for Thomas Kopecky.  Q needs to instruct the forwards to get the puck to the net, rather than emulating The Great One himself.

– Oh man, the power play is yucky.  I’m not sure what else to say.

– OK, I relent.  Waive Cristobal Cristobal Huet.  The goaltender not named Annti Niemi has now given up four goals in his last four games.  Not bad for someone who was being run out of town two weeks ago.  For the record, Huet was cheered during pre-game introductions, but received Bronx cheers for stopping the first puck he touched all night – a long range dump in on net.

– It looked like Patrick Sharp had officially slipped into a slump when he mishandled two pucks in the offensive zone, including a one-time attempt, during one shift on the first period.  Sharp got things together, though, and one-timed the game winner past Carey Price in the third.  He played well nearly all night, which is, ya know, a nice change.

– Cam Barker continues to look like a defenseman playing without confidence, but his second period goal was the equivalent of a broken bat home run.  Barker one-timed a behind-the-net Versteeg pass for a goal, but his stick broke in half in the process.

– Finally, from the Blackhawks’ web site recap: Ben Eager skated yesterday for the first time since being injured.  Q called it “encouraging”; I’d say.  He and Toews will make the trip next week to Phoenix and Colorado.

Predators 2, Blackhawks 0

It’s hard to win when you can’t stay out of the box.

That was the story of the night for the Chicago Blackhawks.  In the first period, the Hawks spent the final 7 minutes trying to kill off penalties, including a 5-on-3.  Cristobal Huet was the best penalty killer and the score remained 0-0 after the first 20 minutes.

The second period was actually the Hawks best chance to get the go-ahead goal.  Unfortunatley, it took two horrendous power plays by them for the coaching staff to mercifully make an adjustment. 

During the aforementiong power plays, the Hawks went with Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Tomas Kopecky up front with Dave Bolland and Duncan Keith on the point.  Not surprisingly, the puck spent zero time in the Predators zone. 

They finally decided that Bolland wasn’t a good fit and went with Brian Campbell and Cam Barker at the point.  What resulted was some excellent pressure including their best chance when Kane teed up a shot from the top of the circles and put the puck right on Sharp’s stick with a wide open net staring back at him.  Sharp put the tip wide.

Shortly after this sequence, Barker took a bad penalty during Nashville’s only sustained pressure of the period.  Subsequently, the Predators didn’t disappoint.  Joel Ward tipped home a Francois Bouillion centering pass and the Predators had the only goal they’d need.

Then in the final 6 minutes with the Hawks desperate for the equalizer, Tomas Kopecky took a bad offensive zone penalty.  As soon as the Hawks killed that off, Brent Sopel went away for two minutes for hooking.  When the Hawks successfully killed that penalty off, there was just under 2 minutes left to play. 

Nashville’s Patric Hornqvist was called for goaltender interference and the Hawks had a 6-on-4.  There were a couple close calls but Pekka Rinne stood tall and their best shot at the end may have been foiled when Dave Scatchard slashed Patrick Kane’s right hand just as Kane was getting ready to feed a wide open Patrick Sharp.

The Predators picked up the loose puck and iced the win giving them their third win in four games, and once again proving they refuse to just go away and be bad. 

Quickies

–Patrick Kane was, by far, the best player on the ice.  Without exaggerating, he probably could have had 4 assists if his teammates finished the excellent scoring chances he set up. 

–Kane and Patrick Sharp were finally re-united on a line towards the end of the second period.  Let’s hope it stays that way for a little bit.

–For a coach like Joel Quenneville who will shake up lines at the slightest hint of staleness, he really is a stubborn S.O.B. with a forward playing the point on the power play.  Whether it’s Dave Bolland or Patrick Sharp, his infatuation with this strategy is starting to get creepy.  Not to mention, it’s kinda, sorta destroying the Hawks power play.  They clearly have the personnel to succeed with the man advantage after last year’s dominance.  It would be nice if their coaching staff would put them in the best position to succeed.

While it was nice to see them finally shake up the power play unit in the second period with good results, they went right back to it at the end of the game by putting Dustin Byfuglien on one point and Duncan Keith at the other.  Meanwhile, their three best powerplay defensemen (all with just as good shots and better hands than the other two) sat on the bench.  Maybe that’s why it was so frustrating when Keith was unable to corral a wide open puck and forced the Hawks to regroup with only 30 seconds remaining.

–I suppose Keith could get the benefit of the doubt at the end of the game because the ice at the Sommett Center was a joke.  The puck was bouncing around like a racquet ball and for a team like the Hawks who controlled the puck for probably 65% of the time, it was maddening.

–And don’t forget kids, just keep jamming it towards the net and wait for someone to come on you.