"Elite" play from Saad Gives Blackhawks the Win

photo from blackhawkup.com

The Blackhawks moved into first place in the Central Division after last night's win over the Predators. They've won six in a row, and nine of their last ten, and they show no signs of slowing down.


Brandon Saad had his best game of the season last night, scoring his third goal in four games, and extending his point streak to four games. He then added an assist to Marian Hossa's first goal since the game in Edmonton, and his play was outstanding on both ends of the ice. Quenneville said in a post game interview, 'When he plays like that, he's at the elite level.' Saad's been searching mostly for consistency this season, and he seems to be clicking into place on the top line, with Hossa and Jonathan Toews, which is going to be a problem when Patrick Sharp returns, likely this Tuesday.

Hossa, who before tonight's game had three goals in twenty six games, scored twice in the third period to put the Predators away to give him five goals on the season, and puts him in fifth place for points on the Blackhawks. His early third period goal was his 900th career goal.

The Blackhawks got outshot for the third game straight last night. This is due to taking an early lead and then sitting on it for the rest of the game, playing an ultra-defensive kind of hockey that rarely works out, and probably won't continue to work out for Chicago. They still lead the league in Corsi % with 55.69% (they have possession of the puck 55.69% the time), and they have the highest goal differential in the league with +32, so they're clearly not struggling with offence, but defence needs to tighten it up a little. The loss of rookie Trevor van Riemsdyk has resulted in a small revolving door of defencemen trying to fill his spot, and no less than four defencemen have played in that third line pairing since his injury. This has also resulted in a defensive shuffle between the core, with Duncan Keith being double shifted, playing shifts not only with his normal partner, but occasionally swapping out for one of the second or third line defencemen. He played over twenty six minutes last night. Only three other Blackhawks played over twenty minutes, and he led every skater in ice time.

The Blackhawks' discipline was mostly good, better than it has been recently, with only one minor penalty (killed off successfully) and Bryan Bickell's fighting major. Having a good penalty kill has helped the Blackhawks massively this season (and in previous seasons) but taking an average of three penalties a game is just asking for that percentage to tumble.

Scott Darling played his first NHL game since the end of October, and improved his record to 3-1-0, with a save percentage of .943 and a GAA of 1.74. He's allowed more than one goal only once in those four games, a 5-4 OT win in Ottawa. He played well this game, making some point blank saves, and turning away every shot except the Colin Wilson goal, shot with at least three players screening him. With the Blackhawks having two more back to backs before Corey Crawford's projected return, we could be seeing more and more of Scott Darling in the pipes for Chicago, and that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Scott Darling. He hasn't played in a while, but he didn't look that way. He's a big body, and he takes away so much space for the opposing team to shoot at. Between him and Antti Raanta (also playing excellently), they're making it a little easier to be calm about the fact that Chicago is missing its starting goalie for at least another two weeks.

2. Marian Hossa. This could be the game that opens the floodgates for Hossa, eight time thirty goal scorer, possibly the most snakebitten scorer on the Blackhawks this season. He led the team in shots on game with seven, and he's tied for the team lead with eighty four. The pucks will start going in soon, and hopefully last night's game was a preview of more to come.

1. Brandon Saad. For the second straight game, Saad is first star, after a few more forgettable games. He feels like he's finally coming into his own, and he's currently sitting in fourth place for points leaders on the Blackhawks. With Sharp set to return on Tuesday, I think Saad has done enough to keep his spot on the top line, at least for a few more games. If he continues like he is, then who knows how long that top line could stay together?

Next game: December 9th, vs. Devils