Saad-Toews-Hossa Give Blackhawks Season Sweep of the Devils

photo from csnchicago.com

After back to back overtime losses, the Blackhawks should probably have come out stronger than this. Two sluggish first periods that looked a lot like the game against Vancouver gave the Devils a 1-0 lead into the third period, where the Blackhawks came to life, scoring three unanswered goals including the empty netter to secure their first home win since before the All Star Break.


The top line, minus Marian Hossa, has been kind of quiet as of late, picking up some assists here and there, but Jonathan Toews, prior to last night, had two goals in his last twenty one games (though he had sixteen assists in that time) and scored the game winner last night. That top line combined for four points last night, including a goal and an assist for Hossa, giving him eight points in his last four games, and an assist for Brandon Saad, giving him six points in the last five games.

After some brief line juggling, Quenneville reunited the Versteeg-Richards-Kane line, and they combined for a goal and an assist. This is Versteeg's first point since his return from injury on Wednesday, and Kane's assist gives him sixty points on the season, three points above second place. Before Versteeg's injury kept him out of the lineup for six weeks, they were the hottest line on the Blackhawks, and hopefully they can snap back into that chemistry quickly, because no one in the NHL is hotter than Patrick Kane right now. Kane's career high is thirty goals. He's currently on pace for almost forty. The Blackhawks are still playing him way too much (he had more ice time than Duncan Keith, last night), but the fact of the matter is that he's winning games for them right now, and that counts for a lot at this point in the season, when they're four points back of second place.

I thought the defence last night was good. They held New Jersey to twenty six shots, and while they got stuck in their own end a couple of times, and Corey Crawford had to make a couple of huge saves, I thought putting Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya back together was a solid plan. Oduya and Rozsival are too defensively unsound to play together for any stretch of time, and Hjalmarsson is strong enough both offensively and defensively to cover up Oduya's mistakes most of the time.

Ryan Hartman made an impact in his debut, hitting a Devil so hard his helmet came off about six seconds into his shift. It woke up the crowd, and his team, and he had a pretty solid game overall, creating offensive chances and generally making life hard for the Devils.

I would have liked a stronger all round game from the whole team, especially since the Penguins are coming to town on Sunday, but getting this win will do wonders in the locker room, after two tough losses.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Jonathan Toews. He got the goal monkey off his back with this one, getting the game winner immediately after Hossa scored the tying goal. He now has four points in his last three games, good for a three game point streak.

2. Brent Seabrook. After several very good defensive games, Seabrook broke an eight game pointless streak with two assists one the tying goal and the game winning goal. Pairing him with Hjalmarsson for the last few games has automatically slotted him into a more defensively minded role, but playing him with Kyle Cumiskey last night meant he was able to join the rush more, and he's also taken the role of point man on the first power play unit. He led the team with ice time last night for the second game in a row, and it seems his bad games are getting few and far between.

1. Marian Hossa. For the fourth game in a row, Marian Hossa has scored at least a goal, and his two points last night give him forty two on the season, good for third on the team, and only four points behind Toews, in second. The Blackhawks have scored eight goals on his last thirteen shots, counting the rebound opportunity for Toews last night. His shooting percentage has increased by four percent, and now he's must closer to his career average, though he shows no signs of slowing down.

Next game: February 15th vs. Penguins