Strong Performance from Mike Smith Downs Blackhawks in Shootout

photo from letsgohawks.com

Marian Hossa scored twice, and Patrick Kane roofed a filthy backhander in the shootout, but that wasn't quite enough to beat the Coyotes, who came into the UC playing a much stronger game than the last time these two teams met, a 6-1 bloodbath in favour of the home team.


Last season, one of the Blackhawks' strengths was their ability to win back to back games. This season, they're 5-4-1, after going 11-3-3 the season before. They're winning a lot more of the first game of a back to back, but it feels like they're exhausting themselves to win decisively, rather than a close win in both (a good example would be the Edmonton-Vancouver back to back in November, where they beat Edmonton 7-1 and then went on to lose 4-1 to the Canucks). The Blackhawks didn't look as tired as they have done in past back to backs, but Quenneville was rolling three lines for the majority of the game, and the team suffered for it.

The Saad-Toews-Hossa line was excellent this game, but very few others were. They combined for the only two goals (Hossa scored both, Toews with the assists), giving Hossa four goals in two games, and Toews his first point since his goal against Anaheim on January 30th. Hossa's been overdue for a breakout couple of games, and while this pace is unsustainable, it looks like his lopsided shooting percentage (currently 8.9%) is starting to readjust itself back to near his career average (12.9%).

Patrick Kane has had better hockey games. He was held to one shot on goal (a weak backhand easily stopped by Mike Smith) and he took an ill-advised unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to give the Coyotes their first goal during the ensuing power play. He was largely ineffective the entire game, despite being double shifted in the second and third periods as Daniel Carcillo sat, and even had a couple of shifts on the third line too. It looks like Quenneville overplayed him; he had almost twenty four minutes of ice time, third only to Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. He had more ice time than any other forward on either team, and had thirty seconds more ice time than the leading defencemen for the Coyotes (Oliver Ekman-Larsson). If Quenneville wants Kane to be at his most effective, he can't be giving him that much ice time regularly, and especially on the second night of a back to back. If he doesn't trust Carcillo in the lineup on a regular basis, he shouldn't be in the lineup on a regular basis.

The power play was... awful. There's really no other way to put it. They were 0 for 4, and in those four power plays, they generated two shots on goal. They need to be better, either by changing up the people in the power play units, or switching to a new formation, but something needs to change. It's absurd that a power play unit with elite players like Kane, Toews, Keith, Sharp (and Shaw) is fourteenth in the league (behind Columbus, New Jersey and Toronto, in 5th, 11th and 13th, respectively.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Jonathan Toews. He's been struggling recently, but the first Hossa goal in the second period came off a beautiful pass from Toews, and he assisted on the second one too, before being stopped in the shootout. He's second on the Blackhawks in points, but it would be nice to see him try and catch up to Patrick Kane, currently fifteen points ahead of him.

2. Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Ekman-Larsson is a special player. He should be in Norris talks all the time, but he plays for Arizona, so he never is. He assisted on both Coyotes goals last night, and successfully held players like Kane and Patrick Sharp to almost no offense.

1. Marian Hossa. Marian Hossa has scored the last four Blackhawks goals on his last five shots. He's been way, way overdue a breakout, but I don't think anyone was expecting this much of a show. The dam is officially broken. I'm excited to see what happens next.