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.

Exciting Shootout Win Carries Blackhawks into All Star Break

photo from stltoday.com

After a one sided win against Arizona, the Blackhawks got into Pittsburgh early yesterday morning to play the Penguins. Last time they had to travel during a back to back, they lost 5-2  to the Oilers. This time, they got an early lead, before giving up a couple of goals, and holding off a motivated Pittsburgh team through a furiously paced overtime period. Crawford shut the door in the shootout to give the Blackhawks back to back wins heading into the weekend break.

Goals from Kane, Seabrook lead Blackhawks past Avs

photo from espn.go.com

The way Chicago started this game doubtless worried a lot of people. It looked worryingly similar to the way they started the game against Winnipeg, a scrambling, rushed affair where they just barely had the shot advantage, but this time, they went into the second period tied with Colorado, instead of down 3-0, and what a difference it made.

Late Rally Sends Blackhawks Past Wild

photo from bleacherreport.com

The Blackhawks had a 3-1 lead going into the third period, statistically their strongest period this season, but they ended up having to push late after giving up another two goals, the Wild tying the game ten minutes into the third period.

Costly Turnovers Lead to Blackhawks' Defeat

photo from rantsports.com

The Red Wings opened the scoring last night on a costly turnover by Kris Versteeg, and that set the tone for scoring for the rest of the game. Three of the four wings goals were from turnovers, and two of those turnovers happened in Chicago's defensive zone.

Reimer Stands Tall in Blackhawks' Loss to Maple Leafs

photo from cp24.com

Last night's game was a perfect example of how a goalie can steal two points for your team, as back up goaltender James Reimer made forty five saves on forty seven shots (twenty three saves in the third period alone, point blank shots from Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the last four minutes) to give the Blackhawks their fourth regulation loss in six games.

Blackhawks Solve Second Period Problem, Defeat Senators

photo from ottawacitizen.com

Yesterday, I recorded an episode of my podcast, Two For Slashing. In it, me and my cohost Aaron talked about how if the Blackhawks can't start putting in a full sixty minutes of hockey and scoring in the second period, they're going to run into problems. They appear to have heard us, scoring not only a second period goal against Ottawa, but two (and one of those was on the power play, another area the Blackhawks have been struggling in, going 7 for 35 in the past eight games)