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)


The Blackhawks need to do something about their power play. A power play led by Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp can't have a success rate of twenty percent. This inability to capitalise on the man advantage is only going to hurt them down the stretch, as is their seeming inability to stay out of the box.  Their penalty kill is third in the league, which is good for a team taking an average of over three penalties a game.

This success is in part due to goaltending. Of the three goaltenders that have dressed for Chicago thus far this season, none of them have a save percentage lower than .926 (Crawford), and only fourteen goals have been allowed so far in eight games. Scott Darling was especially excellent last night, only allowing one goal on thirty three shots, and even that goal was an odd occurrence, a bad play from Brad Richards that led to a three on one that Darling and the lone defenceman, Brent Seabrook, could do nothing about.

Jeremy Morin also played well last night, apparently trying to make up for missing three games by registering three shots on goal and creating another half dozen chances for his linemates. People have said that Andrew Shaw plays every game like he still expects to get sent down to the AHL, and you can see that kind of attitude in Morin, except in Morin's case, it's a very real possibility. If he continues to play like he did last night, I can very easily see him being rewarded for it with more and more ice time, and even potentially stealing Daniel Carcillo's spot on the roster (Carcillo is currently out for four weeks with a knee injury)

Patrick Kane had a landmark game, getting his 500th career point assisting on a goal by, who else, Jonathan Toews. This point puts him at just under a point per game for his whole career, 500 points in 523 games.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Brent Seabrook. Seabrook's first goal of the season was also the game-winner. In addition to that, he registered over twenty five minutes of ice time, and was on the ice for the first goal of the game. Seabrook doesn't get a lot of credit a lot of the time because he spends most of his ice time with Duncan Keith, possibly the best defenceman in the NHL, but he always shows up ready to play, and is always where he needs to be on the ice, even if the scoresheet doesn't have his name on as often as other players.

2. Patrick Kane. Kane's been quiet for a player of his calibre recently, but 500 points in seven seasons is nothing to be ashamed of, and I look forward to him hitting the next milestone, sooner rather than later (Kane is only nineteen goals short of 200)

1. Scott Darling. One day I will have three stars without a single goalie, but today is not that day. Darling's NHL debut was outstanding, and it's a damn shame that Crawford's return will send him back down to Rockford. Hopefully he gets to play at least one other game before that happens.

Next game: October 28th, vs. Ducks