Hossa's 1000th Leads Blackhawks Past Senators

photo from ottawasun.com

Chicago sweeps the season series with Ottawa with that win last night, but they were lucky to do so. Goals from Toews, Versteeg and Hossa showed the kind of offence we're used to from the Blackhawks, but shoddy defence meant the game had to be decided in a shootout.


The Blackhawks finally seem to have solved the problem of offence: if you can't score pretty goals, score ugly ones. Jonathan Toews' two goals were both scored from about a foot away from the goal line, and neither of them were pretty, but they don't have to be as long as they beat the goalie. Kris Versteeg and Marian Hossa's goals were prettier, Versteeg getting a step on Erik Karlsson and Hossa scoring his 1000th career point with a textbook wraparound, but Chicago needs to score any way it can if it wants to keep racking up wins (Chicago is now 6-3-1 on the season).

On the subject of Marian Hossa, last night's game in Ottawa was his 1100th NHL game, against the team that originally drafted him twelfth overall in 1997. He also happened to record a goal (that was almost the game winner) and an assist that were his 999th and 1000th NHL career points. He is only the eightieth player in the history of the NHL to do so, and is currently fourth in career points of active NHLers (after Jaromir Jagr, Joe Thornton and Jarome Iginla). Jonathan Toews is almost at a landmark in his career too; last night's second goal was his 199th career goal.

Jeremy Morin is continuing to have a strong game, spending a lot of his shifts last night on the third line with Versteeg and Brad Richards. Richards still leaves a lot to be desired in his game, but Versteeg and Morin playing together was something that could be really productive. They both have incredible speed and they're creating a ton of good scoring chances (Versteeg especially, with a goal and an assist last night). Versteeg got a quick bump up to the first line last night after Bryan Bickell got temporarily benched, but it's hard to see him up there for long; he belongs on the second or third lines creating space on the play with other smaller, faster wingers.

The Blackhawks have a discipline problem. They took six minor penalties last night, three of them back to back in the third period. Their penalty kill is outstanding (last night's power play goal is only the third in thirty two attempts over ten games), but if they keep taking this many minor penalties, they're going to struggle to stay third in the NHL. Their power play continues to struggle, going 0 for 5 in last night's game, and 7 for 43 on the season (a just over 16% success rate).

The defence last night was questionable. At times, it seemed like the Ottawa players were just skating straight past them, and Scott Darling was forced to make several stops that he wouldn't have normally had to. The third Ottawa goal, by Bobby Ryan, was scored because Bickell had a turnover directly in front of the crease, and Darling had no way of stopping it. Darling is a big body (6'6") and as such takes up a lot of empty space that smaller goaltenders (Crawford, Raanta) couldn't, but this also means there are bigger gaps. four of the six goals he has allowed have been scored on his five hole; he just can't seem to drop to the butterfly fast enough, something he'll have to work on, if he ends up taking Raanta's job as backup.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Kris Versteeg. The Versteeg we're watching at the minute looks like the old Versteeg. Last season he was slow and recovering from season ending knee surgery. This season, despite the lower body injury that kept him out of the first four games, he's looking fast and dangerous; a legitimate threat to the other team.

2. Marian Hossa. A thousand points is an amazing feat, and Hossa is the first CHL import draftee to reach that particular milestone. It's poetic that it happened in this game, with that play, and it looks like he has no intention of slowing down of declining. The Blackhawks have Hossa signed until he's 42, and it looks like he'll be retiring a Hawk, hopefully with many more career landmarks under his belt.

1. Jonathan Toews. Toews has a thing for timely goals, and both of last night's were, tying the game at 1-1, and then extending the Blackhawks' third period lead at 3-2. These goals put him at the top of the list of Blackhawks scorers this season, with four in ten games.

Next game: November 1st vs. Maple Leafs