Four Point Night For Hossa Helps Put Away Oilers

photo from blackhawkup.com

Last night, Chicago won their game by the biggest margin so far this season, with six different goal scorers and fourteen different Blackhawks collecting at least one point leading to the Oilers' sixth loss in a row, while the Blackhawks have won five of six in that time.


Marian Hossa had his best game of the season so far, collecting four points, including his first goal in nine games. The thing about Hossa is that he could easily be scoring a goal or more every game, but instead, he chooses to play the kind of two way game that Jonathan Toews has won the Selke for, gunning up and down the ice to both create scoring chances and break up the other team's offence (both of which he did in abundance last night and has done this season, leading the Blackhawks in takeaways and is one shot behind Patrick Kane for first place in shots on goal.). Hossa is an eight time thirty goal scorer in fourteen full NHL season, and in another two seasons, he had twenty nine. He's on pace this season for twelve goals, but currently has a PDO (shooting percentage plus on ice save percentage) of 99.38%, so I'm willing to bet that his numbers are going to shoot up soon, as he usually sits around 102-104%.

The line of Hossa, Toews and Brandon Saad continues to impress, combining for eight points between them (three goals, five assists) and fourteen in the last three games. Toews also had his second game winner of the season, and his thirty eighth overall.

Defence continues to be strong, with Adam Clendening slotting into the injured Trevor van Riemsdyk's spot better than most people thought, and the blue line as a whole holding Edmonton to just twenty five shots (when Chicago scored their sixth goal in the second period, the Oilers had five shots on goal, total). Defence is also contributing offensively, with four of six defencemen picking up a point. Duncan Keith scored his fifth of the season and is currently on pace for twenty goals this season; his career high is fourteen.

The power play was excellent early on last night, scoring on a five on three and then a five on four just fifty five seconds later, although they eventually ended up going two for seven. They did go two for two on the penalty kill though, making up for the two goals scored against them in Calgary to edge back up to a ninety percent success rate, although Detroit is currently first in the league with 90.1%.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Corey Crawford. Crawford didn't have a great game in Calgary, but he made up for it here with a save percentage of .960 and one GAA on twenty five shots. He didn't have a hugely challenging night, but he did make a couple of spectacular saves, and the one goal he did allow was only the third third period goal he's allowed in fourteen games.

2. Jonathan Toews. Toews is leading the Blackhawks in goals and points, and almost scored his first hat trick of the season, before one of his goals was credited to Versteeg. He's leading this team by example, and it's pushing everyone else's production up as well.

1. Marian Hossa. Hossa's four points led the team, and is good to push him into third place on the Blackhawks with fifteen points in twenty games. It's the first four point game he's had since his days on the Atlanta Thrashers, and he's showing no signs of slowing down, despite an uncharacteristically sluggish start to the season.

Next game: November 23rd, vs Canucks