Shaw, Kane lead Blackhawks past Struggling Coyotes

photo from foxsports.com

It's been a while since the Blackhawks had such an offensively dominant game. The last occasion would probably be the first meeting with Edmonton, a 7-1 rout that left the Oilers scrambling. This was more of the same, with six different Blackhawks registering at least two points in their first meeting this season against the Coyotes.


Patrick Kane jumped back up to third in the league in points after recording two assists and a goal. He's now one point behind Tyler Seguin, and five behind Jakub Voracek for the league lead. His goal was the 200th goal in his career (assisted by Patrick Sharp, who also assisted on his first NHL goal and his 100th NHL goal), and this three point night moved him into sole possession of ninth place in all time scorers for the Blackhawks with 544 points, and tenth in assists, with 344. This kind of game is what people are starting to expect from Patrick Kane, his seventh three point game this season, and he's been held without a point for only sixteen games so far. His longest point drought is two games, and that's only happened twice this season. He has eleven points in nine games so far in January. I think it's safe to say that Patrick Kane is leading the Blackhawks offence by leaps and bounds.

Jonathan Toews ended an eleven game goal drought last night by opening the scoring with a power play tally. He's now on a six game point streak with eight points in those games. Andrew Shaw ended a nine game goalless streak, and a five game pointless streak by netting two goals, including the game winner. It's only his second goal in twenty two games this season. He also recorded a season high eight shots on goal, and he and rookie Teuvo Teravainen seem to be developing some impressive chemistry. Teravainen is really starting to come into his own. After going four games without a point, in his last three, he has two goals and an assist. Long touted as the best prospect the Blackhawks currently have, he's playing well on any line he's put on, but especially well with Shaw and Patrick Sharp, currently filling Kris Versteeg's gap on the second line (Versteeg is set to return shortly after the All Star Break)

Antti Raanta was outstanding, allowing one goal on thirty six shots, and improving to 7-0-0 at home this season. He has yet to lose in regulation at home in his career. He's 7-3-0 so far this season, and has a save percentage of .938, and a GAA of 1.88. In rookie goalies that have played over ten games, he's first in GAA and SV%. Raanta is having an impressive season at the UC, if he can start winning on the road (0-3-0 so far this season), they he has the potential to be a very, very good back up goalie for Corey Crawford.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Antti Raanta. Raanta was a breakaway goal away from his third shutout of the season. He hasn't played often, but when he's asked to, he can perform admirably.  He's allowed one goal or fewer six of eleven times this season, including relieving Corey Crawford after he allowed three goals in the first period of a game against Winnipeg.

2. Andrew Shaw. Last recap, I said that Shaw needed to be better. After a period long benching from Quenneville, he responded exactly like he should have done, scoring two goals, and recording several hits after going five straight games without a point or a hit. He finished the night a +2, with eighteen minutes of ice time.

1. Patrick Kane. At this point in the season, it seems like there isn't much Kane can't do. He's improved his defensive game massively, proving that last night when he was the only man back on a two on one and still ended up with the puck, but he hasn't sacrificed his offensive skills to do so. He has ten points more than the second highest scorer on the team, and he shows no signs of slowing down going into the All Star Break.

Next game: January 21st vs. Penguins