Tag: Chicago Blackhawks

The Best in the West To Finish Sunday

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By Mary Walsh

As the NHL Scouting Combine is under way, and draft rankings and reviews are cropping up all over Twitter and hockey sites, it is hard to focus entirely on playoff games that don’t involve the local team. Still, the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks have done their darndest to keep us entertained with a pretty good Western Conference Final.

It has already been called one of the best series, certainly in these playoffs, maybe one of the best ever. Los Angeles and Chicago are still slugging it out, so to speak, neither heavyweight willing to concede. That will end Sunday in Game Seven. What impresses most about these games is the speed that they are playing at. Even in double overtime, they seem to play faster instead of slowing down like any reasonable person would expect. But how are they playing, compared to how they played in the regular season?

The Kings, as several opposing coaches have observed now, are playing well above their regular season level. In the regular season, they were 26th in goals per game, with an average of 2.42. In these playoffs, they are first, averaging 3.4. Defensively there has been a predictable drop off. In the regular season they were first in goals against, averaging 2.05. They gave up the fewest goals at even strength, but their penalty kill was only 11th, with a success rate of 83.1%. In the playoffs they have now given up an average of 2.8 per game, putting them 8th among playoff teams.  Their penalty kill is also weaker, ranked 9th among playoff teams at  82.7%. It is hardly surprising that their defensive numbers have taken a beating, since they were playing playoff teams in fairly long series. On top of that, to make such a jump offensively they have to take risks. Obviously, those risks have paid off so far. They are just one win away from a return to the Stanley Cup Final.

The Blackhawks, on the other hand, have not seen much of a change in their scoring or defensive numbers. In the regular season they averaged 3.18 goals per game, good for second in the league. Their power play had a success rate of 19.5%. In these playoffs, they have averaged 3.00 goals per game, with their power play chugging along at 19.2%. Defensively they have slipped only slightly, allowing an average of 2.78 goals per game, compared to their regular season average of 2.58. They have seen an uptick in their penalty kill, killing 84.1% in the playoffs, compared to 81.4% in the regular season.  In general, despite the changed conditions that come with a playoff schedule, they have remained pretty consistent.

The Kings are described as a team that is built for the playoffs. Maybe that is a way of saying they don’t hit their stride until playoffs, but if the Blackhawks had made an offensive jump for the playoffs akin to the one the Kings made, they would probably not be playing a seventh game. Is Chicago tapped out? Did they burn all their reserves during the regular season compensating for injuries to key players? Were they ever a better team than the Kings? That they are meeting in the Conference Final for the second season in a row suggests there is not much to choose between them, outside the regular season. The Kings have won two games by more than two goals and the Blackhawks have won only once by more than a goal. That certainly weighs in the Kings’ favor, but a win is a win. You can’t read too much into how much the team won by. Heck, maybe the Blackhawks are due a a big lead.

It is hard to imagine the New York Rangers beating either of these teams, except that the Rangers seem to have finally found their depth. Additionally, the Kings and the Blackhawks are doing a good job of taking the edge off each other. Fatigue will be a slightly bigger issues for the Kings, as this is their third seven game series. Chicago hasn’t had a much quicker trip, with two six game series before this one. It still seems like a stretch that a team so reliant on their goaltender could beat teams who have come so far despite some erratic goaltending. Still, it might be an entertaining Final, which is good since it will probably attract a lot of viewers. Broadway versus Hollywood has obvious appeal but Chicago can bring a sizeable audience as well. The NHL must be humming a gleeful tune.

Playoff Hockey: Underdogs, Upsets and Staying the Course

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By Mary Walsh

It has been a busy few days in playoff hockey. Thursday, the Montreal Canadiens pushed back to stop the New York Rangers from taking a 3-0 series lead. That show starred Montreal’s rookie goaltender Dustin Tokarski. Friday, the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors won their first Conference Final game at home. Saturday night, the Los Angeles Kings took a 2-1 series lead over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Now that the Kings have taken a lead in a series, and scored dozens of goals against the daunting Blackhawks (actually only 11 so far), is it safe to say that maybe the 2013-14 Sharks were not that far from their goal, if they were able to beat Los Angeles three games in a row? No. The Kings have proceeded at an erratic pace but they built up momentum in each progressive series. A strong start does not make up for a weaker finish, so the Sharks can’t take too much comfort in the Kings’ success thus far. The Kings are making a habit of giving up leads only to take them back, but that doesn’t mean there were not a lot of holes in the Sharks roster and strategy. Can the Sharks seal up those holes?

The good news, the biggest and best news from Shark territory so far, is that Larry Robinson has agreed to stay on. His new title is Associate Coach and Director of Player Development. If his title was “Guy Who Does Whatever He Feels Like Doing Today In The General Vicinity San Jose” it would still be a good deal. He is that helpful. It can also be seen as a positive indicator for the team: if Robinson thinks that staying on will not be a futile waste of his time, perhaps fans should have a little faith too.

Thursday on Yahoo! Sports Talk Live, Doug Wilson said that he does not have specific plans to acquire a big name free agent this summer. He did not rule it out but he did not say it was a goal. He also said that missing the playoffs for several seasons starting next year was not his plan. He does not plan to move his best young players. This makes me think that, despite pressure from the fan base and many sources of common sense, he could be planning very little in the way of major roster moves. I do not think that is a bad thing, but I am sure it would be unpopular.

Popular or not, moving big names to shake the team up is an enormous risk. How do you trade away Joe Thornton and/or Patrick Marleau, and avoid slipping badly in the standings, unless you pick up another very high-end forward to replace them? Do you get that player via trade? Who do you get them for if you want to keep your young roster? Do the Sharks have the picks to land such a player? As Wilson mentioned Thursday, however you bring someone in, you need to consider the impact that player will have on your younger players. He needs to not only be productive in his own right but supportive of your development plan.

Do Thornton and Marleau not fit that mold? There is no indication that either one of them undermines or stifles growth in their teammates. Their presence may be growing stale but change for change’s sake rarely pays off.

James Mirtle and Justin Bourne had a Twitter conversation about the high number of minutes being given to fourth lines in the Eastern Conference Final. It makes perfect sense, especially when teams have played a seven game series already, or more, to spread minutes around. But this means that you do need versatile players on that fourth line. You need guys who are reliable in the faceoff circle, tough along the boards, good shots, and reasonably able playmakers. As I said last week, you don’t need Mike Richards on that line but you do need someone who brings a lot more than energy and toughness.

Not so long ago people recognized that space on the bench could no longer be spared for designated fighters who could not do more than fight. Now the bar has been raised still higher: you need four lines that can play more than ten minutes and be better than “not a liability.” Your top six should not need more than 25 minutes per player to get the job done, and your fourth line should merit more than ten. Energy efficiency is about more than Gatorade.

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Dustin Tokarski. Folks who actually follow the Habs probably were not very surprised to see him chosen over Peter Budaj. Putting a rookie goaltender in a high pressure playoff situation is not unheard of, it just doesn’t often work out so well. A rookie comes in with some intangibles in his favor. Even if he has been scouted as much as possible, he simply has not played enough to be thoroughly scouted so the opponent won’t know how to beat him right away. That advantage fades fast. Another benefit can be that his team will rally around him, tighten up on defense to protect him. Or they might let him get shot to pieces like the Habs did in the first period of Game 3. That is where the real surprise was lurking, when Tokarski held the Habs in the game despite a 14-4 shot advantage for the Rangers. Tokarski may not be ready to steal a series but he certainly silenced the death knells in Montreal for now.

I find the Eastern Conference Final much more compelling than the Western, but I like upsets and underdogs. Both the Canadiens and the Rangers are sort of underdogs who achieved upsets. They are good teams, but the Canadiens were not supposed to beat the bestest team ever, aka the Bruins, because winners are supposed to play a big bruising game like the Bruins do. The Habs won anyway, and they did it their way.

The Rangers were not supposed to beat the Penguins because the Penguins have high performance superstars like Malkin and Crosby, while the Rangers had so many underperforming superstars like Nash, Richards and St. Louis. On top of that, the Rangers had to muscle through a brutal schedule to get where they are, and they did so anyway. Personal tragedy is getting a lot of credit for their turnaround, but they had all of these pieces from the get go. It is satisfying to see them go ahead like a dark horse people forgot about.

Speaking of dark horses, the Condors’ Friday win gave them a 2-1 lead in the series against the Alaska Aces. Saturday, the Aces thumped them 4-1 and tied the series back up. That is not very surprising. The Aces are aces. Nonetheless, the Condors are making a little Central Valley history this weekend. That the Condors ever took a lead in the series is impressive and inspiring. This is their first appearance in a Conference Final, and they have held their own. They have earned the nickname “Cardiac Condors” with numerous comebacks thus far and the Aces would be foolish to back off now. If the Aces come back tomorrow and stomp them like they did tonight, Condors fans have still gotten their money’s worth from a team that made an amazing turnaround in a season. After so many years of being perpetual playoff also-rans, this is a mighty accomplishment for Bakersfield.

Sharks beat Champs in shootout

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By: Phillip Torres

SAN JOSE-The San Jose Sharks (35-15-6) defeated the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks (33-10-14) 2-1 in a shootout at the SAP Center in San Jose on Saturday night. Another sellout crowd at SAP witnessed a tough physical battle against the defending champions. There was no score until the third period.

The first two period of the contest was a defensive struggle as both teams remained scoreless. The game was a tough physical contest with hard hits coming from both respective teams. Both teams had there chances to score but could not come up with a goal to take an early advantage.

The first score of the game came from the Sharks’ Joe Pavelski, his 29th goal of the season. Scott Hannan assisted on the score. Pavelski’s goal came at 6:10 in the period as he broke away on a short handed goal to take the 1-0 advantage.

It came as no surprise that Chicago didn’t take long to tie up the game as Brandon Saad scored past Antti Niemi 1:03 later to tie the game at one. Kris Versteeg and Marian Hossa assisted on the game tying goal.

After a scoreless five minute overtime period, the game went into a sudden death shootout. The Sharks converted all three shootout opportunities against Chicago’s one to take the 2-1 victory. Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton scored in the shootout.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Monday as they will host the Philadelphia Flyers. The puck will drop at 7:30 PM.    

Sharks Need to Remember When

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By Mary Walsh

Many hockey players say that a short memory is an asset. Let the last game go, win or lose. It is better not to dwell on the past, but sometimes a short memory isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sometimes remembering back before the unpleasant thing that just happened is better than simply forgetting everything as quickly as possible.

Saturday morning, Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was asked about teammate Bryan Bickell, who has been in and out of the Chicago lineup lately. Toews said:

It’s not easy for a guy like that. We’re always trying to remind him what he’s capable of doing as a player. I think anyone can forget sometimes, when things aren’t going your way, it just seems to snowball in the wrong direction.

That sounds like something the San Jose Sharks could be saying to themselves and each other after the last few games.

The last time the Sharks played Chicago, Logan Couture was still in the lineup. The Sharks won, in a shootout, with a goal by Couture. Since he left the lineup, the Sharks have won seven of twelve games, including a nice little six game winning streak that recently ended with a three game losing streak. It isn’t a normal three-game losing streak. They went almost three games without a goal, and in the last two losses they lost by three goals. Lady Three is clearly not happy. The Sharks had better find out what she wants and give it to her.

Do the Sharks just miss Couture? They played nine games without him before they completely lost their scoring ability. Why would it take so long for them to notice that they missed him and were incapable of putting the puck in the net without him?

@SharksStats: Sharks with / without Logan Couture: Goals/gm 3.14 / 1.92, Shots/gm 36.1 / 31.8, PP Pct 18.9 / 13.8.

Did someone tell them they should not be capable of scoring, never mind winning, without Logan Couture in the lineup?

Certainly Couture is a very valuable piece of the San Jose scoring machinery, but it is preposterous to think that one guy missing would cause a such a dry spell.

The Sharks are not the only top team that is stumbling right now. Yes, even in the thick of this gaudy losing streak with the double-zeros in the score column, the Sharks are still in the top five or six in the NHL standings. Their neighbors at the top have been having some issues as well.

The Anaheim Ducks have lost two of their last three home games– that home, the one where they were undefeated to the chagrin of stats trackers everywhere– to Winnipeg and Minnesota.

The St. Louis Blues lost to Carolina on Friday, 3-1. Their 7-1 loss to New Jersey still looms large over the subsequent wins. SEVEN to ONE. They will have to win a lot of games to make up for that.

The Pittsburgh Penguins apparently didn’t get the memo that top teams should schedule their most tedious losing streaks for the pre-Olympic time period. Someone should let them know.

Chicago lost four in a row before finally pulling a win out of Vancouver last Wednesday. The four teams they lost to were Detroit, Winnipeg, Minnesota and Calgary.

What is it with Calgary?

In essence, this is a feeding frenzy for teams on the outside of the playoff picture. Dallas, Nashville and even Winnipeg are getting wide-eyed and ambitious.

Is this just a normal let down from the frantic first half of the season? If a team starts well, is it inevitable that they will hit a wall half-way through? Does it have anything to do with the imminent Olympic Games?

Blackhawks veteran and ex-Shark Michal Handzus said:

I thinks it’s coincidence it’s in the same time, … but you cannot go at that ridiculous pace the whole season. Especially Anaheim, St. Louis and us, were playing very well from the beginning pretty much til now. Obviously it happens over the course of the season, … It’s just the schedule is very tough and it’s so many games in a short period of time and it’s going to catch up to you some time.

Two teams in the top six of the NHL standings, as of Saturday, have not snapped out of their funk yet: the Sharks and the Blues. The Sharks have only lost three in a row. Their threshold is higher than that but it would be grand if they could find a way to cut the losing streak short, with or without Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Raffi Torres, or Adam Burish.

Going back to Saturday morning Toews, here is what it sounds like when you get back on track after being embarrassed a few times. Of the team’s recent win in Vancouver, Toews said:

Most of all the guys just really wanted to win that one and we did what we had to do to win. I think going forward we can take a lot of those things that we did and try to implement that on a consistent basis. Kind of remind ourselves of what we were like before this … little skid … try and get back to that same way tonight.

Blackhawks enjoy home-away-from-home atmosphere in the desert

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NHL WEST COMMENTARY

By DANIEL DULLUM

GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Phoenix Coyotes enjoyed their largest crowd of the season Saturday at Jobing.com Arena, with an announced standing-room sellout attendance of 17,321 to watch the Desert Dogs do battle with Chicago.

While good news for the franchise’s bottom line, the bad news was that at least 10,000 of those fans were donning Blackhawks gear, yelling, “Go Hawks, Go.” This scenario left the Coyotes with the odd and frustrating task of trying to take the crowd out of its own building.

“It’s crazy. It seems like it’s always like that when we’re here,” Chicago left wing Brandon Bollis said following the Hawks’ 5-2 win. “I honestly think we had more fans here than (the Coyotes) did.”

To compound matters for the Coyotes, early turnovers and a team penalty for too many men on the ice gave Chicago a 5-on-3 power play less than two minutes into the game. Patrick Kane cashed in on the two-man advantage for the first Blackhawks goal, and by the midway point of the opening period, Chicago had a 12-3 advantage in shots and a 3-0 lead.

Phoenix came back with a pair of goals in the second period, but the damage was done. Bollis’ goal at 10:49 of the third period provided the visitors with some breathing room. An empty-net tally by Marian Hossa in the final minute finished the job for the NHL’s best team (44 points, 20-4-4), as they finished a seven-game road trip 6-1-0.

“It’s frustrating. You feel that, when (Chicago) is at the end of a long road trip, this is a game you can win,” Coyotes Coach Dave Tippett said. “When you’re playing the top team in the league, you can’t come out like we did in the first period.

“This is a good lesson for our team,” Tippett added. “We just have to play better. It’s an attitude.”

Yes, there was some grumbling about Phoenix being a transient sports market and it usually comes up in games like this, or against Detroit, Minnesota, Vancouver and other teams whose fans travel well. The NFL Cardinals have had the same problem for years. But as long as the tickets are sold, there are no complaints from the Bidwell family.

As for the Coyotes, until they start winning more consistently, nights like this will be the norm. But 17,321 is a terrific night at the box office, especially when facing stiff competition from Arizona State vs. University of Arizona football.

Blackhawks Embarass Sharks, Hand San Jose Toughest Loss of the Season

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By Matthew Harrington

The San Jose Sharks were downed by the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 Sunday evening at the United Center, suffering their worst defeat of the season. Patrick Sharp had 3 points (2 goals, 1 assist) while Brandon Pirri and Kris Versteeg notched a goal and an assist each. Joe Pavelski scored the lone goal for the Sharks who saw a three-game win-streak snapped with the loss.

Chicago opened up the scoring in the first period when a Patrick Kane shot deflected off Scott Hannon’s leg. The puck landed on Brandon Pirri’s stick and he fired it past an out-of-position Antti Niemi with 3:26 remaining in the first for the 1-0 lead.

Pavelski evened the score 8:16 into the second period when what appeared to be a harmless wrist shot popped out of Corey Crawford’s glove and trickled in to the back of the net. Tyler Kennedy and Justin Braun were credited with the assists. Crawford would go on to turn away the rest of the Sharks shots, making 23 saves in the game.

Patrick Sharp scored the game-winner just 3:58 after Pavelski’s tally, cashing in on a Marcus Kruger one-timer feed to beat Niemi. Niemi made 22 saves on 27 shots.

Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg, who made his first appearance back in a Blackhawk jersey following a trade with the Florida Thursday, added third period scores. Sharp finished the scoring with a penalty shot goal with 1:11 left in the game after Marc-Edouard Vlasic hooked him on the original breakaway attempt.
The Sharks faced a 27-24 shot deficit. San Jose failed to score a power play goal on two opportunities, while the Sharks foiled the Blackhawks on their lone chance.

The Sharks will have a few days to dwell on the loss. They return home to face the Tampa Bay Lightning at the SAP Center for a Thursday night contest.

Sharks Sweep The West, Beat Edmonton 3-1

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By Kahlil Najar

EDMONTON — The San Jose Sharks beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-1 on Friday night and completed their first sweep of Western Canada in franchise history. Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Patrick Marleau all scored with help from veteran Joe Thornton contributing on each goal. San Jose Shark goalie Alex Stalock stopped 30 of 31 shots on goal and brought his record to 3-0-0.

“Coming off back-to-back nights, you want to get off to a good start, and we were able to do that with two early ones,” Thornton said. “We just kind of rolled on after that. It is always nice to get a 2-0 lead like that when you are playing back-to-back.”

On his win, Stalock said, “Every game, you hope for a shutout. Of course that would be awesome, you look at why they haven’t scored goals lately, but they have unbelievable skill up front with their forwards. They are going to be a scary team when they start scoring goals. My biggest thing is to get the win and to give the team a chance to get two points every night.”

Pavelski got the Sharks on the board first when on a power-play Marleau smack a backhand shot on Dubnyk who was able to turn the puck away but Thorton was able to get in his way and leave Pavelski wide open to make it a 1-0 Sharks lead. Rookie phenom Thomas Hertl gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead when at 17:13 he took a pass from Thornton and got it past Dubnyk for his 12th goal of the season.

The Sharks made it a 3-0 game when after a Thornton interception of an Oilers pass in the Sharks zone led to a three on two and Marleau ended up with the puck and shot it past the Oilers goalie.

The Oilers Yakupov finally got Edmonton on the board at 12:48 of the second when he launched a bouncing puck at Stalock and was able to beat him stick side and make it a 3-1 game.

The Sharks finish off their road trip against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.