Crawford Posts 1st Shutout Since 2008 As Hawks Go On To Win 5-0

New York Islanders vs. Chicago Blackhawks

1-9-11

Final Score: 5-0 Hawks

Scoring Summary

1st Period

 4:52-CHI-PPG-Patrick Sharp [25] (Patrick Kane [20], Brent Seabrook [20])

2nd Period

2:10-CHI-Marian Hossa [10] (Tomas Kopecky [19], Sharp [19])

7:19-CHI-Patrick Kane [13] (Jonathan Toews [20], Niklas Hjalmarsson [4])

16:24-CHI-Dave Bolland [6] (Hossa [14], Bryan Bickell [13])

19:04-CHI-Niklas Hjalmarsson [2] (Hossa [15], Brian Campbell [13])

3rd Period

None

With the Western Conference standings as tight as they are, this weekend was a huge opportunity to grab a much needed 4 points for the Blackhawks. Already grabbing two in a 3-2 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators, they were ready to take on the New York Islanders and earn the other two.

On their second early power play of the game, the Hawks took a 1-0 lead on Patrick Sharp's team leading 25th goal of the year.

Due to more great puck possession by Marian Hossa, he gave the puck to Brent Seabrook manning the blue line. Seabrook found Patrick Kane down in the right circle and Kane found Sharp down low in the left circle. Sharp fired one on net and it got past Isles goalie Nathan Lawson. It was his 10th on the power play.

The Isles had a good chance to tie the game with just under 8:30 left in the first when Rob Schremp forced a Brian Campbell turnover in behind the Hawks' net. From the bottom of the left circle, he backhanded a pass over to Blake Comeau in the slot. Corey Crawford was ready though and he stopped him point blank. 

About a minute later, they had another chance to tie it. As the Isles were exiting their zone, Michael Grabner tipped the puck out and it went in between the legs of Hawks rookie defenseman Nick Leddy and Grabner managed to get around him at center ice. Grabner entered the Hawks' zone on a breakaway and he pulled to his backhand out in front. Crawford was able to stop him with his glove.

2:10 into the second, Marian Hossa registered his 10th goal of the season to give the Hawks a two goal lead.

From under the goal line to Lawson's left, Tomas Kopecky found Hossa in the right circle and he let his wicked wrister go and it beat Lawson high blocker side.

5 minutes and 9 seconds later, the Hawks struck again. This time, it was Kane lighting the lamp. 

He entered the offensive zone and from the right halfwall, dished it over to Jonathan Toews in the high slot. Toews walked in to the top of the circles and then found Kane in the right circle, ready to shoot. Kane one-timed it right over Lawson's glove.

Leddy showed a lot of poise and smarts throughout most of the game, and it allowed him to have a good opportunity to get his second career goal. Him and Sharp played a little give'n'go at the left point, each holding on to the puck beautifully, before Leddy wound up for a slapper. Lawson saw it coming and made the glove save, but if there happened to be a little traffic in front, anything might have happened.

The Hawks did get their four goal lead though.

Hossa was at work again with just over 3:30 remaining in the second as he set up Dave Bolland in the left circle from behind the net. Bolland easily was able to one-time it and it found its way in, top shelf.

With just under a minute remaining in the period, an unlikely source made it a 5 goal lead. 

Niklas Hjalmarsson bombed one from the top of the circles and, with a screen in front from Kopecky, it clanked off of the crossbar and in for his second goal of the year. Hossa added his second assist and third point of the game on that one.

Crawford made 14 more saves in the third, including one where he stoned Josh Bailey with his left pad as Bailey was right on the doorstep, to hang on for his first shutout since March 5, 2008, which was his first career NHL win.

"It definitely feels good," Hossa told chicagoblackhawks.com afterwards. "I thought tonight we were dominating from the beginning to the end and everybody chipped in. We jumped on them right away.

"Lately the starts weren't good enough. [...] We haven't played this type of game for a long time. We [didn't] have to worry about the score. We were dominating right from the beginning and I think we can build on this win." 

"It's been two solid games for us," Toews added. "We know we can play much better than that, but when you get two points, at the end of the day, it gives you confidence that you just need to keep building on that and things will go your way.

"We'll keep doing that and we got a couple days before our next one, so, those are big games for us, especially at home."

Said Crawford: "We played like it was a tight game throughout the whole sixty minutes."

Notes 

•The Hawks honored the 1961 Stanley Cup winning team last night. In April, it will be the 50th anniversary of that win. Players from that team appeared on a red carpet at center ice in a pregame ceremony; it included the likes of Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Glenn Hall, Pierre Pilote, and many others.

"We have a lot of ceremonies here in Chicago, it's always nice to see them," Patrick Sharp said. "It's pretty cool to see the old players or to see celebrities or whatever's going on. Obviously, when you get members from a Stanley Cup team from so long ago, it's pretty neat to see, so we wanted to make sure we had a good effort tonight."

•Captain Jonathan Toews talked about how Patrick Sharp should make the All-Star Game in Raleigh, North Carolina, after the game: "I gotta admit, I'm almost embarrassed that I get picked  before him with the whole voting thing. Obviously, you have the fans to thank for that. But, there's no one more deserving than him, especially considering the season he's having now. I think if they're smart, there's no way they should have an All-Star Game without a guy like Patrick Sharp."

•The Hawks outshot the Islanders 45-29.

-The Hawks only went to the sin bin once, and they successfully killed it off. The Hawks went 1-4 on their power play opportunities.

•The three stars of the game were:

1. Corey Crawford

2. Marian Hossa

3. Niklas Hjalmarsson

•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages were:
-Jonathan Toews: 62.5%

-Dave Bolland: 50%

-Patrick Sharp: 46.2%

-Jake Dowell: 42.9%

•Jonathan Toews led the way in shots on goal with 6.

-Patrick Kane and Jake Dowell had 5.

-Marian Hossa had 4.

•Tomas Kopecky and Jonathan Toews had 3 takeaways.

•Brent Seabrook had 3 hits.

•Brian Campbell took 24 shifts while Duncan Keith led the Hawks in ice time [23:48].

•Duncan Keith blocked three shots

•Patrick Sharp is 3rd in the NHL with 25 goals. He's also 3rd in power play goals [10]. He's 5th with two shorthanded goals. He's tied for first with 6 game winning goals and he's 3rd in shots on goal with 177.

-Jonathan Toews is tied for 10th with 7 power play goals.

-Brian Campbell is 7th in +/- with a rating of +19.

•The Hawks' next game is Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet. The Hawks are at home as they are taking on the Colorado Avalanche in the final game of the season series.

Postgame Interviews

•Marian Hossa

•Corey Crawford

•Jonathan Toews

•Patrick Sharp

•Coach Q

•Marian Hossa on 720 WGN

•Game Highlights

•The Pregame Ceremony Honoring the 1961 Team

Patrick Sharp celebrates his goal with the bench.

Patrick Kane celebrates his second period goal with Troy Brouwer.

Niklas Hjalmarsson celebrates his goal with Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell.

Toews' Trick Leap Frogs Hawks over Oilers

Chicago Blackhawks @ Edmonton Oilers

11-17-10

  Final Score: 5-0 Hawks

Scoring Summary

1st Period

14:24-CHI-Jonathan Toews [6] (Brent Seabrook [9], Patrick Kane [11])

19:14-CHI-PPG-Jonathan Toews [7] (Marian Hossa [6], Patrick Sharp [10])

2nd Period

1:12-CHI-Jonathan Toews [8] (Kane [12])

18:57-CHI-SHG-Patrick Sharp [11] (Jake Dowell [4])

3rd Period

1:58-CHI-Bryan Bickell [4] (Jack Skille [5])

The Hawks started their annual Circus Trip on Wednesday in Edmonton, and not only were they looking to keep the momentum they had earned from their 3-2 win in overtime on Sunday at the United Center against the Ducks, but they were looking for redemption against the Oilers.

The two previous meetings between these two teams ended in 2 Oiler victories on the Hawks' home ice, so the Hawks had something to prove against this young team.

They got off on the right foot 14:24 in with the Captain getting on the board first.

Patrick Kane had the puck behind the net and he spotted defenseman Brent Seabrook pinching into the slot. He dished one over to him and Seabrook wristed a shot on net. Jonathan Toews was lurking to Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin's right and somehow Toews found the loose puck and managed to stuff it five-hole on the former Hawk goaltender.

The Hawks got on the power play with a minute left in the first period after Patrick Sharp drew a cross-checking penalty.

From the right circle, Marian Hossa found Toews below the goal line and passed it over to him. Toews was then looking for Hossa, who had creeped into the lower slot, but the puck bounced off of Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert and past Khabibulin.

"I think we had around 20 shots in the first and a lot of chances we could've scored on, too." Kane said after the game.

Toews wasn't finished on the night though.

At 1:12 of the second period, Toews completed the natural hat trick as he sent a wicked wrister from the slot over Khabibulin's glove.

Toews' last regular season hat trick came on February 27, 2009 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at home and his last [and first] post season hat trick came on May 7th in the second round in Game 4 against the Vancouver Canucks.

The last Hawk to tally a hat trick in the regular season was current Thrasher Captain Andrew Ladd on March 7th at home against Detroit.

"It's nice when you get that production," Kane also said, "I think even more important, we got three goals right away. That kind of gave us a three-nothing lead and we were feeling good about ourselves, kind of just took over the game from the start." 

With just over a minute left in the period, Jake Dowell managed to strip the puck away from Kurtis Foster in the neutral zone, shorthanded, and sent Sharp into the offensive zone on a breakaway. He walked in to Khabibulin's doorstep, stopped on a dime, and with Khabibulin sliding to his right, Sharp slipped it right past his left pad and into the net for his 11th goal of the season.

Early in the third, Oilers rookie Jordan Eberle turned the puck over at center ice to 6'4" Bryan Bickell. Bickell turned around and entered Edmonton's zone and bombed one from the top of the left circle that beat Devan Dubnyk, who had come in to replace Khabibulin after Sharp's goal, high glove side.

"It wasn't the fastest pace out there, but we didn't start thinking about goals and start trying to do too much," Toews said postgame, "We were smart. We did a great job of helping Marty out there.

All in all, I think we played solid and it's a game we can really build off [of]."

"We feel that we're getting there as a team," Kane stated, "Tonight was a big step, I think, for us. I thought all the lines played really good. All the lines had a lot of chances, too, so hopefully we can keep that up."

Notes

•The Hawks outshot the Oilers 47-18.

-The Hawks went 1-3 on the power play while Edmonton went 0-2.

•This win was Marty Turco's first career shutout as a Blackhawk.

•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages were:

-Jonathan Toews: 55.6%

-Dave Bolland: 55.6%

-Fernando Pisani: 28%

-Jake Dowell: 20%

•Viktor Stalberg and Troy Brouwer each had 3 hits.

•Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp each had 8 shots on goal.

•Patrick Kane had two takeaways.

•Duncan Keith led the Hawks in ice time with 24:14 of it.

-Nick Boynton and Duncan Keith led the Hawks with 24 shifts.

•Brian Campbell, Nick Boynton, and Duncan Keith each had 3 blocked shots.

•Niklas Hjalmarsson was +3.

•This game was Fernando Pisani's first ever game back at Rexall Place since he signed with the Hawks in the summer. Pisani is Edmonton born-and-raised and he played his whole career there up until this year.

•Jonathan Toews is 8th in the league with 4 power play goals.

-Patrick Kane is also 8th in the league with 4 power play goals.

-Patrick Sharp is also 8th with 4 power play goals. His 2 shorthanded goals are 2nd, his 3 game winning goals are tied for first and his 89 shots on goal lead the league.

•The Hawks' healthy scratches were John Scott and Jordan Hendry.

•The Hawks' record is now 10-9-2 with 22 points and are 5th in the Western Conference.

•The Hawks' next game is tomorrow in Calgary as they take on the Flames at 8:30 pm on Comcast Sportsnet and TSN for Canadian viewers.

Game Highlights

New Niklas Hjalmarsson One Goal Commercial

New Patrick Sharp One Goal Commercial

Jonathan Toews celebrates his second career regular season hat trick with the Chicago bench.

Jonathan Toews looks at the puck in the back of the net after he scored his first goal of the night.

Huge Night for the Sharp Shooter and the Hawks

Chicago Blackhawks @ Columbus Blue Jackets 

10-15-10

Final Score: 5-2 Hawks

Scoring Summary 

1st Period

9:37-CHI-Viktor Stalberg [1] (Jack Skille [1], Nick Boynton [2])

10:40-CHI-Marian Hossa [4] (Tomas Kopecky [5], Jassen Cullimore [1])

2nd Period

1:11-CBJ-SHG-R.J. Umberger [2] (Derek Dorsett [1])

9:46-CHI-SHG-Patrick Sharp [2] (Jake Dowell [1])

11:48-CHI-Patrick Sharp [3] (Troy Brouwer [3], Bryan Bickell [2])

3rd Period

00:15-CHI-Tomas Kopecky [1] (Hossa [4])

13:39-CBJ-Kristian Huselius [3] (Umberger [1], Rostislav Klesla [1])

After a tough loss to Nashville, the Hawks were looking to bounce back with a victory over Central Division rival Columbus.

Before the halfway mark of the first period, the Hawks got on the board first, courtesy of one of the new faces on the team.

After Jack Skille sprang him on a partial breakaway, Viktor Stalberg pushed the puck out in front of himself and used his great speed to break through Jakub Voracek and Fedor Tyutin to get free in the slot and, from the left hash marks, get a quick shot off that beat right catching Jackets goalie Steve Mason glove side for his first goal as a Blackhawk.

"It was a good pass by Jack," Stalberg said, "I got a little break between the d-men there and I was able to keep them on the backside."

Just about a minute later, the Hawks struck again.

Rookie defenseman Nick Leddy showed great poise with the puck as he kept the puck in at the left point and walked along the blue line with it until he found Marian Hossa open at the top of the left circle. Hossa gave it back to Leddy, who was at the middle of the blue line, and Leddy found veteran defenseman Jassen Cullimore at the right half wall. With Tomas Kopecky providing a screen in front of Mason, Cullimore shot it and it bounced off of Kopecky right to Hossa, coming into the slot, and he put it topshelf, glove side for the two goal lead.

Early in the second period, on a power play no less, Columbus closed the gap to one with a shorthanded goal from R.J. Umberger.

Derek Dorsett picked off a Duncan Keith pass just inside the Hawks' blue line and found Umberger coming into the zone. He  handed it off to him and Umberger and he walked in alone for the most part and got a backhanded shot off in close. The puck somehow ended up off the end boards and Umberger got it and flipped it past Hawks goalie Marty Turco from below the goal line.

The Hawks answered back with their own shorthanded goal about 8 minutes later as Columbus had started to gain some momentum.

Patrick Sharp stole the puck at the right point of his own zone and gave it to Jake Dowell in the neutral zone and they had a two on one going for them. Dowell gave it back to Sharp at Columbus' blue line and from the left circle, Sharp let one sick wrister fly that beat Mason blocker side.

Sharp wasn't done yet though.

2 minutes and 2 seconds later, he potted another one for his 3rd goal of the year.

From below the left circle, Troy Brouwer took a shot on net and Mason gave up a rebound right to Sharp, who was cruising the slot. Sharp shoveled it home as Mason started to slide to his left.

The Hawks made it a four goal lead 15 seconds into the 3rd period.

Hossa took the puck in the neutral zone and walked all the way into Columbus' zone, near the bottom of the right circle. He backhanded a pass to Kopecky, who was coming into crash the net and Kopecky got a backhanded shot off. Mason gave up a rebound, and was down, and Kopecky corralled it back to his forehand and got it into the wide open cage for his first goal of the year. 

The Jackets added a goal to change the final score at the 13:39 mark.
From the right circle, Rostislav Klesla backhanded a shot at the net and Umberger collected the rebound and got it into the slot for Kristian Huselius to put it home glove side of Turco, who went down in a double pad stack save mode, but didn't get a piece of it.


All in all though, it was the Hawks' most complete game of the young season.
"It was really good," Turco said postgame, "The guys played a great game tonight. I think the score was indicative of how we played. It was a great road win. It took a lot of guys to block some shots, penalty killing, all that stuff you need to be successful. But it was also a little tighter at times, especially early on before we got a couple of goals."

"I wouldn't say we were there, but it was definitely the game we need to play," Kopecky added, "It was a typical road game and that's how we need to play, simple and good sticks, good positioning. The more simple we play, we're gonna have more success."


"I thought it was a pretty good game from our team," Sharp also said, "I think that right from the first shift, we were skating in good five man groups out there, and thought our D had a great game controlling the play and having good sticks and that was a big key in the play tonight."
On a personal level, Sharp said: "It's always nice to score, especially early in the season and it's nice to get a couple in a win. Who knows what's gonna happen. I always say you never know when you're gonna score the next goal but I think if we get every line contributing like we did tonight, we'll be okay."


Kopecky also said about his own play recently, and his linemates': "For me it's just [that] I'm playing my game. I know what I need to do, I just go in front, stop in front, and look for rebounds. Obviously [Hossa and Jonathan Toews], they just make things happen. When I have [my] stick on the ice, I just drive the net and stop in front. Tazer is so good in the corners. Hoss is a great shooter and it makes it easier for all of us. We kinda know what we can expect from each other."


Notes 
•Patrick Sharp had 13 shots on goal. Yes, count them. 13 SHOTS ON GOAL. It was a new franchise record.
-His shot percentage from the game was 15.4%.
-He now leads the league in shots with 25.
-Tomas Kopecky had the second most shots on goal in 6.
•The Hawks outshot Columbus 40-32.
-The Hawks' power play went 0-2 and the Jackets' went 0-4.
-Columbus won 33 faceoffs and the Hawks won 27.
•The three stars of the game were:
1. Patrick Sharp
2. Tomas Kopecky
3. R.J. Umberger
•The Hawks' scratches were:
-Brian Campbell [on IR]
-Patrick Kane [He was sick.]
-Niklas Hjalmarsson [Still suspended.]
•Brent Seabrook led the Hawks in ice time with 24:21.
•Nick Boynton had 5 blocked shots.
•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages were:
-Patrick Sharp: 66.7%
-Jonathan Toews: 52.6%
-Jake Dowell: 42.9%
-Dave Bolland: 14.3%
•Marian Hossa led the Hawks in shifts with 26.
•Jassen Cullimore was recalled from Rockford to fill in for Patrick Kane's roster spot. Cullimore had an assist and was +1 on the backend as he was paired up with Nick Leddy and also sometimes Nick Boynton throughout the night. John Scott was moved up to forward and only had 3 shifts, and a total amount of ice time of 2:32. 

Tomas Kopecky celebrates his early third period goal with Hawks Captain Jonathan Toews.

Viktor Stalberg takes the shot that ended up being his first goal as a Hawk.

Brent Seabrook greets Patrick Sharp after Sharp scored his second goal of the night.

Marian Hossa celebrates his first period goal with Jassen Cullimore and Jonathan Toews.

Extremely Late Penalty Costs Hawks Against Nashville

Nashville Predators vs. Chicago Blackhawks 

10-13-10

Final Score: 3-1 Preds 

Scoring Summary 

1st Period 

4:48-CHI-PPG-Patrick Kane [2] (Jonathan Toews [2], Patrick Sharp [2])

6:37-NSH-Steve Sullivan [2] (Cal O'Reily [1], Ryan Suter [2])

16:58-CHI-Jonathan Toews [1] (Tomas Kopecky [4], Marian Hossa [3]

2nd Period 

None

3rd Period

4:43-NSH-Colin Wilson [1] (Kevin Klein [1], Marcel Goc [1])

19:33-NSH-PPG-Joel Ward [1] (J.P. Dumont [2], David Legwand [1])

 After coming off of their first win of the season on Monday, the Hawks were looking to get back on track again with a victory over the Nashville Predators.

The game started out good, with the Hawks grabbing the first goal at 4:48 of the first period.
Patrick Sharp pinched in from the point while the Hawks were on a power play to keep a play alive. Jonathan Toews picked up the puck behind the net and then sent a pass over to Patrick Kane near the right circle. Kane walked up the boards a bit, then into the circle and he let a wrister fly and it beat Preds rookie goalie Anders Lindback high glove side for his second goal in two games.

Just about 2 minutes later, the Preds came back with a four on four goal by Steve Sullivan.
After Ryan Suter's shot from just inside the blue line was blocked by Brent Seabrook, he collected the puck and walked into the bottom right part of the left circle. His shot on net was denied by John Scott's sliding shot block and Colin Wilson, from his stomach, poked the puck to Sullivan in between the hash marks. He made his way into the right circle, and sent a wrist shot past Hawks goaltender Corey Crawford's left shoulder and into the back of the net.

With 3:14 left in the period, Marian Hossa came flying in out of nowhere and picked Patric Hornqvist's pocket in the neutral zone. 
He skated down the left wing boards, and then back up them and to the end of the "NHL Faceoff" logo where he tossed the puck over to Tomas Kopecky at the bottom of the right circle. 
Kopecky sent a touch pass over to Jonathan Toews at the left dot and Toews was able to sneak the puck under Lindback's right arm and into the back of the net for his first goal of the 2010-11 campaign. 

And in the words of Pat Foley: "What a passing play set up by the brilliance of Marian Hossa, who was one against five and they couldn't get it away from him! It wound up in the net!"


The second period was relatively quiet, but in the third, Nashville really came on.
Kevin Klein sent a blue line to blue line pass to Marcel Goc at the left point. Goc entered the zone and, from the top of the left circle, found Colin Wilson in the slot and passed it to him. Wilson one timed the puck from the slot and it grazed Jordan Hendry as he went down to block the shot, which allowed it to beat Crawford high blocker side. 


At 17:47, Nick Boynton took a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck into the crowd from his own zone.
The Hawks almost had it killed off, with less than 30 seconds to go in the game and with 15 seconds left in the kill, Joel Ward was waiting backdoor for a J.P. Dumont pass from the the other side of the net and he put it home into the wide open cage for the game winning goal of the game.

 "I think the puck was flat and as I went to shoot it, it rolled up, at least that's what it felt like," Boynton said after the game about his penalty, "Obviously it wasn't my intention to do what I did. But it happened.
"Stuff happens."


Even though it did cost them a chance at getting a point in overtime, they didn't play their best game.
"You can't let any team in this league hang around, they've got good players and we gotta bury teams," Boynton added, "We just didn't captialize on our chances and when you let it go down to the final two minutes anything can happen."


"Give them credit, they played hard," Kopecky said, "We can't play only 20 minutes a game. We gotta play a whole 60. It's disappointing. We gotta take 5 minutes, learn from this, and get ready against Columbus.
"They played good, but I think we beat ourselves. We stopped playing after the 1st period. Every team right now is going to take advantage of you when you stop playing. We just gotta keep playing hard and play in thier zone."

Kopecky also talked about the way they had been playing.
"Sometimes we gotta play a little bit more simpler. We try sometimes too much. That goal [that his line with Toews and Hossa scored], it was nice but it didn't help us to win. All 3 of us, we know it's our job . Obviously we would like to help more. We have to find a way to win and that's what the good teams do, they always find a way to win."


Notes 
•Nashville outshot the Hawks 27-25.
-The Hawks only had one power play, but they did convert on it. Nashville's power play went 1-3.
-Both the Hawks and Nashville won 27 faceoffs.
•The Hawks' centermen's faceoff percentages were:
-Jonathan Toews: 63.6%
-Dave Bolland: 61.5%
-Patrick Sharp: 40%
-Jake Dowell: 14.3%
•Troy Brouwer, Jack Skille, and Duncan Keith each had 2 hits.
•Duncan Keith led the team in ice time with 32:52.
-Rookie defenseman Nick Leddy was on the ice for 19:50.
•Fernando Pisani and Jake Dowell led the team in shots [3].
•Nick Leddy had 5 blocked shots.
•Duncan Keith led the team in shifts with 30.
•Marian Hossa's 3 goals are 4th in the league. His 3 assists are 7th. His 6 points are 2nd and his +/- rating of +5 is first.
-Tomas Kopecky's 4 assists are 2nd in the league. His 4 points are 10th and his +/- rating of +4 is 4th.
•The Hawks' next game is Friday night in Columbus at 6 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet.


Post Game Interviews 
•Nick Boynton
•Tomas Kopecky
 •Corey Crawford
•Coach Q
•Game Highlights

Patrick Kane celebrates his power play goal with Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, and Brent Seabrook.

Jonathan Toews celebrates his goal in the first period.