Posts Tagged ‘Antti Niemi’

(1) Sharks vs. (2) Blackhawks conference finals preview

May 15th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

This is the conference final showdown everyone wanted – (1) Sharks vs. (2) Blackhawks. Let’s get right into it.

Offense – Dany Heatley has been the difference for the Sharks this year. He has the killer instinct that Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau lack. San Jose is just as deep offensively as the Blackhawks, and has had a great post-season from Joe Pavelski. He has fifteen points in eleven games. Advantage: San Jose

Defense – The Blackhawks defensive corps has been affective at clearing Niemi’s rebounds, limiting the number of second chance scoring opportunities for opponents. I don’t see Coach Q changing that defensive scheme for San Jose. Advantage: Blackhawks

Goaltending – For the Blackhawks, Antti Niemi has been what they needed in net. He might not stand on his head every night, but comes up with big saves at even strength and on the penalty kill. Still, Evgeni Nabokov is a ten-year veteran with 293 regular season wins under his belt. Advantage: Sharks

Special Teams – By now you should know about the Blackhawks penalty-kill unit. They are 88.7% on the kill and have scored three shorthanded goals this post-season. Advantage: Blackhawks

Coaching – Sharks coach Todd McLellan is doing something right with a team that usually folds in the post-season. He is in his second season at the helm in San Jose, and his previous playoff experience last year didn’t go so well. Coach Q has 116 post-season games on his resume, and he made the right moves this year to keep a talented Blackhawks team from self-destruction. Advantage: Blackhawks

Prediction – Picking the Blackhawks to win the two previous post-season series has worked well thus far, so why change a good thing? Blackhawks win in six games.

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Orca! – (2) Blackhawks vs. (3) Canucks preview

April 30th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

This is turning into a nice little rivalry. Ever since that bloody Sunday in March last season – the one where Alex Burrows tugged on Duncan Keith’s hair (not in a good way) – the two teams have played with an edge. Then there is the bad blood between Andrew Ladd and Ryan Kesler that dates back to when the Canucks and Blackhawks met in last year’s semi-final series – a series where the young Blackhawk team upset the Canucks and ousted them from the playoffs. Vancouver would love nothing more than to return the favor this time around. With the introduction out of the way, we move onto breaking down the second round (2) Blackhawks vs. (3) Canucks series.

Offense – The enemy led the West with 272 regular season goals, and the Blackhawks were in second with 271 goals. They also have this season’s Art Ross Trophy winner in Henrik Sedin, but our points leader has a mullet. Advantage: Blackhawks

Defense – Brian Campbell returned to the blue line in the first round series against the Predators, and the Blackhawks were 3-0 since. Coincidence, I think not. The Blackhawks are a complete core. Campbell is the puck-mover, Keith is a good two-way defenseman, Seabrook is the hitter, Hjalmarsson is the smart one and Sopel is great in the defensive zone. The Canucks aren’t as versatile on defense. After facing the Predators defensive core, the Canucks will be a cake walk. Advantage: Blackhawks

Goaltending – Roberto Luongo is viewed as one of the better goalies in the game these days, but has never won any major hardware. Antti Niemi has better numbers this post-season, but Bobby Lou is Bobby Lou. Advantage: Canucks

Special Teams – I assume you already know about how good the Blackhawks penalty kill has been this season and in the first round. Against the Predators the kill was successful twenty-seven of twenty-eight times, and Patrick Kane added the notorious Game #5 shortie. The Canucks power-play unit has been good in the regular and post-season, but can they have to get past Brent Sopel first. Advantage: Blackhawks

Coaching – Let’s make this one short. This is the eleventh post-season appearance for Coach Q, and the Canucks’ Alain Vigneault is a noob in comparison in his fourth. Advantage: Blackhawks

Intangibles – I added this section to the preview in hopes of writing about the Green Men. An homage to one of my favorite television shows. However, Dustin Byfuglien will move back to forward for the semi-finals. There are a few people who think the Blackhawks wouldn’t have won the series last year if Byfuglien didn’t own the space between Roberto Luongo’s ears. They could have used another body in front of the net against Nashville. Advantage: Blackhawks

Prediction – Blackhawks win in seven

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Series review – Blackhawks beat Predators in six

April 27th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

End game (Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

Going into the first round series against the Nashville Predators, I don’t think anyone would expect them to have been this tough. Per usual, the cream always rises to the top. The Blackhawks won the series 4-2, and will face the Vancouver Canucks in a rematch from last year’s second round series. Both teams will be out for blood, but more on that later. To close out the first chapter of the post-season, here is your (2) Blackhawks vs. (7) Predators series review.

Game #1 – Predators 4, Blackhawks 1 Nashville goalie, Pekka Rinne, stole this game. He stood on his head all night, and the Blackhawks were outworked as well. The Blackhawks had a 1-0 lead going into the third period, but J.P. Dumont scored two consecutive goals to give his team the lead. Dumont’s first was a lucky floater over Antti Niemi’s right kicker. The Predators added two empty-netters to boot. Predators led series 1-0

Game #2 – Blackhawks 2, Predators 0 Niemi earned his first post-season shutout, and the first by a Blackhawk rookie in franchise history. Patrick Kane created enough offense for the Blackhawks by scoring one goal and one assist in the game. The Blackhawks defense wasn’t so good in this one, but luckily for them neither was the Predators offense. Series tied at 1-1

Game #3 – Predators 4, Blackhawks 1 This game was riddled with bad play and stupid penalties from the Blackhawks (see Dustin Byfuglien’s hook of Martin Erat that led to a penalty-shot goal). The Predators were easily the better team in this game, and backed the Blackhawks into a corner. Rinne had another game where he stood on his head. Predators led series 2-1

Game #4 – Blackhawks 3, Predators 0 This game was a must win for the Blackhawks, and Brian Campbell was rushed back into the lineup in hopes of being a catalyst to the Blackhawks offense. A couple bigger names finally showed up in the series – Patrick Sharp scored two goals, and Jonathan Toews added one. Oh, Niemi earned his second shutout with better defensive play in front of him then in Game #2. Series tied at 2-2

Game #5 – Blackhawks 5, Predators 4 (OT) The closing moments of the game will be what anyone remembers from this series. Marian Hossa’s questionable hit on Dan Hamhuis resulted in a five-minute major penalty for boarding penalty with just over a minute left in the game, and the ‘Hawks were down by one. Patrick Kane scored a shortie (Niemi was pulled for the extra man) to take this one into overtime. The Blackhawks penalty-kill unit kept the Predators scoreless while Hossa sat in the penalty box finishing out his sentence. Seconds after returning to the ice, Hossa scored the game-winning goal. Blackhawks led series 3-2

Game #6 – Blackhawks 5, Predators 3 After regaining control of the first round series in the previous game, the Blackhawks came out strong in the first period. They had the lead 3-1 before Jason Is-Nott-Good-At-Hockey scored two unanswered goals to tie the game at three goals apiece. Shortly after, Toews scored on the power play to give his team the lead. His goal held up, and John Madden added an empty-net goal for his first point of the post-season. Blackhawks won series 4-2

Series MVP: Brent Sopel – The Blackhawk defenseman played a huge role on the penalty-kill unit. The guy has biggest balls on the team, willing to put his body in the line of fire every chance he got. Sopel was even praised by Barry Trotz for his work on the kill. The unit that twenty-six for twenty-seven in shorthanded situations. He was also instrumental in the sequence of events that led to Hossa’s game-winning goal in Game #5.

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Niemi’s No-No

April 19th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Antti Niemi (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Antti Niemi added to his legacy as a Blackhawk in front of the home crowd. He shutout the Nashville Predators 2-0, and it was exactly what his team needed take control of the first-round playoff series. It was the first playoff shutout ever for a Blackhawk rookie, and the first post-season shutout since Ed Belfour did so in 1996. Niemi had seven no-hitters in his rookie season.

Every goalie experience some level of luck every night they strap on the pads, but if the Predators weren’t such an inept offensive team the Blackhawks would not have won last night’s game. They didn’t have that great of a presence down low, and there were a few times they couldn’t take advantage of their offensive opportunities. Niemi saw every shot from the point and high slot because they didn’t hinder the Finn’s vision.

All season the defense has been very effective at keeping opponent shots at a distance, thus limiting the number of quality shots their goalie will face on any given night. The ‘Hawks didn’t really do that Sunday, and weren’t all to great at defending the crease and a few Niemi rebounds sit in the slot. Niemi was forced to make kicker save after kicker save to keep his team in the game. Yea, there were some nice defensive plays made (see Brent Sopel’s sprawling shot-block), but if they don’t play a tighter game the Predators will likely take the next game in Nashville. Shutouts are always nice, but in the post-season I have a hard time finding comfort in them.

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Tabula Rasa – (2) Blackhawks vs. (7) Predators preview

April 15th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The first-round playoff series between the (2) Blackhawks vs. (7) Predators will kick off this Friday night at the United Center. The Blackhawks took the six-game regular season series by winning four games and losing two. The last time they played was December 27th. It’s been a while since they played that cold December day, so here is your Predator re-education and series preview.

Offense – Nashville finished the season as the ninth ranked offense in the conference with only 225 goals. The Blackhawks finished the year with 271, which was second best in the conference and led the conference in goal differential at +62. Only two players on the Predator roster scored more then twenty goals (Hornqvist with 30, and Erat with 21) – the ‘Hawks had six. Chicago is deeper at forward, and can get scoring from all four lines. The Predators barely have enough talent to fill out their top-six forwards. Advantage: Blackhawks

Defense – This is where the Predators are of concern. It’s not the solid blue-line core of Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis that worries me, but the defensive system they run – the trap. It is designed to slow down talented, puck-moving squads such as the Blackhawks. Injuries have left Chicago’s blue line thin. Brian Campbell (broken clavicle) will miss the first round series, and no one knows how long Kim Johnnson (post-concussion symptoms) will be out. Advantage: Predators

Goaltending – Both the Blackhawks and Predators will rely on two Finnish netminders with no previous post-season experience. Nashville’s Pekka Rinne is a big boy at 6-foot 5-inches. In three games against the Blackhawks this season, Rinne was 1-2-0 with 2.36 goals-against and a 0.924 save-percentage. Antti Niemi was in net the last time the division rivals played on December 27th. Niemi won the game, but gave up four goals in the process. Rinne and Niemi both had seven shutouts this season. Advantage: Push

Special Teams – The Predators have the third worst power-play unit in the West (16.4-percent) and last place penalty kill (77.1-percent). Chicago has thrived on the penalty kill all season. They have thirteen shorthanded goals, and second ranked unit (85.0-percent) in the conference. The Blackhawks’ power play has been pedestrian all season, but they have had success with the man-advantage in the last two games of the season. Special teams will benefit the Blackhawks in this series. Advantage: Blackhawks

Coaching – The Predators have only had one head coach since their first season in 1998-99. That man is the comic book villain look-a-like, Barry Trotz. In four previous post-season births, Trotz and his Predators have never reached the second round. Don’t let that stat fool you. I don’t think there is any coach around the league that has got more out of their roster then Trotz has. Have you seen this roster? Trotz somehow got these guys into the playoffs.

In thirteen years of coaching, Quenneville has only missed the post-season twice, but has never reached the Stanley Cup Finals. Last season, Coach Q was able to get the most out of his young team that eventually lost in the conference finals to the Red Wings. He hopes to build on last year’s success, and his post-season experience will prove to be an asset for the still young team. Advantage: Blackhawks

Prediction – Blackhawks in five

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Evil Doers Win Battle – Blackhawks 2, Detroit 3 (OT)

April 11th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Post Bolland Goal

So today’s 3-2 overtime loss to the evil doers of Detroit means that the Blackhawks fell short of the first overall seed in the west by one point. By clinching the second seed, they drew the seventh seeded Nashville Predators. In the regular season series, they had a record of 4-2-0 against their central division foe. Yea, it always sucks loosing to the Red Wings, but we can take solace in how well this team played in the last seven games of the season – as well as the kinder path the ‘Hawks could see as the second seed.

I had every intention of writing a game review for Friday game against the Avalanche, and the power play along with Colin Fraser were going to be among the talking points from that game. Well, the girlfriend’s dog chewed through the power cord to my computer making that impossible as my battery died while writing. Dave Bolland scored on the power play for the Blackhawks’ first goal. Prior to the two-game streak, they went seven games without scoring with the man-advantage. Fraser’s second period goal was his fifth in four games, and evened the game up at 2-2 forcing overtime. If the power play and fourth line continue being productive, it can only make the path to the Stanley Cup easier.

When it came to extra hockey in overtime, the Red Wings were the better team. It took them a little over three minutes to beat the Blackhawk defense and make Antti Niemi look silly. Dustin Byfuglien left his post to join the pushing and shoving on the boards, and that left Duncan Keith all alone to defend Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart. Niemi overcommitted to his left, allowing Stuart to score. The evil doers may have won the battle in overtime, but the war has yet to be won.

The Red Wings clinched the fifth spot in the conference with the win, and will play the Phoenix Coyotes in their first-round match-up. The Blackhawks and Red Wings can meet for a rematch of last season’s Coference Finals, but here’s to hoping they don’t make it that far.

Next, the Blackhawks will host the Barry Trotz’s On Ice this Friday at the UC for the first game of the 2010 post-season. Here is a link to the Blackhawks first-round schedule.

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Fraser Earned This Tag – Blackhawks 5, Stars 2

April 7th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

It wasn’t the prettiest game by any means, but that didn’t stop the Blackhawks from earning their fiftieth win of the season. The most wins by the franchise since it’s inception to the league in 1926-27. And which Blackhawk led this team in their record-breaking 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars? Colin Fraser. He scored two goals in Dallas, and so often do his contributions as a defensive, fourth-line, penalty-killing center go unappreciated. To bad he’s married to a Sutter, of the Calgary (at least for the next week) Sutters.

Anyways, one of the stories last night was the number of shorthanded situations the Blackhawks found themselves in. They did relatively well, going four-for-five on the penalty kill, and Jonathan Toews scored his first shorty of the year for the team’s league-leading twelfth. Interesting how this happened the day of my post about the Blackhawk’s success on the penalty kill. Of the five penalties called, Dustin Byfuglien’s tripping of Loui Eriksson was the only penalty that wasn’t a blown call or the result of stupidity.

Antti Niemi was good in goal. He stopped twenty-six of the twenty-eight shots on goal, and he didn’t have to stand on his head against the much weaker Dallas team. Although there were instances of sloppy play, the Blackhawks also showed signs of being that dominating team we’ve become accustomed to. They positioned themselves, created turnovers and played their puck-control game. I’ll take it as a good sign with the playoffs around the corner.

Next up, the Blackhawks will host St. Louis at the United Center tonight. Ugh, I really hate the Blues and their band of morons. They resort to fisticuffs whenever they face a more talented squad knowing they can’t beat them in an actual hockey game. On that note, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Adam Burish on the second line once again – Troy Brouwer was a scratch last night – to protect Patrick Kane.

Minor League Shuffle –

Bryan Bickell was recalled from Rockford earlier today. He will replace Tomas Kopecky. Bickell has played fourteen games with the Blackhawks this season, and will add to his total tonight. The twenty-three year old has two goals and an assist in his time with the NHL club.

Meanwhile in Rockford, the IceHogs recalled Joe Palmer who was on loan to the Texas Brahmas of the Central Hockey League (CHL). He was used primarily as a backup. In thirty-two games, Palmer had a goals-against average of 2.75 and 0.914 save percentage.

Changes have been reflected on our In the Organization page above.

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The Penalty Kill (Remastered)

April 6th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The one constant through the year, Ray, has been the penalty kill. The Blackhawks have won games like an army of steamrollers. The have constantly had problems with their power play, their goaltending and their defense. Each facet of their game has been rebuilt, erased and rebuilt again. But the penalty kill has marked the time. This ability to stymie opponents and score down a man is part of the Blackhawks’ present, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

- Terrence Mannakov

A little over two months ago I wrote a post about the successful penalty kill of the Blackhawks.  It has been one of the consistently good areas of play from this team all seaosn. If some other facet of their game is on the fritz, the boys have always had the penalty kill to hang their jock straps on. On January 28th (when I wrote the first post), they were fourth in the league at keeping opponents scoreless with the man-advantage at 85.6-percent. Today, the Blackhawks are fifth in the league at 84.8-percent – they haven’t allowed a goal in four-on-five situations in their last five games.

One of the most overused hockey clichés is that the goalie a team’s best penalty killer. Yea, they do have a heightened level of importance in shorthanded situations, but if the defense is anemic, a goalie has no chance of success on kill.  In the case of the Blackhawks, the skaters are a big reason their penalty kill is fifth in the league.  At the time this post was written -  compared to their peers around the league with ten or more games played -  Cristobal Huet had a goals-against average of 4.58 (eighth) while shorthanded  and Antti Niemi with a goals-against average of 5.37 (twenty-second).  Those numbers don’t support the cliché for the 2009-10 version of the Blackhawks.

When I think about the penalty kill, my mind automatically goes to the team’s defense. Coach Quenneville has the luxury of a roster full of capable defensemen and two-way forwards that are affective in their own zone and the back-check. On the blue line, Quenneville has consistently relied on a core of guys that haven’t been afraid to put their bodies on the line and block shots. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook get all the press, but you cant overlook the contributions of Brent Sopel and Niklas Hjalmarsson on the kill. When it comes to blocked shots, Sopel leads the team with 5.6 per sixty minutes and Hjalmarsson is third with 4.6 (trailing Seabrook by 0.1). The Swede also brings a calm, smart defensive style that thrives in four-on-five situations.

I alluded to Quenneville’s use of two-way forwards on the kill earlier, and Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp are staples on the penalty-killing unit because of their offensive ability. They are effective at clearing their zone of the puck and taking the action to the other end of the ice. As it stands today, the Blackhawks lead the league in shorthanded goals with eleven (Maria Hossa 5, Patrick Sharp 2, Kris Versteeg 2, Duncan Keith 1 and Troy Brouwer 1). Although Toews hasn’t scored on the kill, he has three shorthanded assists this season, and the captain’s value doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet. For example, when the Coyotes visited the UC a few weeks ago, Toews skated the puck into the defensive zone alone, and drew a cross-checking penalty from Lee Stempniak while the other ‘Hawks were executing a line change.

The fact that the Blackhawks don’t spend much time in the box helps as well. Currently, they have the second fewest shorthanded situations in the league with 250, and have played total of three games this season where they didn’t have to field the penalty kill. Fewer instances of four-on-five hockey is obviously key, and it means that the defense feels less stress and won’t break as easily if they weren’t so effective at staying out of the penalty box. With the way this team’s defense and goaltending has fared this season, that’s a good thing.

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Blackhawks 4, Flames 1

April 4th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

My boy Troy beat the Kipper

With today’s victory the Blackhawks clinched the central division title and tied the franchise record with their forty-ninth wins in a season with four games to go. It was the first time the organization has held the top spot in the division since the 1992-93 season.

Per usual, the ‘Hawks dominated the Calgary Flames on their way to a 4-1 victory. In the last two years the Blackhawks have owned the Flames – to say the least – going 8-0-0 and ousting them from the playoffs last year. Sunday’s win could have ruined Calgary’s chances of overtaking the eighth and final playoff spot in the west with three games left in the season – the Avalanche have five games (situation when writing this post) left to play. There must be so many kinds of hate coming from Flame fans towards the Blackhawks right about now.

Anyways, the goaltending today was great. Antti Niemi looks so comfortable in net right now. He gave up a few bad rebounds, but the defense was there to bail him out. The only blemish on the afternoon was when defenseman Ian White skated into the Blackhawks’ zone virtually untouched on his way to beat Niemi. Every facet of their game (minus the power play) was in working order.

The first two goals scored by Tomas Kopecky and Troy Brouwer was due to their conscious play in front Calgary’s goalie. It was Kopecky’s tenth goal of the season (a career high). Patrick Kane beat Miikka Kiprusoff on his stick side with a wicked wrist-shot from the slot in the second period, and Dustin Byfuglien scored in the third frame for the his first since returning to the blue line.

Next up, the Blackhawks will face the Dallas Stars this Tuesday. With four games in seven days to close out the season, I wonder if Coach Quenneville will give some players rest going forward.

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Blackhawks 2, Devils 1 (SO)

April 3rd, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Kane's oral fixation

I’m a little less worried about the state of Coach Quenneville’s squad after last night’s 2-1 (SO) victory over the New Jersey Devils. He played Dustin Byfuglien on the blue line and trotted out the same line combinations he used a few days ago in Minnesota. I hope we’ve seen the last of Quenneville’s constant line shuffling after winning two games in a row. With five games left in the regular season it’s too late to make any more major alterations.

Anyway, Antti Niemi played a tight game in New Jersey last night. He played like a goalie that can carry a team through the playoffs. The only Devil goal was a result of a defensive breakdown in front of the net, and Ilya Kovalchuk had himself an easy goal for his fortieth of the season. Niemi saved thirty-two of thirty-three shots on goal, and came up big over and over again. He kept his team in this game.

With under a minute left in the third period, Niemi was pulled from goal for the extra skater. The move paid off. Kris Versteeg tied the game at 1-1, and it went into overtime then a shootout. Jonathan Toews blasted a shot past Martin Brodeur, and that was all the Blackhawks needed to come away with two points.

Next up, the Blackhawks will host the Calgary Flames at the UC this Easter Sunday.

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