The only aspect of last night’s game in Nashville that worked was Cristobal Huet. His performance kept the Blackhawks in the game as the offense was unable to score on Pekka Rinne. Last night, few problems that the ‘Hawks have became apparent. The Blackhawks’ power play is bad going 0 for 5 yesterday, and anyone can see that putting Patrick Sharp on the point doesn’t work.
Taking penalties late in the game have impeded the team’s ability to mount a comeback in the third period – two subsequent penalties in the last ten minutes of the game will do that. Drawing late penalties was a problem in the 3-1 loss to Vancouver last week – the Canucks took advantage of them.
The Blackhawks have also seen their penalty totals rise in the last few games, and fortunately the team has been rather solid on the penalty kill. They rank sixth in the league while being short-handed with an 83.7 percent success rate. Still, the coaching staff should address the issue before it becomes a bigger problem as the ‘Hawks require discipline late in the game.
Tonight the Blackhawks get a chance to quickly put last night’s 2-0 loss to the Predators behind them. The Montreal Canadiens visit the United Center in an Original Six match-up. Antti Niemi should get start tonight – despite Huet’s solid net presence his last three starts. Huet will start tonight. The Canadiens have been going through goalie troubles of their own, and there are some Quebecers who would like to see Huet done the rouge, blanc, et bleu once again. Jaroslav Halak has seen more starts lately, but it’s likely that Carey Price will get the nod in Chicago.
Anyway, the Canadiens are a different looking team from past years. Former face of the franchise Saku Koivu is a Duck, and new additions Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri to now make up the core of the team with defenseman Andrei Markov sidelined. They are coming off an ugly loss to Pittsburgh two nights ago, and the Blackhawks are going to have to improve on last night’s offensive laps if they want to have any chance in hell to win this game.
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