Posts Tagged ‘Minnesota Wild’

Lucky #7 – Blackhawks 4, Wild 0

April 1st, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Tomas earned the belt in Minny

The fourth line was great last night. They attributed for three goals in the 4-0 shutout victory over the Minnesota Wild. Tomas Kopecky scored his eighth and ninth goals of the season, and Ben Eager scored a goal and tallied one assist. I’m quite disappointed Eager of all people couldn’t drop the gloves to give the viewers at home what they wanted – a Gordie Howe Hat Trick. On a serious note, Eager isn’t the fourth line energy forward we fell in love with last season. Ever since getting his brain scrambled in the first game of the season, Eager has become soft.

The defensive play in front of Antti Niemi was better then has been (still not great). They limited the Wild offense to twenty-one shots on goal. The Blackhawks controlled the tempo of the game, and Niemi didn’t see much action in his end of the ice until they were shorthanded three to five in the second period. Being down two men for ninety-one seconds, Niemi pulled up his pants and made a few pad saves the escape shorthanded situation unscathed. At the risk of sounding as though I bat for the other team, I’ve always been impressed with Niemi’s flexibility. For a man of his size, he moves form side-to-side rather well. This win marked his seventh shutout of the season.

On defense, Coach Quenneville had Dustin Byfuglien paired with Duncan Keith on the blue line. Byfuglien didn’t play all to well, but he didn’t embarrass himself either. Nick Boynton was out of the lineup as a result of his scuffle with Cam Janssen two night’s ago. Glad to see Brent Sopel off the top pairing, and Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook seem to play well enough together to keep that project going.

It was great that the fourth line stepped up and won this game for the slumping ‘Hawks, but the first two lines really need to get going with just six games left in the regular season. Jonathan Toews did score off a nice drop pass from Marian Hossa last night, but the bottom lines won’t always be productive enough to bail out the team. The win over the Wild was great, but I’m still a little worried about the state of the team and that lines are being shuffled willy-nilly.

Next up, the Blackhawks will travel fly to the cultural Mecca of the East Coast (sarcasm) to face the Devils this Friday. I haven’t had the opportunity to watch a game with Ilya Kovalchuk in a non-Thrashers jersey yet. It’s going to be weird.

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Blackhawks/Wild Trade, And Lineup Notes

February 13th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Stan Bowman made his first major move as general manager of the Blackhawks yesterday before the Olympic trading freeze. The Blackhawks traded defenseman Cam Barker to the Minnesota Wild for veteran defenseman Kim Johnsson and the Wild’s first round pick (16th overall) of the 2009 entry draft, Nick Leddy.

In two hundred games played as a Blackhawk, Barker never really lived up to the hype of being selected third overall in 2004 entry draft. He finished the 2008-09 campaign with forty points in sixty-eight games, and was able to turn that into a three-year contract with a cap hit $3.083M. Barker didn’t get a chance to build off last year playing third pairing minutes.

In Johnsson, the Blackhawks got themselves the veteran defenseman – with a contract that doesn’t extend past the end of this season – they needed. By moving Barker, Bowman made his job easier freeing the organization of a contract with two more years on it. In Leddy, they received a top defensive prospect to go along with Dylan Olsen and Shawn Lalonde.

Anyway you look at this trade, the Blackhawks got what they needed (Johnsson) and more (Leddy) from Minnesota. Barker will have every opportunity to succeed with his new team.

Lineup Moves –

Forward Bryan Bickell was recalled from Rockford this morning. Ben Eager and John Madden were diagnosed with ‘lower-body’ injuries, and both are ruled out for the final two games before the Olympic break.

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

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Forget Minnesota, Bring On The Ducks, And Skille Recalled

January 10th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

When the Blackhawks are up 5-1 going into the third period you tend to feel good about the outcome of the game. The first forty minutes were great, but the last twenty – not so much. Minnesota scored four consecutive goals in the final period of the game, and Owen Nolan scored the game winner in the shootout to give the Wild a 6-5 victory.

Cristobal Huet was not good at all last night, and was bailed out by the defense so often – see Niklas Hjalmarsson’s diving block in the second period where Huet was so far out of the net. Minnesota kept pressing, and the Blackhawks failed to preserve a four-goal lead. So not all the blame lands squarely on the goaltender’s shoulders. Huet would have been pulled, however, if Antti Niemi weren’t going to start tonight.

Anyway, the Blackhawks will have to put this one behind them and focus on tonight’s game against the Anaheim Ducks at the United Center. No word yet about the status of Cam Barker for this game, and Jack Skille was recalled from Rockford this morning.

Patrick Kane will look to extend his point streak to twelve games tonight. He has scored nine goals and nine assists during the stretch. Kane has seen his point total rise to fifty-two, and is tied for sixth in the league with Brad Richards.

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

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Blackhawks 4, Wild 1

January 6th, 2010 by Leigh Michael Dengis

Thirty wins in forty-three games is impressive. The Blackhawks have won eleven of their last thirteen games, and have extended their lead over the second place team in the Central Division, the Nashville Predators, to ten points. So many good things are happening for the Blackhawks right now. The power play unit – that had been so bad – has scored with the man-advantage in the last eight games. The current streak has improved the ‘Hawks power-play percentage to 20.8 – sixth overall in the league.

Another positive of late has been the play of the fourth line. Their playing time hasn’t increased all that much, but the combination of Ben Eager, Colin Fraser and Tomas Kopecky are no longer invisible on the ice. It pains me to write this, but with the elevated play of Kopecky the line has been more productive.

Marian Hossa scored another two goals last night, and Patrick Kane added another to his team-leading total – now at eighteen goals. Hossa is the seventh Blackhawk to reach double-digits. John Madden is just one away after scoring his ninth goal in the first period. Brian Campbell continues he resurrection as the seven-million-dollar-man last night with his play in the offensive zone, and adding two helpers.

Cristobal Huet’s performance in the first period illustrated a few of the reasons why I’m not a fan. He was out of position, slow, lacked puck control, and the defense had to bail him out to keep the Wild off the scoreboard. Brent Seabrook put himself in front of a sure Andrew Brunette goal, and Duncan Keith back-checked to thwart a good scoring chance by the Wild on a short handed rush. In both cases, Huet was scrambling across the crease to get back in position. Once the Blackhawks defense settled down late in the first period, so did Huet, and that has been the story on him for the majority of the season.

Next up, the Blackhawks will travel to Boston for another Original Six match-up Thursday night.

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Andrew Ebbett On Waivers, Claimed By The Wild

November 21st, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

TSN reported yesterday that Andrew Ebbett was placed on waivers. He has been a healthy-scratch in the Blackhawks last two games, and hasn’t found a spot on the roster either on the wing or at center.

This move has nothing to do with the Blackhawks attempting to clear salary of next season’s payroll. Ebbett is not under contract next year. It has everything to do with the fact that Bryan Bickell has been playing well with the ‘Hawks at the same salary.

Update: Minnesota claimed Ebbett off waivers.

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

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Blackhawks Are Fine Despite Few Issues

October 27th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

The Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 last night. It was Martin Havlat’s regular season return to the United Center and was held silent by his old club. The ‘Hawks were able to put this win over the Wild together due to solid goaltending from Cristobal Huet, a couple key rebounds in front of the net and a highlight goal from Patrick Kane in the third period.

With Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews missing the last two games with their respective head injuries, the Blackhawks have been able to come away with two victories and four points. Last night was just another win over a weaker Western Conference team. The current stretch of the schedule seems to make the Blackhawks’ problems appear to be not so bad.

If the ‘Hawks were playing tougher opponents, however, would the out come of the last two games differ? Would Seabrook and Toews stepped up and played through their concussion-like symptoms? Would Huet have been good enough to come away with just one goal scored on him in 120 minutes? The great thing is that we don’t have to worry about any of that. Despite all the team’s issues, the Blackhawks are first in the Central Division with fifteen points and a record of 7-3-1.

The biggest beneficiary of the Blackhawks current winning streak has to be The Man from France – as Eddie O tends to call him. Huet has seen his goals-against-average drop to a very respectable 2.49 on the year. It’s always nice to see better numbers, but at this point of the season the forward momentum he gets from winning is more important.

The Blackhawks don’t play another game until Thursday in Nashville with another on Friday at home hosting Les Canadiens. Coach Quenneville should start different goalies in back-to-back games. So what game does Huet get? I’m going to stick by my guns and say that he starts in Nashville, and that Antti Niemi will get the nod vs. Montreal.

There is still no timetable as to when Seabrook and Toews (and Ben Eager) will return, or if one is closer than the other. Forcing them to return to the ice before the concussion-like symptoms have regressed could be detrimental to career of each player. Seeing that Seabrook and Toews are the present and future of the franchise, the right decision will be made here.

In other news, the Blackhawks reassigned Jake Dowell to Rockford. Once again, Dowell could return to the NHL team before Thursday’s game if Toews is still recovering from concussion-like symptoms.

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

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Huet To Start, Dowell Recalled And More

October 26th, 2009 by Leigh Michael Dengis

News…

- Yep, Jake Dowell has been recalled by the Blackhawks. This indicates that Jonathan Toews will miss another game with concussion-like symptoms. Nothing has been reported on the matter, or whither Brent Seabrook will miss tonight’s game as well – Jordan Hendry would replace him again if that is the case.

Update: Toews and Seabrook are out.

- Once again starting in net for the Blackhawks will be Cristobal Huet. Everyone is hoping that he can build on the shutout victory over the Predators. The Minnesota Wild are winless on the road (0-7-0) and have tallied only twenty-two goals on the season, so if Huet plays like he did on Saturday, another night ending in cheers will be his reward.

…and Notes

- The Belleville Bulls have been without Blackhawks’ prospect Shawn Lalonde (Red Rising’s #4) for the last five games with a shoulder injury. He could miss between 2-3 more weeks. Lalonde played nine games this season totaling thirteen points (5 goals, 8 assists) and nine penalty minutes.

- Patrick Kane received a call from Martin Havlat regarding EA Sports’ FIFA soccer game.

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

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