Nearing the end of October, the Chicago Blackhawks have achieved a current record of 5-1-2 (as of 10/20/2013). This fine start has put the Hawks in 2nd place behind Colorado in the Central Division. Colorado leads the Division with 14 points followed by Chicago with 12, St. Louis with 11, Nashville with 11, Minnesota with 9, Winnipeg with 8, and Dallas with 6.
Although it is still very early in the season, Colorado seems to be a legitimate contender in the Central this year. The Hawks have already faced a tough opponent in St. Louis having beaten them twice out of both games so far.
The long 82-game schedule only gets tougher as the weeks go by, so this early success, despite the losses to St. Louis, has been critical.
Now, the main focus is to keep the points coming so that the Hawks may hold on to the top of the Central Division. I have a feeling that if a team in the Central Division slips up and falls to the bottom, it may never see the top again.
Weekly Recap
This past week, the Hawks have played some great hockey. They won 2 of 3 games during the week and the other game was lost in a shootout, which still yields a point. This is good! Points are good! Gaining 5 of 6 possible points from the week is the kind of pace the Hawks need to hold on to.
Carolina was the first to be defeated by the Hawks last week in a 3-2 shootout victory. In this East vs. West matchup, Patrick Sharp registered his first goal of the season with a beautiful wrister. I hope Sharpie keeps scoring on a regular basis because the Hawks can really benefit from Sharp’s consistent sniping abilities. Hossa also scored a goal and Crawford was named the game’s 1st Star with 34 saves.
Following the shootout victory, the Hawks played the St. Louis for the 2nd time this season on Oct. 17th. Wanting sweet redemption against a long-time hated rival, the Hawks struck first as rookie Brandon Pirri found the back of the net from a pass delivered by Hossa.
Pirri had been in plenty of Blackhawks’ discussions throughout the pre-season and well folks, he has shown up to play. Hopefully Pirri’s goals will be a regular occurrence so that he may earn a permanent spot on the roster.
After Chelsea Dagger blared through the Madhouse, cheers fell silent as the Blues answered back with a David Backes goal.
Hossa would also score later in the 2nd period and again the Blues scored shortly after with a beautiful tip-in by Alexander Steen.
With the score tied after the 3rd the Hawks and Blues entered into a shootout. Sadly, the only player to score was TJ Oshie as he decked Crawford out of his skates and scored the clinching shootout goal.
A bitter end to a physical and enjoyable game. Hopefully the next time these two teams meet, the Hawks will get a “W”. However, that will not be until December 28th and I can guarantee the Hawks wont forget the two losses the Blues handed them so far this season.
The last opponents the Hawks played (as of 10/20/2013) were the Toronto Maple Leafs. This day was more than just a game for some in the United Center. Ex-Blackhawks player Dave Bolland returned to the Madhouse for the first time in the 2013-14 NHL Season only this time wearing a Maple Leafs’ sweater.
Bolland was honored with a standing ovation and a very nice video that was played on the jumbotron for the former Hawk. It was good to have him back in the building and I am sure his emotions were high as he stepped onto that ice once again. However, when the puck dropped it was business as usual.
Forward Bryan Bickell recorded his first goal with some trickery against Toronto’s goalie Jonathan Bernier. Former Leaf Michael Kostka also registered his first goal for the Hawks as he scored off a beautiful pass from Brandon Pirri. Speaking of Pirri, Brandon scored his second NHL goal with a perfect tip-in putting the Hawks up 3-1 to finish the game.
Frank’s Three Stars of the Week
1st: Brandon Pirri
2nd: Corey Crawford
3rd: Marian Hossa
Brandon Pirri: Pirri has caught the attention he was thought to have in this past week. He registered 3 points in just three games with 2 goals and an assist. Not too bad for starting out his rookie season. However, if he wants to play with the big boys he has to start producing like a big boy. I would love to see Pirri keep his point streak going so he can finally earn his place on the starting roster, but only time will tell!
Corey Crawford: Crawdaddy has been great in net so far this season. I think a lot of people are always bashing or doubting Crawford for every goal that is let up (these people are usually the people that only wear/own a Kane jersey). Yes, Crawford lets a few crappy goals squeak by, I know that. But most of the time, it is not always his fault. I think he has played great to start the season. Craw will continue to stay strong between the pipes.
Marian Hossa: Hossa has done well this week while scoring goals and registering assists. He has 5 points on the season (2nd on the team overall) in 8 games. Although these numbers do not seem too impressive in Hossa standards, I do believe he will turn on the offensive jets relatively soon.
Other News
The Chicago Blackhawks have assigned forward Joachim Nordstrom to the Rockford IceHogs. Nordstrom has played in all 8 games this season and has registered only 1 point coming from a goal scored against the Islanders.
I thought Nordstom played pretty well on the bottom lines but obviously his stats are not impressive enough. Hopefully this lights a fire underneath him so that if he gets a chance to play again he will play according to Coach Q’s standards.
Also, defenseman Michael Kostka has been playing in a significant amount of games recently. Will he replace Michal Rozsival in the lineup? Kostka has played in 2 games in which he scored one goal and has a +1 rating.
Rozsival has only played in 3 games registering one assist and a -1 rating. Rozsival came up big for the Hawks in the 2012-13 Stanley Cup Playoffs but will he prove to be as valuable this year?
Stay tuned to see who will fill the role of the sixth defenseman for the Hawks this season.
Frank Markasovic
Sports Editor
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