NHL This Week
Another week in the NHL has one by this season. To no one’s surprise, it has been another outstanding week for hockey.
Although the Eastern Conference has not had too much fluctuation in its standings, some of its teams are making new impressions, both good and bad. Montreal still leads the Conference with its, as of 3/4/13, record of 14-4-4 and point total of 32. The Canadians are showing great promise to keep their top tier status as a solid playoff team this year. Will they keep it up? That is highly debatable, especially with a hot Boston Bruins team following very close behind with 30 points and a 14-3-2 record. Actually, the Northeast Division overall is dominating the Eastern Conference. Montreal, Boston, Ottawa, and Toronto are all in the top eight as of 3/4/13. The only Northeast Division team that is not within the top eight is the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres currently sit at 12th place with a record of 9-12-2 and a point total of 20, only three points from the current 8th ranked position of the Philadelphia Flyers.
As far as the bottom of the East goes, there is one team that should be doing a lot better, and in my opinion, does not belong there. That team is the New York Rangers. The Rangers had a most impressive season last year, that is, until they reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Besides the fact, in my opinion, the Rangers should definitely be in the top eight of the Eastern Conference given their offensive, defensive, and goaltending capabilities.
With off-season transactions including the big trade to get star-forward Rick Nash, combined with skilled forwards like Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, Carl Hagelin, Ryan Callahan, and Derek Stepan, the Rangers’ offense should be winning them more games. I expect more out of the Rangers as the season progresses and I do hope that they can make another consecutive Playoff appearance.
The Western Conference has not slowed down one bit since the season started on January 19th. The top eight teams have mostly stayed the same, the three Division Leaders have virtually all stayed the same as well. Chicago continues to dominate with their 41 points and incredible record of 19-0-3; Anaheim follows with 32 points and an also impressive 15-3-2 record; and Vancouver sits in 3rd place, just above Minnesota, with their 26 points and 11-6-4 record. Speaking of Minnesota, the Wild have now entered into the top eight of the Western Conference with a record of 11-8-2 and a point total of 24.
I believe them to decent threat this year, especially with off-season acquisitions of star-forward Zach Parise and star-defenseman Ryan Suter.
However, with only 24 points, Minnesota walks a very thin line in the standings.
This is because San Jose, St.Louis, Dallas, and Detroit all have 24 points as well, not to mention, Phoenix and Nashville sit just below the top eight with each team having 23 points. This sets up for an interesting week ahead of us with a playoff-type of mentality coursing through the West.
As for the ladder half, Phoenix and Nashville look to have the most promise as they sit just 1 point below the top eight teams, while the LA Kings sit only 2 points below with a total of 22 points.
Not too far behind are Calgary, Colorado, and Edmonton all tied with 20 points and all fighting for the upper hand in their Northwestern Division. Columbus still holds the 15th place in the West and the 30th place in the NHL. I expect Nashville and Phoenix to cause a stir this week in the West that will disrupt the 4th through 8th place tie of 24 points, and possibly put them within the top eight.
Blackhawks Update
The mighty Blackhawks continue to roll through opponents. So far this season the Hawks simply want to win. How have they done that? For one they have strengthened the Penalty Kill, reducing the amount of goals by a lot.
They have also made small tweaks and adjustments to their lines, mixing star players like Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa with young guns like Brandon Saad. This helps development and maturity in Saad’s gameplay as it did for Andrew Shaw last year when he shared a line with Toews. The Hawks have also tightened up their defense and goaltending drastically, which, lo and behold, reduces the amount of Goals Against that helps to win games.
But, most impressively, the Hawks have managed to come back from adversity. They have had several games where they have been down by a goal or two and have bounced back to win the game or at least take it to overtime where they still earn a point.
I hope they keep these features up so they continue their record setting success and make a run for the Cup in the playoffs.
As always there are Hawks to thank for their outstanding contributions to the Hawks’ previous success.
Patrick Kane still leads the team in points with a total of 26; 11 goals and 15 assists. He continues to deke and dangle his way to the net as he produces consistently for the Hawks in the most astonishing of ways.
Immediately following, as always, are the point-producing core players like Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, and even Duncan Keith with his 12 points this season. Most importantly, the role players on the Hawks have also been producing in great numbers like Viktor Stalberg, Bryan Bickell, Andrew Shaw, Dave Bolland, Marcus Kruger, and rookie Brandon Saad.
The Blackhawks’ defensive unit has also continued to produce offense with Seabrook, Leddy, Rozsival, and Oduya all contributing with their assists and even some with goals.
Most importantly, the Hawks’ goaltending has continued to be spectacular. Crawford and Emery have never looked so good in their performances as they have together as a dynamic duo as of late.
Crawford has an awesome GAA of 1.41 and a SV% of .945 while Emery has a GAA of 2.02 and a SV% of .926. Both goalies have stayed strong in net so far this season, a lot of the Hawks’ success comes directly from them.
Let’s hope to keep this point streak going and to keep on winning as we approach the Playoffs. LETS GO HAWKS!
Division Leaders
East: Montreal (NORTHEAST); Pittsburgh (ATLANTIC); and Carolina (SOUTHEAST).
West: Chicago (CENTRAL); Anaheim (PACIFIC); Vancouver (NORTHWEST).
Frank Markasovic
Sports Correspondent