[A] Power Outage: CHI 1, NJD 2 (SO)

[Ton]

The Chicago Blackhawks peppered Marty Brodeur with 38 shots, but only one squeaked by as the veteran goaltender back-stopped the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 shootout win.



Steve Montador and Marcus Kruger returned to the line-up after missing several games, unfortunately Montador could not handle the heat and may see himself sidelined again after receiving only 4:20 TOI (Time On Ice) and only one shift in the 3rd period. Marcus Kruger seemed to ease in nicely with over 19 minutes of ice-time and a glorious chance that Brodeur stopped. Kruger also contributed with a 57% success rate in the dot and 2 blocked shots.



Despite their onslaught of offense generated against the Devils, the power-play continues to disappoint. They have not generated a single shot on net on their last eight attempts with the man advantage. Their lack of production has strapped them for two straight games now, but in reality this issue has been lingering all season long.



Although Marty Brodeur stole the show, Corey Crawford also proved to be effective by stopping 21 of 22 shots during the game for a .955 save percentage. The young goaltender has showed plenty of promise down the stretch and proved himself once again with a bounce back performance after the Nashville debacle.



Sitting snug in the 6th seed of the Western Conference, the Hawks have 5 games remaining in the season with important contests against St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, and Detroit Red Wings. Although it is impossible to catch the Blues, the Predators remain 3 points ahead while the Red Wings have a comfortable 4 point lead with a game in hand. The Hawks have a chance of catching both teams, especially if they can knock off wins in regulation when they match-up.



BLACKHAWKS THREE STARS OF THE GAME



1. Brent Seabrook

2. Dave Bolland

3. Corey Crawford



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[Tater]

One point is nice, but dayum. So many great chances....

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

fatso got lucky and won

 

[Mach29]

We are sitting in as perfect a spot as we can get with San Jose as the first round matchup with Keith back. Who knows, maybe management has JT set up for a return by then.

 

[mikita's helmet]

Brodeur stole 2 points for the Devils (Hawks had lots of nice chances). Stalberg was wide open to side of Brodeur when Kruger stole Brodeur's pass. Horrible line change on the Devil's goal even if the puck bounced off the linesman (Crawford was left out to dry).

 

[roshinaya]

According to Chris Kuc the Hawks have gone 8 consecutive PP's without a single shot on goal. Holy shit is that pathetic. I don't know who's in charge of the PP but I'll blame Kitchen. That man has been absolutely brutal and I can't see anything positive he has brought to this team since he came on board. What exactly is his role, other than fucking up anything he touches? Scooter better can his ass and let it be a little wake up call to Q as well.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

Q called a timeout prior to the 5 on 3 and it was Kitchen with the clip board diagramming the play. So it has to be Kitchen in charge of the pp. With the talent on this team and such an inneffective pp, it seems obvious a change is needed. How many more points would the Hawks have if the pp was'nt always 0 for 29 or whatever it is now?

 

[R K]

I dunno but that team is not the one to break out against on the PP. They have the best PK in the NHL. Not saying the PK doesn't have issues, but the Devils dont give PP goals up. Or not very often.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

We are sitting in as perfect a spot as we can get with San Jose as the first round matchup with Keith back. Who knows, maybe management has JT set up for a return by then.

I have been saying this for a long while now that Chicago's best chance of advancing to the second round is staying put in the 6th seed. And what will if it happens Chicago downfall out of the playoffs will be our PP. That will be our enemy come playoffs, as much as some of the experts in here disagree.

 

[R K]

I have been saying this for a long while now that Chicago's best chance of advancing to the second round is staying put in the 6th seed. And what will if it happens Chicago downfall out of the playoffs will be our PP. That will be our enemy come playoffs, as much as some of the experts in here disagree.

Cup year going in the PP was struggling. It picked up in the playoffs. Many things happen. Your an expert and predicted where we'd be for awhile. Pat yourself on the back.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

Cup year going in the PP was struggling. It picked up in the playoffs. Many things happen. Your an expert and predicted where we'd be for awhile. Pat yourself on the back.

( patting) struggling yes but not this bad, the is no chance in hell this nightmare of pp gets better in two weeks while its been like this for 4 months. from what I recall we would atleast score one out of three or four in 2010.



but thanks for noticing buddy, it means alot coming from you.



oo yeah, why did you leave the chat room yesterday, who pissed you off and about what?

 

[LordKOTL]

My only gripes are that Sharp showed up real late and Hossa was nowhere to be seen. The 5-3 PP irked me because again, we were trying to be too cute rather than matking Brodeur see more rubber than Jenna Jameson's twat. Sharp could have had an easy goal if he would have one-timed his shot on the 5-3 rather than holding it for about a second and a half.



It seems to be a problem; too often the star players (tonight Hossa and Sharp) tried to be too cute and wait for the "perfect" play rather than the basic hockey 101 play. I think it would be easier to take if some of the players would "whiff" on a one-timer opportunity raher than stop the puck, settle it down, and shoot the puck right into the D-man who had more than enough time to take away the shooting lane.



Overall though, it was a good showing and the team showed a lot more guts than they did against Nashville. Props to Bickell for going to the net. and Crawford came through when he wasn't required to be an Dhalsim to make the save. We got a point and Nashville lost...that's gotta count for something.

 

[supraman]

Cup year going in the PP was struggling. It picked up in the playoffs. Many things happen. Your an expert and predicted where we'd be for awhile. Pat yourself on the back.

But our PP sucked in the finals, we hadn't scored a single chance game 6 except the winner

 

[R K]

But our PP sucked in the finals, we hadn't scored a single chance game 6 except the winner

We were five on five for the winner in the finals werent we?

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

We were five on five for the winner in the finals werent we?

we can not rely on that cause thats wishfull thinking



RK, this is a totally different team then the 2010 team. if your compare the two teams PP units side by side. 2010 blows this unit away. We may get past the first round with this horrible unit but it will cost us the playoffs in the second round unless they do something drastic, stop the cycling around and those pretty little passes back and forth while its chewing up time, hell not to mention the entry of the whole attack blows. Play the meat and potatoes hockey. when I say crash the net I mean collaps two to three players around the goalie and have one kick it back to the blue line and one time it. Seems like other teams that try that get the puck past us. But no we have to dish the puck to Kane while others stand there clueless while they should be moving consistently.

 

[puckjim]

The putrid power play allows teams like the Blues and Canucks to cheap shot the hell out of the Blackhawks.



Unless they can figure out how to make them pay on the man-advantage, those teams will have no repercussions when going after the Hawks players.



It's a large reason why Vancouver didn't win the Stanley Cup.



The Bruins killed off a majority of the penalties against them.

 

[Rex]

The putrid power play allows teams like the Blues and Canucks to cheap shot the hell out of the Blackhawks.



Unless they can figure out how to make them pay on the man-advantage, those teams will have no repercussions when going after the Hawks players.



It's a large reason why Vancouver didn't win the Stanley Cup.



The Bruins killed off a majority of the penalties against them.

This. The two series (09, 10) that we beat the Canucks in the playoffs, it's because we made them pay in the playoffs when they started being cheap. We haven't been able to do that this season.

 

[R K]

This. The two series (09, 10) that we beat the Canucks in the playoffs, it's because we made them pay in the playoffs when they started being cheap. We haven't been able to do that this season.

we haven't payed a playoff game yet.

 

[R K]

The putrid power play allows teams like the Blues and Canucks to cheap shot the hell out of the Blackhawks.



Unless they can figure out how to make them pay on the man-advantage, those teams will have no repercussions when going after the Hawks players.



It's a large reason why Vancouver didn't win the Stanley Cup.



The Bruins killed off a majority of the penalties against them.

Tim Thomas won that series. He killed the Penalties.

 

[R K]

we can not rely on that cause thats wishfull thinking



RK, this is a totally different team then the 2010 team. if your compare the two teams PP units side by side. 2010 blows this unit away. We may get past the first round with this horrible unit but it will cost us the playoffs in the second round unless they do something drastic, stop the cycling around and those pretty little passes back and forth while its chewing up time, hell not to mention the entry of the whole attack blows. Play the meat and potatoes hockey. when I say crash the net I mean collaps two to three players around the goalie and have one kick it back to the blue line and one time it. Seems like other teams that try that get the puck past us. But no we have to dish the puck to Kane while others stand there clueless while they should be moving consistently.

Thanks Acco for reminding me what team it is. Where would I be without you? What did I do for all those years sitting in the UC watching hockey without you?



I'm blessed..



Oh and in 2010 our PP went though some very ruff stretches in the REGULAR season. Trust me, I was there.