Limiting Shots and Scoring Opportunies

Through 7 games in the playoffs thus far, the Blackhawks are averaging just over 35 shots per game. They had 42 shots in game 1 against Detroit. Jimmy Howard was essentially left for the dogs, stopping only 38 of those 41 shots (one goal was an empty-netter). The Blackhawks are a high-powered, offensive team that will crash the net and throw anything towards the opposition’s net. The Anaheim Ducks were more of a physical team in the first series, who’s skill and scoring was based throughout their first two lines, and not as high-powered as Chicago’s team. Detroit was essentially dominated by this style in game 1, and will need to improve it’s play for game 2 and beyond.

Jonathan Toews plays a big part in the Blackhawks’ offence. If the Detroit Red Wings can shut down him and his line, we may see another long series go in Detroit’s favour. (Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports)

We knew Detroit’s defence was questionable (aside from Kronwall and Ericsson) coming into these playoffs. With only two reliable defence-men (maybe 3 if you include Kindl), it may be extremely difficult for the Red Wings to limit the scoring depth of the Chicago roster. Not only do you have to fear the obvious (Toews, Kane, Sharp, and Hossa), but players like Bryan Bickell, Marcus Kruger, and Brandon Saad have been constant scoring threats all season and in the playoffs. In game 1, Hossa and Sharp were the only ones from the big 4 that registered a goal. Look who scored the third goal…

The Blackhawks are receiving scoring support from all over. They outshot the Red Wings by 21 last night, and if they continue to shoot the lights out, this series may be over very quickly. Don’t get me wrong, Jimmy Howard is a fantastic goaltender, and his play in the first round kept Detroit in many games, and was a big reason why the Red Wings were able to advance.

This does not mean Detroit should just let Chicago takes thousands of clappers at Howard. The Red Wings cannot afford to give up so many shots and scoring opportunities, mainly because of their suspect defence. The Red Wings’ defence corps is not the deepest, meaning the forwards will have to back-check harder than ever to stop the Blackhawks. Otherwise, Mike Babcock will have to continue to shuffle the deck, that is the defensive pairings, hoping to find two more consistent pairs that will complement the already-steady, Kronwall-Ericsson pairing. Brendan Smith and Jakub Kindl have shown flashes of chemistry in the past, and perhaps this pair might be a factor in limiting the Blackhawks opportunities, giving the Red Wings a better chance to win.

Responsibility with the Puck

This is a must for every team, but the Red Wings were not good at all last night with possession of the puck. They had 6 give-aways, compared to Chicago’s two. Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs…when you give up the puck as many times as they did, your opponents will make you pay. Chicago’s first goal was just that last night…

Let’s break down this play a bit. We see after the Chicago dump-in, Red Wings’ defence-man Kyle Quincey retains possession of the puck in the corner. Instead of playing it back behind his net, he plays it up the boards to defence partner, Brendan Smith, who happens to be way out of position as well. Smith carelessly loses it to of all people, Jonathan Toews, who slides the pass over to Hossa for the one-timer finish. So a few mistakes here. First was Kyle Quincey not reversing the play away from the crowded area. Two is Brendan Smith’s positioning; if he was in front of or behind the net, he may have been open as an outlet to Quincey. Third is the carelessness by Smith (I’ll throw Cory Emmerton in there as well because he was beside Smith along the boards), essentially handing the puck to Toews. If Detroit is to win this series, these sorts of defensive mis-cues cannot happen. With Chicago’s depth, any give-away in or out of the defensive zone can become costly to not just the game, but to the series.

Detroit’s ability to do anything with the puck was non-existent last night. They only had 21 shots on net, and only managed to get one by Crawford (it was a flukey goal given Brunner’s resilience to keep hacking at the puck, plus Crawford’s poor rebound control on the goal). You know your team doesn’t have many scoring opportunities when NHL.com has majority of the save highlights on Jimmy Howard and only a few on Crawford. Detroit needs to start making something happen with the puck. We know they can score, and they have multiple sources for points (Datsyuk, Zetteberg, Abdelkader, Franzen, Brunner, etc.) There are so many guys who can make things happen!

WIth game 2 looming on Friday night, only one thing is for sure, you can expect that Detroit will be throwing everything at Corey Crawford every chance they get.

Brendan Smith’s inexperience showed again on Wednesday night in game 1, as his mis-cues led to the first Chicago goal. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

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Robert Ruscitti

I am a third year student at the University of Toronto studying Physical Education/Concurrent Teacher Education. I have been a hockey fan all my life and play in a men's league during the winter. My favourite leagues are the NHL first and foremost, the MLB, and the NFL. I do follow many other sports as well. I also work at the hockey megastore Pro Hockey Life. Follow me on twitter @rob_ruscitti and check out my sports blog on twitter as well @EhSport360

This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.

(Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports)

There is nothing like old school playoff hockey.

The purists had to be smiling when they found out that the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings will renew acquaintances in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

The latest meeting between the Original Six rivals is historic on so many levels. The series will be the first time the two have faced off in the playoffs since 2009 when the Red Wings got the better off the Madison Street Hockey Club. Also, this series will be the last time the two teams can be called division rivals.

The Red Wings are moving over to the Eastern Conference next season. After that, all of the fans from the two passionate fan bases have to look forward to is an annual home and home series.

There are three things to look forward in this best of seven series:

Look for the style of play to increase to a fevered pitch

Even though the Blackhawks beat the Red Wings in every game they played against them this season, expect the intensity on each shift to be ratcheted up a few notches. Detroit is not going to lie down because of what happened in the regular season. There is genuine concern on the side of Chicago. The Red Wings did something that the Blackhawks could not do the season: Get the better of the Anaheim Ducks. The Blackhawks came up short three times this season against the Ducks. That tidbit of information has to be something that Red Wings coach Mike Babcock has to remind his team of.

Line changes in the Windy City

Even though the Minnesota Wild were sent back home after five games, Coach Joel Quenneville was not happy with the overall performance of the team. Last week, he demoted Calder Trophy finalist Brandon Saad and Viktor Stalberg from the first and third lines respectively. Dave Bolland, who is back from injury and Ben Smith were moved up to replace them in the lineup. According to the Facebook account of the Blackhawks blog, The Committed Indian, Stalberg will be a scratch from tonight’s line up. This was not the first time this season Quenneville shook things up before a matchup with Detroit. Before the team’s last game with against the Red Wings, winger Brandon Bollig was made a healthy scratch so an extra defenseman could be added to the roster. Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are forces to be reckoned with. Except a commitment to the forecheck to offset the offensive prowess of the two aforementioned players.

The changing of the guard

The Red Wings know things have changed since the last time the played the Blackhawks in the playoffs. Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa are now household names. The men wearing the Indian head sweater are now a core of battle tested veterans who have no fear of the opponent standing in the way of postseason immortality.  This isn’t the Blackhawks of the late 90’s. The speed and depth of Chicago will eventually wear down the Red Wings. “She ain’t what she used to be” applies best here.

PREDICTION: BLACKHAWKS IN FIVE

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Evan F. Moore

Journalist

Evan F. Moore is a Chicago-based freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the Red Eye,The Checking Line,Gapers Block,ChicagoSide,Extra Bilingual Newspaper, Chicago Now, Time Out Chicago, and Community Media Workshop’s We Are Not Alone/No Estamos Solos project on youth violence.

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This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.

Look for Jonathan Toews to step up in round 2 (Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports)

It is official, with Detroit’s gutsy Game 7 performance it sets up a Blackhawks vs. Red Wings second round matchup. This is the final season that these two storied franchises will be in the same conference once realignment is made official next season. To meet in the playoffs seems like the perfect way to end one of the best Western Conference rivalries, however Chicago shouldn’t look too far ahead as Detroit has been relishing in the underdog role ever since mid-April. Here is the second round preview of the Blackhawks and Red Wings.

Chicago had swept the season series this season and included in that was the 7-1 loss March 31^st. Ever since that lopsided loss Detroit had been playing in desperation mode just to make the playoffs. Many expected it to be a rebuilding year in Detroit but in typical Red Wings fashion they stunned the #2 seeded Anaheim Ducks to advance.

Offence:

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews escaped round 1 not getting a point until the 5^th and final game of the series, do not expect that trend to continue. Toews is a perfectionist and no one demands more from his game than himself, after going quiet in round 1 expect Jonathan Toews to make some noise in round 2.

On the flipside is Detroit’s newly anointed captain Henrik Zetterberg, who has 8 points in 7 games, has been leading by example. With his team facing elimination Zetterberg came out and scored the overtime winner to force Game 7 and had a goal and assist in Game 7 to eliminate the Ducks.

Chicago holds the advantage in secondary scoring, Sharp, Hossa, Keith and Kane have provided the majority of the offence in round 1 but Chicago must get more from players like Toews, Stalberg and Saad to be able to roll 3 effective offensive lines.

The Red Wings offence mainly relies on its two big guns Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk alongside Johan Franzen. All 3 players averaged over 20 minutes a game in round 1 so fatigue could be factor when trying to match up against a deep Chicago team.

Defence:

With the loss of Lidstrom in the offseason Detroit has had to rely on a more balanced group of minutes for all 6 defenders this season. In Round 1 Niklas Kronwall proved he could effectively handle the big minutes and not have it wear on his game, Kronwall average 25:20 per game. The sixth defenceman spot has been a rotating door for Detroit in the playoffs as we have seen Colaiacovo, DeKeyser and Lashoff all take their turns.

Chicago has managed the minutes of their two star defenceman Duncan Keith (23:21) and Brent Seabrook (20:46) quite effectively. Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival have had strong first round series and both managed over 20 minutes a night.

Keith is the straw that stirs the drink in Chicago and he leads the offense from the back end as well, averaging a point per game so far in the playoffs and leading all Blackhawks defenceman with 12 shots.

Offence from the blueline seems to have all but evaporated for Detroit with only 1 goal from the back end. Detroit sorely misses having a player who can thread the puck up ice or lay a perfect break out pass but must have someone step up offensively on the back-end if they want to reach the Conference Finals.

Goaltending:

This is the area that Chicago usually has the weakness but the standout play of Corey Crawford in round one against Minnesota gives him the direct advantage over Jimmy Howard. Both of these goaltenders share a lot of similarities coming up around the same time after their teams won Stanley Cup’s with other goaltenders.

Crawford sits tied with Ottawa’s Craig Anderson for league lead in save percentage with an outstanding .950 average, and has played with a sense of calmness that was lacking from his game the previous two trips to the post season.

Jimmy Howard comes in with average statistics but has been playing with desperation and gaining more and more experience every game. Jimmy Howard faced elimination twice already and with each victory has come out more confident.

When two teams with an established rivalry meet in the post season it can be magical, no first few games of teams getting a feel for each other or building up hatred. Things are expected to be intense right from the puck drop for Game 1. The Blackhawks have the advantage on paper but it remains to be seen if they will execute the game plan that made them so successful during the season, or become the second team to fall prey to this underdog Detroit team.

Author information

Rick Emrith

Creator of the Bettman Stand Up hockey blog. I cover the Chicago Blackhawks for The Hockey Writers, In Hossa we trust! I also write for publications such as Arbitrage Magazine and Elite Sports Blog. You can follow me on Twitter @RickEmrith

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This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.

The Chicago Blackhawks became the second Western Conference team to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by defeating the Minnesota Wild in five games. Despite Minnesota’s starter Niklas Backstrom going down with injury in the Game 1 warm-ups, Josh Harding filled in valiantly forcing overtime in Game 1 and even winning Game 3 on home ice.

Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks (picture by Cheryl Adams/HockeyBroad)

One of the few questions marks about the Blackhawks in the post season was the play of Corey Crawford, the goaltender had lost in the first round the previous two seasons and critics wondered if he could rise to the challenge. Corey Crawford silenced the opposition with a strong series against Minnesota and was the main reason they won Game 5.

With Ray Emery re-aggravating his lower body injury late in the season it cemented Crawford as the starting goalie for the playoffs, which brought about much skepticism. Crawford had struggled in the 2012 playoffs against Phoenix often letting in a soft goal that would just deflate his team.

All season long Corey Crawford has shown the same skill and style he used the previous two seasons in the league but came into this season more mentally ready. Crawford showed the ability to shake off a bad goal and refocus to get the job done.

You may think when a team goes 21-0-3 to be undefeated in regulation for the first half of the regular season that it must all be smooth sailing. Every game had added amounts of pressure of Crawford to keep the streak going and the added experience and confidence from keeping it going so long has definitely benefited him in the playoffs.

Game 5 was the perfect example of just how far Corey Crawford has come. Minnesota had their backs to the wall and were desperate not to get eliminated, so they came out of the gates flying. The Wild only managed 22 shots on goal in Game 5 but 10 came in the first period.Crawford stood tall early on while the Blackhawks big guns got going and scored 4 goals on 23 shots in periods 2 and 3.

Corey Crawford has elevated his game from his stellar regular season numbers going 4-1 with a 1.32 GAA and a .950 save percentage. He leads the league in every goaltending category and is tied for first in save percentage with Ottawa’s Craig Anderson.

Don’t expect Corey Crawford to get complacent now that he has final advanced to the second round, NHL.com correspondent Brian Hedger caught up with him after game and he has this to say:

We’ll take it. It’s a win and we’re moving on. It feels good right now, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

Full article here

Game 5 saw the start of the Saad-Toews-Hossa line beginning to click and if they catch fire the Blackhawks can cruise through round 2. All signs are pointing towards another extended playoff run for the Blackhawks and for the first time it seems like goaltending won’t be a question mark.

Author information

Rick Emrith

Creator of the Bettman Stand Up hockey blog. I cover the Chicago Blackhawks for The Hockey Writers, In Hossa we trust! I also write for publications such as Arbitrage Magazine and Elite Sports Blog. You can follow me on Twitter @RickEmrith

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Corey Crawford has been the Blackhawks best player this post season (Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE)

The Chicago Blackhawks are prepping for Game 4 Wednesday and they know they are facing a fired up Minnesota team. After Chicago had taken the first two games of the series at home they headed to Minnesota in the enviable position of being up 2-0 in the series. Sunday afternoon we were introduced to a much different Minnesota team that came out to play and dominated physically. This is what we learned in Game 3.

Crawford can stand on his head

Heading into the post season one of the biggest question marks was could Corey Crawford be the goalie to lead the Blackhawks on a deep run, through 3 games he has looked solid but in his first playoff loss of 2013 he perhaps looked his best. Chicago was outplayed from the drop of the puck but Crawford was the only reason they made it to overtime making 34 saves and was at his best in the second period making 14 saves when Chicago was being outshot 14-8.

Crawford kept Chicago in the game and was by far the team’s best player in Game 3, through 3 post season games this season he holds a .935 save percentage and a 1.81 GAA. Despite Crawford elevating his game this post season, Josh Harding has kept pace with him inspiring the Wild to force overtime in games 1 and 3.

Minnesota can step it up physically, Chicago needs to answer

Every hit in a playoff series counts and the reason playoffs are so exciting is you usually see everyone finishing checks and giving it their all, unless your name is Andrei Kostitsyn. After a more pedestrian approach and falling into playing Chicago’s style of game, Minnesota came out in Game 3 and ramped up the physical play outhitting Chicago 34 to 13.

Niklas Hjalmarsson led Chicago with 3 hits and only Michal Handzus and Brandon Bollig had more than 1 hit. Minnesota’s Cal Clutterbuck (8 hits) and Devin Setoguchi (7 hits) had more than the whole Blackhawks roster. Chicago needs to respond with a much more aggressive physical approach to avoid a repeat of Game 3.

Saad-Toews-Hossa line needs to step up            

Through the first three games of the series Chicago’s top line has combined for just 1 goal, Hossa’s powerplay marker in Game 1. Saad has not had the playoffs debut he imagined going scoreless in the opening 3 games and being a -2. Captain Jonathan Toews has also gone pointless in the series but had been taking many of Chicago’s key faceoffs and playing an active role on both special teams.

Game 3 offered a rare sight as we witnessed a sloppy defensive play from usual two way stalwart Marian Hossa. Brandon Saad played a quiet game as it was hard to notice him out there until late in the third with the Blackhawks pressing for the game tying goal.If Chicago wants to make this an extended run they need their top line dominating with puck possession and creating plays like they did time and time again in the regular season.

The Patrick’s Kane and Sharp have been leading offensively and Duncan Keith has been getting it done on the back end. Bryan Bickell has been a surprise offensively all season and his 2 goals in 3 post season games are a direct result from his much improved work ethic this season. Game 3 should serve as a wake up call for Chicago that Minnesota is not a regular 8th seed and will not go down without a fight.

Author information

Rick Emrith

Creator of the Bettman Stand Up hockey blog. I cover the Chicago Blackhawks for The Hockey Writers, In Hossa we trust! I also write for publications such as Arbitrage Magazine and Elite Sports Blog. You can follow me on Twitter @RickEmrith

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(Warren Wimmer/Icon SMI)

I will try and refrain from opinion and stick to fact. Below is a comparison of both teams.

SEASON SERIES — The Blackhawks did well against Minnesota this year, taking the season series 2-0-1 and outscoring the Wild 8-6, including a 1-0 shutout with Ray Emery in net.Marian Hossa scored both game-winning goals for the Blackhawks, while Matt Cullen scored the game-winner for the Wild.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS —

• Marian Hossa, Bryan Bickell, Jonathan Toews, and Brandon Saad scored a point per game in the regular-season series.
• Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa led the team in goals with two each.
• Patrick Sharp led all Blackhawks with 14 shots on net.
• The Blackhawks were 0-for-7 (0%) on the powerplay vs. the Wild.
• The Blackhawks are 26-2-1 when they score first, and 10-5-4 when their opponents score first.

MINNESOTA WILD —

• Devin Setoguchi and Matt Cullen led the Minnesota Wild with two points each (1G, 1A).
• Only five players (Setoguchi, Clutterbuck, Brodziak, Zucker, Rupp) put up a positive plus/minus rating on the Wild.
• Mikko Koivu led the Wild with eight shots on net. The Wild were 1-for-7 (14.3%) on the powerplay vs. the Blackhawks.
• The Wild are 18-4-1 when they score first, and 8-15-2 when their opponents score first.

OFFENSE BLACKHAWKS — Below is a breakdown of each line and how effective they were against the Wild this season.

• Brandon Saad, Jonathan Toews, and Marian Hossa combined for nine points (4G, 5A) and a plus-12 rating.
• Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, and Patrick Kane contributed four points (1G, 3A) and a plus-2 rating.
• Bryan Bickell, Andrew Shaw, and Viktor Stalberg contributed six points (3G, 3A) and a plus-1 rating.
• Brandon Bollig, Marcus Kruger, and Michael Frolik contributed one point (1A) and a minus-2 rating.

• Michal Handzus, who is expected to play on the 2nd line in place of Bolland, only appeared in one game and did not register a point. Dan Carcillo is the last forward that did appear in a game, but he did not register any points either.

OFFENSE WILD — Below is a breakdown of each line and how effective they were against the Blackhawks this season.

• Dany Heatley, Mikko Koivu, and Zach Parise combined for a total of two points and minus-10 rating.
• Jason Zucker, Matt Cullen, and Devin Setoguchi contributed five points (2G, 3A) and a plus-2 rating.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Kyle Broadziak, and Jason Pomminville contributed one point (1G) and a minus-2 rating.
• Cal Clutterbuck, Torrey Mitchell, and Mike Rupp contributed three points (1G, 2A) and a plus-2 rating.

• Charlie Coyle, who is expected to play on the 1st line in place of Heatley, appeared in two games but did not register a point. Michael Granlund, Darrell Powe, and Zenon Konopka are among the remaining forwards that are not expected to dress in game one.

DEFENSE BLACKHAWKS — Interestingly enough, Niklas Hjalmarsson led the Blackhawks defense in points vs. the Wild this season. In fact, he was the only defenseman to register a point (1A) through the three game series. As a unit, the defense stayed positive with a plus-8 combined rating, and not a single one of them dipped into minus territory.

DEFENSE WILD — The Wild had a bit more success with producing offense from the backend, but not by much. Ryan Suter(1G) and Tom Gilbert (1A) were the only defenseman to register points. Even with a bit of offensive production, not a single defenseman on the team put up a positive rating and they dipped to a minus-8 combined rating for the season.

GOALTENDING DUEL — Corey Crawford (Career vs. Wild: 7 GP 3-1-2, 0 SO, 2.01 GAA, 0.919 SV%) vs. Niklas Backstrom(Career vs. Blackhawks: 15 GP 5-8-1, 1 SO, 2.65 GAA, 0.919 SV%)

LEADERS — For the Blackhawks, Marian Hossa has 20 points (10G, 10A) in 22 career games against the Wild. Jonathan Toews compiled 17 points (6G, 11A) in 18 career games. On defense, Duncan Keith produced 15 points (5G, 10A) in 29 career games.

For the Wild, Ryan Suter leads the team with 26 points (4G, 22A) in 47 career games versus Chicago (his most against any team). Mikko Koivu has 22 points (4G, 18A) in 29 career games vs. the Blackhawks. Matt Cullen also produced 22 points (10G, 12A) vs. Chicago in 36 career games.

Author information

Ton DeFrancesco

Proud Founder/Editor-in-Chief of IndianHeadNation.com -- Ton has covered the Chicago Blackhawks for five years. Over a span of almost two decades, he has played and coached at various levels.

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This article was originally published at: The Hockey Writers.