Tag Archives: Pavel Datsyuk

Saad, Blackhawks dominate in Detroit

By Chris Block

Coming off a 2-1 loss to Anaheim at United Center on Friday that had many Chicago hockey fans grumbling and anxious for changes, the Blackhawks flew through Detroit on Sunday and dampered Gordie Howe’s 85th birthday celebration with a 7-1 thumping of the Red Wings.

Chicago’s charge was led by its next wave of young core, with Brandon Saad, Jeremy Morin, Nick Leddy and Jimmy Hayes all figuring prominently in the scoring.

The Red Wings were without Henrik Zetterberg on Sunday.  He was a late scratch due to a groin ailment.  Detroit did see the return of veteran Mikael Samuelsson (finger) however.  Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp continue to be absent from the Blackhawks line up, though both are close to returning.

Corey Crawford was back between the pipes for Chicago for this Easter Sunday afternoon matinee in Detroit, while Jimmy Howard started in goal for the Red Wings.

Jeremy Morin, called up from the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday, made an impact on his first shift in the NHL this season.  Morin had scored 10 goals and 4 assists in 10 games in the month of March in the AHL.  And he didn’t waste any time picking up where he left off there. Read more »

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Kane saves ‘Hawks point streak, then takes the second point from Detroit in the shootout

By Brad Vandenberk

On a cold afternoon in Detroit, the Blackhawks invaded Joe Louis Arena for a 12:30 ET start.  This lone NHL afternoon match was viewed nationally and did not disappoint.

The Hawks came in riding their 21 game point streak and the Red Wings were looking to play spoiler and break that streak.

With the talk of re-alignment throughout the NHL, the Red Wings will move over to the Eastern Conference and only see the Hawks 2 times a year versus the regular 6 times.  This could be a big blow to the already great rivalry between these 2 clubs.

Marian Hossa played in his 1000th game, etching his name among the elite in the NHL.  Dave Bolland missed his 5th consecutive game with an upper body injury.  Read more »

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Blackhawks blow two-goal 3rd period lead in Detroit, win 3-2 in a shootout, finish 6th in West, await Pacific winner

By Brad Gardner

The sixth and final meeting of the season between the Blackhawks and Red Wings went down to a shootout, where Patrick Kane scored the deciding goal to give the visiting ‘Hawks a 3-2 victory. Corey Crawford played a strong game, despite giving up a pair of third-period goals, and did not allow a goal in the shootout to register his 30th win of the season.

Detroit’s third period comeback secured one point in the standings, thereby sealing up either the fourth or fifth seed of the Western Conference and a first round match-up against Nashville.

Despite the two points, Chicago settled into the sixth spot with 101 points (45-26-11 record) on the season. They will open the playoffs on the road against the winner of the Pacific Division.

The game played much like the rest of the season series. Each game between the two Central Division rivals has been decided by one goal. It was the fourth time in six games that the final score was 3-2 and the fourth time Chicago came out victorious. The ‘Hawks ended up taking 10 of a possible 12 points out of the season series against the Wings with a 4-0-2 record. Read more »

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Blackhawks win 2-1, earn two huge points in Detroit

By Brad Gardner

The Chicago Blackhawks made it three straight wins as they captured round five (of six) against the Detroit Red Wings, grinding out another 2-1 win against the Central Division leaders. The ‘Hawks have now earned points in all five games against the Wings this season, earning a 3-0-2 record in the process. On Sunday, goals from Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane and another steady performance from Ray Emery earned the team two important points in the standings.

The Blackhawks made good on an early tripping penalty to Kyle Quincey, taking a 1-0 lead on Patrick Sharp’s power play goal 3:17 into opening period. Sharp’s slap shot from the blue line appeared to deflect off of defenseman Niklas Kronwall in front of the net and past Jimmy Howard. The goal was Sharp’s 25th of the season

Kronwall caught a break of his own a few minutes later, when he sent a slap shot from the blue line that beat Emery and tied the game up at one goal each. Emery’s vision was blocked by defenseman Johnny Oduya, leaving him helpless against the only goal of the game for the Wings. Read more »

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Toews, Quenneville and Blackhawks place high in 2011-12 NHLPA Player’s Opinion Poll

By Chris Block

Jonathan Toews, Joel Quenneville and the Chicago Blackhawks organization scored high in this year’s NHLPA Player Poll.

318 players submitted answers to the annual questionnaire, written by the staff of Hockey Night in Canada and the National Hockey League Player’s Association.

Joel Quenneville, who some Blackhawks fans were screaming to have fired as little as eight days ago, saw his league-wide player approval rating in the “Coach players would most like to play for” category increase from 6 percent in the 2010-11 player poll to 11% this season.  Quenneville placed second to Pittsburgh’s Dan Bylsma, who again received 21% of votes cast in the category.

In last year’s poll, 11% of players indicated the Chicago Blackhawks as the team they would most-like to play for, putting the Blackhawks in a tie for second with the Vancouver Canucks.  This time around the Blackhawks received the most votes supplanting the Detroit Red Wings who topped the category a year ago.  14% of players responding indicated the Blackhawks were the team they’d most-like to play on.  Detroit slid into second-place with a slight drop at 13% of the votes.  Boston came in 3rd taking 11% of the votes, also the biggest one-year jump of any NHL team. Read more »

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Blackhawks Salvage Point, But Two from Bertuzzi Give Red Wings a 3-2 Overtime Win

By Jon Fromi

Despite being outshot 43-27 and outplayed for much of the first two periods, the Chicago Blackhawks were able to earn a point with a late goal in Joe Louis Arena. Todd Bertuzzi provided the overtime winner as the Red Wings prevailed 3-2 in a Saturday matinee.  Detroit bested the Blackhawks in extra time for the second time in less than a week.

Chicago remains on top of the Central Division by taking the game into 4-on-4 time, though Detroit and St. Louis now trail the Blackhawks by a single point in the standings.

The ‘Hawks wakeup call came a bit late, as Detroit parlayed a dominating first period effort into a two-goal advantage. The Red Wings camped out in the Chicago zone, outshooting the Blackhawks 21-4 and keeping Chicago on their heels for most of the period.

Corey Crawford was up to the challenge on 19 of those shots, controlling the rebounds well until the 12:46 mark of the first. Pavel Datsyuk collected a rebound off a Johan Franzen shot with his team on their only power play of the game. He fed Ian White, whose slap shot was redirected by Tomas Holmstrom past Crawford to open the scoring for Detroit. Read more »

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Hawks lose lead late, then OT, 3-2 to Red Wings – Patrick Sharp leaves game with upper-body injury

By Jon Fromi

The Chicago Blackhawks lost their fourth game in a row since the start of the New Year, falling to the Detroit Red Wings in overtime by a score of 3-2.

An early lead fell by the wayside in the closing minutes in a game that was not without its share of controversy. Also noteworthy was the lack of Patrick Sharp for the last two periods as Detroit evened up the season series at a game apiece.

Chicago got on the board early via the power play, breaking a 0-for-15 slump with 3:35 gone in the opening period. Marian Hossa collected the puck off of a Dave Bolland faceoff win and got the puck to Nick Leddy. Leddy returned the favor and Hossa threw the puck toward the net. Bolland sent the rebound off of Nicklas Lidstrom’s skate and past Ty Conklin to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.

Seconds later, Hossa got another scoring play started, bringing the puck into the Detroit zone and putting a shot on goal. In the ensuing battle behind the net for the puck, Michael Frolik tipped a loose puck to the face off circle. Sharp gathered it in, skated to the front of the net, and slapped the puck past Conklin for a 2-0 Blackhawks advantage less than five minutes into the game. Read more »

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NHLPA Player opinion poll on franchises, coaches, rule changes and peers

Less than half of current NHL players recently participated in a voluntary poll presented by the National Hockey League Player’s Association and the CBC television network in Canada.  Of the 318 players who did return surveys, 11% identified the Chicago Blackhawks as the team they’d most-like to play for.  And 7% choose the United Center as their favorite arena to play in.

Duncan Keith, the reigning Norris Trophy award winner, finished 5th in the category of toughest defenseman to play against.  Keith received three percent of the votes in that query.  Patrick Sharp ranked 3rd in the most-underrated player category, tied with New Jersey center Travis Zajac with each receiving 3.5% of votes.  That’s something of an arbitrary category.  Frans Nielsen, who got the 2nd most votes for most-underrated, is a sneaky-skilled player but he’s not in the league of Sharp or Dallas Stars winger Loui Eriksson, who led the voting by a slim margin over Nielsen (5 goals, 16 assists, 43gp).

In Joel Quenneville, the Blackhawks have the league’s 5th most desired coach, according to players polled.  Quenneville received 6% of votes tallied, behind Guy Boucher (8%), Dave Tippett (8%), Mike Babcock (18%) and Dan Bylsma (21%).  Bylsma was obviously aided by how well he came off in the HBO 24/7 series.

Here’s the entire list of questions and top vote getters: Read more »

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