Jan 26, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane (88) skates witht the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the first period at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Blackhawks continued their “perfect so-far” season by outlasting the Columbus Blue Jackets in a tight game with a 3-2 victory in Columbus.  The Blackhawks improved to 5-0-0, good for 10 points on the season.  This is the Hawks best start to a season since the 1971-1972 season.  The Blue Jackets fell to 1-3-1, with 3 points on the season.

The Hawks got off to a slow, awfully flat start to the game.  It was almost the reverse of what happened in Dallas, where the Hawks got off to a fast start and were piling up the shots.  The Blue Jackets were the team piling up the shots and chances  in the first half of the first period.  After a Sheldon Brookbank holding penalty, Columbus kept up the offensive pressure, against the Hawks.  This eventually lead to a goal from Blue Jackets’ center, Mark Letestu, just seconds after the Chicago penalty expired.

Throughout the entire first period, the Blue Jackets were physically out-muscling the Blackhawks, and controlling the game.  A late period boarding call for Columbus defenseman, Jack Johnson would have given the Hawks an opportunity through a power-play if it wasn’t for an ill-timed slash from Dave Bolland coincided with the boarding call on Johnson.  Regardless the mini-scrap seemed to lead to some inspired hockey from the Blackhawks , as Patrick Kane burned by Columbus defenseman, Adrian Aucoin to make his way to a shot that was stopped by Blue Jackets’ goaltender, Steve Mason.  However, Dave Bolland was there to turn a rebound into a goal and a tie-game at the end of the first period.  A tie-game that the Hawks were lucky to have.

In the second period, the Blackhawks got off to another slow, flat start as they couldn’t get anything going offensively against the physical style of play, put on by the Blue Jackets.  Mid-way through the period, the Hawks took the lead as Bryan Bickell deflected a shot from Niklas Hjalmarsson past Steve Mason, giving the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

The Blue Jackets appeared to have tied the game up on a shot on a power-play beat Blackhawks goaltender, Corey Crawford.  However, as it the officials ruled that Crawford was interfered with by a Columbus forward, on what in hind-sight looks to be a blown call.  Although, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville disagrees.  So, the Hawks were lucky at the end of the second period, as they were at the end of the first period.  The only difference was that this time they were lucky to have a lead over, rather than lucky share a tie with the Blue Jackets.

Another flat start for the Hawks in the third period made it seem like it was only a matter of time before Columbus tied the game and eventually re-took the lead.  A solid penalty-kill in the third, especially from more solid play from Michael Frolik, appeared to spark a more higher-quality game of hockey from the Blackhawks.  Jonathan Toews added a nifty insurance goal that would end up being the game-winner, in the third period.  An Artem Anisimov goal, late in the third, proved to be too little, too late for the Blue Jackets as the Blackhawks survived to claim a 3-2 victory, as their undefeated season lives on.

Notes-

More strong play from the Hawks usual suspects in the 3-2 victory.

Niklas Hjalmarsson continues to play like the he’s the man the Hawks ultimately chose to keep over Antti Niemi, back in 2010.  ”Hammer” provided 4 blocked shots along with an assist(which initially looked like his goal) en route to a +3 night.

Patrick Kane continues his mission to show everyone that he is back to being an elite scorer at the NHL level, as he added 2 assists to his stat sheet.

Corey Crawford made several clutch saves for the Blackhawks, and had another very good night in net.  His Save Percentage on the season thus far is a hefty .923%.

Former Calder Trophy winning goaltender for the Blue Jackets, Steve Mason, who lost his starting job this season after repeated seasons of seemingly constant struggles combined with Columbus’ acquisition of Sergei Bobrovsky, had an overall solid night in net for the Jackets as he stopped 21 shots.

Although Brandon Saad never seems to have the statistics to show for it, he is making a positive impact on the Hawks top-line.  If he keeps up this play, he will start putting up points.  It might be interesting to see what happens when Dan Carcillo returns from his injury.

In a very not newsworthy news, Jonathan Toews is off to a hot start this season as expected.  Toews put up a goal and a 68% face-off winning percentage against Columbus.  Just because he always plays great, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth mentioning.

Duncan Keith lead the Hawks in ice-time with 25:35, as Coach Quenneville used his 3rd d-pairing of Nick Leddy and Sheldon Brookbank very sparingly.   This might be something to keep an eye on soon.

The Blackhawks (5-0-0, 10pts) come home to face the hated Detroit Red Wings (2-2-0, 4pts)  tomorrow at 6:00 PM at the United Center.

November 10, 2011; Columbus, OH, USA; Chicago Blackhawks fans celebrate after the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Chicago defeated Columbus 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports

Game #5- Chicago Blackhawks (4-0-0) at Columbus Blue Jackets (1-2-1)

Game Time- 6:00 pm Central

TV-CSN Chicago or Fox Sports Ohio for Columbus

The Blackhawks face for the first time this year divisional foe Columbus Blue Jackets. While it is easy to chalk up another two points for the Hawks let us not forget these are not the same Columbus Blue Jackets.

Last year the Blackhawks swept all six of their contests with Columbus but this is a new year with many changes on the Columbus Blue Jackets. They have significant roster changes due to trades.

They now have Jack Johnson from the Jeff Carter trade to LA, on the blue line with James Wisniewski.  This makes a solid first line pairing.  They also shored up their D with the acquisition of Adrian Aucoin which will give veteran stability to  the youth on the backend.  Columbus will not be as easy to score on this year.

The Blue Jackets also obtained Sergei Bobrovsky from the Philadelphia Flyers in the offseason.  This move now relegates Steve Mason to back-up goaltending duties.

The biggest change on Columbus is obviously the departure of offensive star Rick Nash to the New York Rangers. The Blue Jackets did however get in return from New York forwards Nick Foligno, Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. While they are not Nash, they do provide Columbus a more balanced attack.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are a work in progress but the Blackhawks need to guard against looking past them to Detroit. Look for Emery to get the nod in net for the Blackhawks with them playing Detroit tomorrow. Columbus is coming off of back to back losses to the Colorado Avalanche 0-4 and the Phoenix Coyotes 1-5 so they will be looking to rebound in front of their home fans.

It will be interesting as well to see if Viktor Stalberg continues where he left off last year with pummeling the Blue Jackets. Eight of his 22 goals were courtesy of Columbus. Lets see if Stalberg can continue this trend.

Prediction – Blackhawks take this one to a tune of 4-2 in regulation on goals from Sharp, Bolland, Saad and Stalberg.

For instant updates during the game follow us on Twitter @Blackhawk_Up, we are also on Facebook at Blackhawk UP.

Fans of the Chicago Blackhawks hold up their tickets Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

The summer keeps rolling along and finally single game Chicago Blackhawks tickets go on sale 10am  August 20th through the usual suspect Ticketmaster.  Pre-season tickets go on sale this Monday at 10am.  The Hawks season opener is scheduled for October 13th versus, Viktor Stalberg’s favorite opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Usually when ticket sales are announced the excitement for the upcoming season starts to really begin, but much like last season’s NFL labor strife, the impending doom of another NHL work stoppage has dampened the enthusiasm for the upcoming season.  Both sides have been meeting very recently, so hopefully both owners and players will come to the realization that a work stoppage would be the worst possible solution for the NHL.  Get this deal done sooner than later!!

Oh bye the way, I need 6!!

LET’S GO HAWKS!!

Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE

Two of the biggest names and sources of rumors and angst have found their landing spots in the last 24 hours.  First the Columbus Blue Jackets finally traded forward Rick Nash to the New York Rangers for  Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and a first-round draft pick.  That isn’t exactly the king’s ransom the Jackets were hoping to get for Nash as far back as last January when the talk of his availability first started.  The Rangers didn’t give up any of their top prospects like Chris Kreider to land Nash, which makes me wonder what the hell their plan is in Columbus.  The Blackhawks will appreciate the free 12 points they will be receiving from the Jackets this season because they are going to be awful.  Some people started on Stan Bowman for not going after Nash.  There are two reasons why Bowman rightfully wanted nothing to do with Nash.  First and foremost is his $7.8 million cap hit for the next six seasons.  Do you really want to be paying Nash, whose numbers have declined each of the last 3 years, when the contracts of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are due in a couple of years?  And secondly, Columbus was not going to trade Nash within the conference and definitely not to a division rival.  I look forward to Viktor Stalberg scoring 22 goals against the BJs this upcoming season.

In other news, the Nashville Predators have matched the offer sheet given to captain Shea Weber by the Philadelphia Flyers.  This should not surprise anyone.  There was no way they could lose both Weber and Ryan Suter in the same summer.  Weber is know locked in until he whines enough to be traded in a couple of seasons.  His cap hit is now over $7.8 million through the 2025-26 season. Good luck with that!  It will be very interesting to see how Suter and Weber play without each other.  With the money spent on both of these players, their respective teams better hope they are as good without each other as they were when they were on the same blue line.

The best part of these two deals is they are two more big names not going to Detroit.  If I was a Red Wings fan, and thank God I am not, I would be extremely pissed off.  This was suppose to be the summer where they cleaned house.  Instead they have missed out on every big name and only have Jordon Tootoo and Mikael Samuelsson to show for their efforts.  So who will the drama focus on now? Well, we still need to find out who is going overpay for the services of the 36 year old Shane Doan.  Will the Anaheim Ducks be dumb enough to move Bobby Ryan? Will the Vancouver Canucks finally be able find someone to take Roberto Luongo off their hands?  Stay tuned….

Thank you for reading, be sure to follow me on Twitter @SAMotherPucker

Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

GP   G   A   P   +/-   PIM   PPG   SHG   GWG   SOG   S%

79   22  21 43   6        34        0          0           6         215   10.2    Regular Season

6      0     2     2   0          8         0          0           0          20     0.0    Playoffs

Contract Status: signed through 2012-2013 ($875,000 cap hit)

Viktor Stalberg went from being one of the most frustrating Blackhawks in October to one of the best in March.  It was a joy to watch Stalberg’s improvement from game to game.  I have been saying since the beginning of the 2010-2011 season that if Stalberg’s hands and head ever caught up to his feet he could be a special player.  We started to see all three elements line up down the stretch run.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see too much of that in the playoffs.  Viktor set career highs in goals, assists, points and +/-.  6 games versus the Columbus Blue Jackets helped set those career highs.  He owned the BJs with 8 goals and 2 assists.  His 215 shots on goal were a career high as well and was good for 4th on the team. Only Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland had more than his 20 shots in the playoffs.  Stalberg has the rare combo of both world class speed and good size.   Next season, I want to see Stalberg on the power play.  I am not sure why Q never tried to use Stalberg on the horrid power play.  Viktor proved to be one of the best values in the league.  The New York Rangers paid Brad Richards $7.8 million for 25 goals.  The Hawks paid $850K for Stalberg’s 22.  If Vik gets off to a hot start next season, don’t be surprised to see him get a long contract extension.

2011-2012 Final Grade: B

Can we play Columbus every game? (Russell LaBounty-USPRESSWIRE)

Season Stats

Games-79

Goals-22

Assists-21

Points-43

+/- +6

Penalty Minutes-34

Stats vs Columbus- 8 goals 2 assists in 6 games

Season Review-

To say that the 2011-2012 season was a career year for Viktor Stalberg would be an understatment. He nearly doubled all his offensive categories compared to last seasons totals.  Stalberg has incredible explosion and speed which prompted him to the top 2 lines for the Chicago Blackhawks this past season, but two things seem to be missing in his game. First unless the other team is wearing a Columbus Blue Jackets jersey, he seems to have a difficulty in finishing and getting pucks in the net.  He would be a 50 goal scorer against an 80 game Blue Jackets schedule.  Secondly, he seems to make a stupid play at the wrong time.  He took 4 minor penalties in the same playoff game against the Phoenix Coyotes, and if the Hawks had been healthy you could have made a case for Joel Quenneville to put him up in the sky box to watch the rest of the series. He was almost unheard from during the playoffs only collecting 2 assists which was a major dissapointment after the season he had.

The biggest debate is whether Stalberg is truly a top 6 or bottom 6 guy.  The speed and ablity suggest he should be playing with the Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa’s but his intangibles suggest playing with Michael Frolik’s of the team.  Stalberg also didn’t contribute on special teams not recording one goal.  He must clean up these areas if he wants to make next season his next career year. He will be entering the last season of his contract so maybe we will continue to see more progression in his game.

Contract-

Signed through next season for a cap hit of $875,000

Future-

Stalberg will be asked to continue to score most likely on the top two lines.  He will need to deliver and then some for the team to have another successful campaign, and his future with the team and next contract will hing on next season’s performance

Grade-

B- Career season but must be more accountable and show up for big games in the playoffs

Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

GP   G   A   P   +/-   PIM   PPG   SHG   GWG   SOG   S%

26     1    2    3     3        4          0          0          0            19     5.3     Regular Season

0       0   0   0    -3        0          0          0          0              1      0.0    Playoffs

Contract Status: Unrestricted free agent

For whatever reason, Sami Lepisto never really fit into Coach Q’s plans.  That never made much sense to me.  Lepisto is a decent puck moving defenseman, which we all know Q loves.  You could do a lot worse than Sami Lepisto as your 6th defenseman.  In fact, the Blackhawks did do a lot worse than Lepsito by sending out the likes of Sean O’Donnell and John Scott on the ice.  When Lepisto did get the chance to play he wasn’t terrible.  He has decent defensive instincts and pretty good speed.  Q refused to give Lepisto a lot of minutes when he was in the lineup.  He only averaged 10:34 of ice time a game, the lowest of his career.  Last year he averaged 17:33 while splitting time between Phoenix and Columbus.  He has shown that he can eat up minutes but was never given a chance to do that here in Chicago.  I would have no problems if the Blackhawks resign Lepisto to be the 7th defenseman next season.

2011-2012 Final Grade: C

Russell LaBounty-US PRESSWIRE

I am sure going to miss the Columbus Blue Jackets the rest of the season.  How has this team won a single game this year?  The Blackhawks have stomped them like a narc at a biker rally all season long.  It is a very impressive feat to sweep a six game series from any team and to outscore them 31-10 makes it even sweeter.  There are a lot of problems with this Blue Jackets franchise and it definitely will not be a quick fix.  They need hockey’s version of Theo Epstein, who apparently isn’t Brian Burke.  Don’t look now but the Hawks are just 2 points behind both the Red Wings and the Predators for 4th place in the Western Conference.  I know I have been saying that the 6th spot is the best for the Hawks but I wouldn’t complain about the 4th seed as long as Detroit is the 5th seed.  It will be very interesting to watch these teams down the stretch.  The Blackhawks are playing their best hockey of the season at the right time of year, and without Jonathan Toews.  On to the observations before previewing tonight’s game against the Canucks.

• The 3rd line of Andrew Shaw, Dave Bolland, and Bryan Bickell have been on the ice for 5 goals in the last 2 games.  They have had some great chemistry as of late.  This is the type of line that can be very effective in the playoffs.  Look for this line to get a lot of action tonight against Vancouver.

• Corey Crawford was pretty good again last night.  He had to make a few good saves in the first period after the Hawks got sloppy in their own zone.  He looked very confident handling the puck too.  He started a couple of rushes with good, crisp passes out of his own zone. Doesn’t look like Crow is meant to pitch any shutouts this year.  I would much rather have him rack up a couple in the playoffs when they really matter.  I got a feeling Crow will get the nod again tonight.  He has been well rested and the Hawks don’t play again until Sunday.

• Seems like the Blackhawks finally realized that good starts lead to success in the standings.  My only concern has been the 2nd periods following great 1st periods.  It looked like the Blackhawks forgot what got them a 3 goal in the 2nd period, and that was firing the puck at the net.  After 3 goals on 10 shots in the 1st, the Hawks only put up 5 shots in the 2nd.  Taking periods off will kill you in the playoffs.

• Patrick Sharp hit the 30 goal mark for the second straight season and 3rd time in his career.  The deal to acquire Sharp from the Flyers for Matt Ellison and a 3rd round pick has to go down as one of the best trades in team history.

• How in the hell did Steve Mason beat out Kris Versteeg for the Calder trophy? Looks like he will join the list of Calder winning “greats” like Andrew Raycroft and Sergei Samsonov.  He is a hot mess and Pat Foley has no problem telling you about how bad he is either!

• 2 power play goals for the Blackhawks last night, that’s right I said 2.  The first unit seems to be improving with the play of Shaw, Sharp and Marian Hossa.  We will get a better measuring stick tonight against the Canucks.

• Brandon Bollig had almost has many shots as he had penalty minutes, with 4 shots and a 5 minute major. Who knew?

• Congrats to Marian Hossa for notching 900 career points with his goal and assist last night. 900 points in 967 games is pretty impressive.  Hoss currently sits 9th in points for active players.

My Blackhawks Player of the Game

Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Duncan Keith had a career high 4 assists last night.  I was more excited by the 21:37 of ice time.  The defense has a whole was much more involved in the offense.  The Blackhawks always seem to have greater team success when the blue liners are chipping in with the puck as well.

My Turd of the Game

Anne-Marie Sorvin-US PRESSWIRE

Darryl Boyce is a real tough guy for hitting Nick Leddy from behind in the 3rd period.   Leddy did not return to the game after getting drilled and there has been no update so far today.  Boyce was waived by Toronto a couple of weeks ago and apparently the only place to go if the Leafs don’t want you is Columbus, just ask Brett Lebda.  Lebda went from the Red Wings to the Leafs to the Blue Jackets.  Talk about going reserve down the hockey food chain.

Viktor "Who's Your Daddy" Stalberg Russell LaBounty-US PRESSWIRE

The Blackhawks finally get a break tonight with a trip to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets for the final time this season.  The Blackhawks have owned the BJs all season winning all five previous games by a combined 26-9.  The Jackets are the worst team in the league and just ended a 4 game losing streak with a win over Calgary on Sunday.  The four game skid came on the heels of a season high 4 game winning streak.  Steve Mason gets the start in net for the BJs who has been terrible against the Hawks this season.  Mason is 0-3 with a 5.42 goals against average and a .821 save percentage versus the Hawks.  Grant Clitsome (giggle) is the only Jacket with 2 goals against the Blackhawks this year.  Rick Nash has great career numbers versus Chicago, but he has been pretty quiet against the Hawks this season.  In 5 games he only has 2 assists and is a -10, yikes!

Nobody enjoys seeing Columbus on the schedule more than Viktor Stalberg.  8 of his 18 goals this season has been at the Blue Jackets’ expense.  Stalberg has scored the game winning goal in 4 of the 5 games against Columbus this year.  It looks like Corey Crawford, who was named the NHL’s 2nd star of the week, will get the start tonight.  If Crow starts tonight, I don’t think it is an automatic start for Ray Emery tomorrow.  Crawford has gotten plenty of rest as of late and should be able to handle the back to back.  No news on the injury front today.  In a couple of random notes, Nick Leddy is celebrating his 21st birthday today and 1st round draft pick Mark McNeill has been called up to the Rockford IceHogs.  Tonight has all the makings for a “trap” game.  The Blackhawks have won 3 in a row, they have dominated the Jackets all year and the hated Canucks are waiting for the Hawks back in Chicago.  The Blackhawks will need to keep their focus tonight to grab 2 points and pull within 2 of the Detroit Red Wings.

photo courtesy of businessinsider.com

Don McPeak-US PRESSWIRE

Thank God for the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Pittsburgh Pirates of the NHL.  The Blackhawks did exactly what they were supposed to against a team like the BJs.  Despite what has been going on, the Hawks are a far superior team than Columbus.  It did not start great, with the Jackets taking a lead after a horrible Sami Lepisto turnover.  After that the Hawks played their game and dominated for another 2 points.  The “core” players showed up for the second straight game and good things happened.  The Hawks need their big guns and All Stars to carry the load down the stretch.

As bad as it has been the last 3 weeks it is good to see the Hawks put back to back wins together.  Hopefully the win on Broadway goes a long way in building some confidence and momentum.  The Blackhawks dug themselves into quite the hole but they are not as bad as they played in the first 7 games of this road trip.  Are they as good as the team that had the most points on Jan 20th?  Probably not, but  if they can keep moving forward they are going to be a team no one wants to play in the post season.  It will be great seeing them in red at the Madhouse tomorrow.

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