Feb 17, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) looks for the puck against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Game #31 LA Kings (17-12-2) at Chicago Blackhawks (24-3-3)

Game Time-7:00 Central

TV- NBCSN, CSN-Chicago

Radio-WGN Radio

Season Series-Hawks lead 2-0 They won 5-2 on opening day in LA and 3-2 in Chicago.

Preview- The Kings are the picture of streaky whether it is wins and losses or scoring goals.  The Kings were on a tremendous streak last spring on their way to the Stanley Cup and they still should be viewed as a tough opponent for any team when the playoffs begin because they can score goals and have a proven Stanley Cup winning goal tender in Jonathan Quick.  The Kings after winning 3 straight have lost two straight at home before making the trip to the Windy City.  The Hawks have dominated 5 out of the 6 periods of play so far this season.

The Hawks are coming off their longest stretch of days without a game in the shortened season which came at a very good time in the season calendar.  It looks like Marian Hossa will not be playing tonight which is a luxury the Hawks have with their great start to the season that they don’t have to rush anybody back from injury and the real goal at this point is to make sure everyone is rested and healthy when the playoffs begin. Corey Crawford gets the start tonight he is 13-3-3 this season and along with Ray Emery the real secret to the Hawks season. The Hawks are home for three straight but the only distraction could be the Hawks looking ahead to the Ducks on Friday night.

Prediction- The Hawks have handled the Kings pretty handily in both contests and should be flying after a 4 day break so look for the Hawks to jump on the Kings early and often in a 5-3 win.

What is your game prediction?

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Mar 11, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (10) battles for position with Los Angeles Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell (33) in front of goalie Jonathan Quick (32) during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

 Game #15 -  Chicago Blackhawks (11-0-3)  vs LA Kings (5-5-2) 

Game Time- 2:30 pm Central

TV- NBC  or TSN2,  -  WGN 720 Chicago  or KLTK AM1150 LA

In a nationally broadcast matchup celebrating US hockey it is Hockey Day in America. The Blackhawks will go back to the very beginning as they face off for the second time this season against the LA Kings. They opened their season in LA but more importantly they started on their journey of perfection as well and an incredible run.

Beyond anyone’s wildest dreams the Blackhawks have rolled on a ride with an upward only trajectory. The Kings have been on a roller coaster ride filed with ups and downs after achieving the ultimate climax last year in winning the Stanley Cup.

The Blackhawks may have caught the LA Kings coming off an emotional hangover with their banner raising ceremony the first time that they faced off. That will not be the case this time as they meet again in the United Center.

They also may have caught a break in that goalie Jonathan Quick looked rusty coming back from injury. Star forward Anze Kopitar was also out then on injury and is now back in the lineup.

The Blackhawks are looking to continue to remain undefeated in regulation time. If they do they will continue to head towards breaking an NHL record. The Kings would love nothing better than to stop the Hawks.

In their first meeting the play was fairly tame and cordial. Don’t look for this to continue in this game. The Kings are probably sick of hearing how well the Blackhawks are doing and want to end their fun. Look for physical play from the Kings and tight checking to throw the Blackhawks off of their run and gun style.  The Hawks rolled to a 5-2 victory look for a much lower scoring and defensive game this time around.

The Kings are coming off of a tight 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. The Blackhawks continued their party at the United Center on Friday as they dominated the Sharks in a 4-1 trouncing.

Corey Crawford is out with an upper body injury so look for Ray Emery once again to man the nets for the Blackhawks. The Kings have not said yet if it will be Quick or Bernier in the LA nets.

For the Hawks to come away with another victory over the Kings they will need to use their speed and breakout of their zone quickly. They will need to not turnover the puck and be patient their opportunities will eventually come.

The Hawks need to watch their giveaways and guard that puck carefully.  Conversely if the Kings have a weakness it is their defensive play does not force takeaways.

Strap yourselves in and enjoy what should be another good test for both teams and celebrate Hockey Day in America. Since it is Hockey Day in America I think it is only fitting we have have some goals by Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad and Nick Leddy.

GO HAWKS and GO USA!

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Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

We interrupt this post with the obligatory message that you shouldn’t make any plans yet with this schedule, because the season may not start on time due to possible labor stoppage because a new CBA hasn’t even started negotiations yet.  The current CBA ends September 15th, and the the season Chicago Blackhawks season is scheduled to begin October 13 at the United Center. Hopefully, both side will get this done without games being missed.

The happiest person to see the schedule release had to be Viktor Stalberg, he will be the Hawks leading scorer going into game 2 since the Hawks open up on October 13 at the United Center against the Columbus Blue Jackets(Stalberg had 8 goals 2 assists vs Columbus last season) .   It will be the first time since 2005 that the Hawks will open the season at home in the United Center.

The schedule almost has a baseball home stand and road trip feel to it with the Hawks getting a seven game home stand at the end of February which ties for the longest home stand in team history, but it also include 3 six game road trips during the months of November, February, and March.  At least there isn’t a nine game road trip included in this year schedule release.

For the first time since the 2006-2007 season the Hawks will not be finishing up the season against the hated Detroit Red Wings, but they will end this season with a home and home against another division rival in the  St Louis Blues. Unlike last season, we see the Red Wings early in the season at home in Game 4. Last season our first game against Detroit wasn’t until 2 days before New Years 2012 in game 39 of the season.

The first chance the Hawks get to seek revenge for their playoff loss to the Phoenix Coyotes is October 30 at the United Center.

The Hawks get to their first look at the new Stanley Cup Champs LA Kings on November 20 during their first six game road trip.

The Blackhawks will need to get off to a fast start with 6 games out of the first 8 at home, they also finish the season with 4 out of 6 at home. It all begins hopefully on October 13 if you would like to see the entire 2012-2013 schedule click here

LET’S GO HAWKS!!

The United States should be proud of this championship!  It was won by an American team in a city whose only claim to fame in hockey before this, besides Barry Melrose’s hair,  was that they were the team that traded for Wayne Gretzky.

June 11, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) is presented with the Conn Smythe trophy by commissioner Gary Bettman Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWire

The true American pride should first come that the Kings captain Dustin Brown became only the 2nd American Captain (joining Derian Hatcher) to hoist the Stanley Cup, and begin the Cup parade on the ice at Staples Center.  Hockey has always been Canada’s game, but to only be the second  ever American Captain to win the Cup in NHL history  is something special. Brown scored the opening goal of Game 6 on the power play, and the Kings never looked back until the final horn sounded.

The second source of pride for the USA is that  Jonathan Quick won the Conn Smyth trophy for MVP of the playoffs.   This is only the third time an American has won the Conn Smyth trophy following Brian Leetch, and last years winner Tim Thomas.  Quick was sensational for most of the season, and was even more incredible during the post season.  He beat a future Hall of Famer in the Stanley Cup finals and could very  well be on his way to following Martin Brodeur to the Hall of Fame someday.  This championship and postseason was certainly the foundation for a great career.

A great triple crown for United States hockey last night!  The Stanley Cup, American born Captain, and an American born Conn Smyth winner, it doesn’t get any better than this (except if the Chicago Blackhawks were the ones hoisting the Cup!) A great night for the United States, but hopefully next season’s captain holding the cup over his head will be a Canadian again and wearing an Indian sweater!

LET’S GO HAWKS!

Say Good Night Central Division (Matt Kartozian-USPRESSWIRE)

Who would have thunk it?  The Western Confernece Finals can begin now and its contestants are now set. LA KINGS vs PHOENIX COYOTES. That’s correct! There were four Central Division teams that finished the regular season with 100 or more points, and now all of those teams are hitting golf balls or playing for their country in the World Championships.  Either way when the playoffs started just a few weeks ago, you could have made an argument that there  would be at least one Central Division team would be playing for the Stanley Cup and at least one division team if not two division teams would be duking it out in the Western Conference Finals.

What happened?

1. There are no patsies!!- How did Central Division teams pile up so many points? They all got to play the Columbus Blue Jackets 6 times in the regular season witch resulted in every team collecting 10 percent of their points! If you take away the red headed stepchild of the Central Division all the teams were in the 90 points just like everyone else in the playoffs except the Vancouver Canucks who were dominated by the Kings.

2. Goal Keeping- You can win a Stanley Cup with no offense and great goal keeping just ask the New Jersey Devils who rode Martin Brodeur to Stanley Cups and are trying to make one last run with the veteran net minder this season.  It’s not that the Central Division goal keepers did not stand on their heads throughout the playoffs, no its worse their stats declined in the playoff compared to their regular season stats lets take a look

Corey Crawford-Chicago

Regular Season  Save %-.903 GAA 2.72

Playoffs-                Save%-.897 GAA 2.58

Jimmy Howard- Detroit

Regular Season Save%-.920 GAA 2.13

Playoffs                Save%-.888 GAA 2.64

Pekka Rinne- Nashville

Regular Season Save %-.929 GAA-2.39

Playoffs                Save %-.920 GAA 2.07

Brian Elliot- St Louis

Regular Season Save %-.940 GAA 1.56

Playoffs                Save %-.904 GAA 2.37

So when the playoff light shined brightest the guys between the pipes didn’t bring their Super A game. Rinne was closest to his regular season stats, but the other two goalies fell short of the regular season stats and stellar play, while Crawford played well throughout the playoffs until imploding when overtime sessions began. The key to a successful playoff run is to ride a hot goaltender to the finish unless  your team has an unbelievable offense that can counter act sub par goal tending.  Neither Nashville Predators or St Louis Blues had the offensive firepower to withstand sub par performances by their goal keeping.

3.  The System.  Nashville and St Louis are big system teams and they ran up against teams that played similar type hockey which usually in sports is not a good recipe for winning unless you can out system the other team.  The Central Division teams did not in the end have the better system or the better backstop to anchor the system come playoff time.

4. Nobody got hot.  Momentum is a strange thing sometimes.  It felt like LA KINGS got hot the first night of the playoffs and have not cooled off yet.  Same thing for the Phoenix Coyotes they took the first OT game of the playoffs against our Chicago Blackhawks ,and have rode that momentum right through to the Western Conference Finals.  One teams magic carpet ride will end before the Stanley Cup Finals, and momentum will really be on the team that wins back entering the final series for the Cup

Is it safe to say that the Central Division playoff runs have been a major disappointments? YES!!! Four teams in one division with 100 points and none make it past the 2nd round!  Was the Central Division overrated?? Maybe  Most teams during a 82 game regular season don’t  like to grind it out against defensive teams, but they do bring it for playoff runs.  Will all 4 teams be able to return to same regular season heights next year? probably not it’s difficult to get to 100 points in a season consistently so there is no reason to believe this will happen again next year.

Just as useless as Vancouver Canucks winning the President’s Cup, and not winning a playoff series let alone the Stanley Cup is… so too is the big bad Central Division with its quadruple 100 point teams that cannot make it to the Western Conference finals.  Back to the drawing board!!!

The MVP through the first 2 games (Matt Kartozian-USPRESSWIRE)

Series- Blackhawks vs Coyotes (series tied 1-1)

Game 1-Phoenix 3 Blackhawks 2 OT

Game 2- Blackhawks 4 Phoenix 3 OT

The first two games of the series have been a carbon copy (sorry those younger than 25 that won’t get that reference) except for the overtime period.  In case you missed it here’s the cliff notes, Hawks score early, the Coyotes dominate  the 2nd period and take the lead until the waning seconds of the third period where Brent Seabrook will score or assist on a score in the last 15 seconds to send the game into overtime.  Game 1 the Hawks lost in OT after consecutive icings and a lost face off in their own zone.  Game 2 the Coyotes turned the puck over in OT and Bryan Bickell burying in the game winner. Corey Crawford has been great especially in the third periods stopping everything shot at him to make it possible for these last second heroics!

NEXT- Tuesday night in Chicago. Pivotal Game 3 with the Hawks stealing home ice advantage, the Hawks will need to use the their skill at home to beat Coyotes.  Marian Hossa sighting at the United Center would be helpful too.  The Hawks have gotten 95 shots on goal in the first two games, and hopefully a few more of those will get past the very theatrical Mike Smith. If you are faint in heart or experience heart pains it is not safe to watch the Blackhawks so far this series!!

Series- Nashville vs Detroit (Nashville leads series 2-1)

Game 1 Nashville 3 Detroit 2

Game 2 Detroit 3 Nashville 2

Game 3 Nashville 3 Detroit 2

First team to 3 wins each game.  Shea Weber has been the story most of this series, first with his head slam of Henrik Zetterberg. Sunday he scored on the power play that led to the3-2 win in Joe Louis Arena.   Nashville is trying to beat the Red Wings for the first time in three tries in playoff series after losing to them in 2004 and 2008.  They will need to keep the pressure up and continue to get good goal tending from Pekka Rinne.  Jimmy Howard after a shaky Game 1 has played good the other two games and will be asked to stop the Predator momentum in Game 4.

Next- Game 4 in Detroit Tuesday Night

Series- San Jose vs St Louis (Series tied 1-1)

Game 1 Sharks 3 Blues 2 Ot

Game 2 Blues 3 Sharks 0

This series which was quiet and a little boring, could be exciting now that both teams went a little nuts at the tale end of Game 2. As coach Hitchcock stated that you can’t open the Roman Polak door which led to 132 penalty minutes being assessed and this could have all the makings of a great game 3.   Jaroslav Halak did get hurt early in the 2nd period but no worries for the Blues, when you can replace him with Brian Elliott and one the best GAA in the NHL this season. He shut down the Sharks offense for the rest of the game, and after an early goal St Louis was able to dictate their style he rest of the way until the fistacuffs began.  For San Jose to be successful it has to get a lead early in the Shark Tank or they could be fish food or singing the Blues.

Next- Game 3 is tonight in San Jose 10 eastern

Series- Vancouver vs LA (Kings lead series 3-0)

Game 1- Kings 4 Canucks 2

Game 2- Kings 4 Canucks 2

Game 3  Kings 1 Canucks 0

Twitter update-follow LA Kings twitter feed its the 2nd best in the entire NHL behind Blackhawkup twitter feed!  This has to be the best series so far! Total domination by the Kings and Jimmy Quick versus the Canucks.  The loss of Daniel Sedin is most apparent during the Canucks power play which has not scored yet in the series. It seems very improbable that the Canucks can defeat Quick four straight games even with the switch in goal by the Canucks with Schneider replacing Luongo.  As much as everyone in Chicago hates this Canucks team, it is still a surprising 3-0 deficit they face now!

Next- Kings go for the series sweep Wednesday night in LA.

Great way to open up the playoffs!! (Charles LeClair-USPRESSWIRE)

Score-Philadelphia Flyers 4 Pittsburgh Penguins 3 OT (Philly leads series 1-0)

Quick Take- Flyers spot the Penguins 3 first period goals before storming back to tie in regulation, and Jakub Voracek finished off the comeback with the overtime winner 2:23 into OT.

Stud- Danny Briere- Scored first two goals for the Flyers that turned the momentum in the contest

Dud- The Penguins Team! You give up a 3 nothing lead in your building in game 1 of a playoff series inexcusable!!

Next-Game 2 in Pittsburgh Thursday Night

Score- Nashville Predators 3  Detroit Red Wings 2 (Nashville leads series 1-0)

Quick Take-The Red Wings let the Predators score first which dictated the style of the game the rest of the way. Nashville built a 3-1 lead that Detroit cut to one late, but it was too little too late.

Stud- Gabriel Bourque scored 2 goals including the game winner in his postseason debut

Dud- Shea Weber’s elbow to Henrik Zetterburg’s head should reward him a suspension and cost his Predator teammates their leader

Next-Game 2 in Nashville Thursday Night

Score- LA Kings 4 Vancouver Canucks 2 (LA leads series 1-0)

Quick Take-The Kings steal game 1 in Vancouver when Dustin Penner scores with 3:14 left in regulation to break a 2-2 tie. Jimmy Quick stopped 24 of 26 shots to get the victory

Stud- Mike Richard with 1 goal and 2 assists to lead the upset minded Kings

Dud- I’m sure somehow it was Duncan Keith’s fault, but the Canucks offense only was able to get 26 shots on goal and only get 2 past Quick in game 1 defeat. Panic has to be already creeping in on the President’s trophy winners!

Next-Game 2 in Vancouver Thursday Night

All trails lead to Vancouver Again (Anne-Marie Sorvin-USPRESSWIRE)

#1 Vancouver Canucks  (51-22-9 111 points) vs #8 LA Kings  (40-27-15 95 points)

Season Series

Series was tied 2-2

Series Schedule

4-11 At Canucks

4-13 At Canucks

4-15 At Kings

4-18 At Kings

4-22 At Canucks

4-24 At Kings

4-26 At Canucks

Vancouver

As much as Chicago Blackhawks hate the Canucks this is a very good and balanced team.  This season was a slight step back in scoring and goal-tending, but they still finished in the top 6 in most major categories.  They won the Presidents Trophy for most points in the season which wins you nothing if you don’t win the Stanley Cup!  One major issue heading to the playoffs will be if Daniel Sedin returns from the Duncan Keith elbow, he has not returned since the incident.  The key to a long Canuck march back to the Finals will be the play of Roberto Luongo. He has the ablility to get rattled or be spectacular, which one shows up this year could be the deciding factor for the Canucks fate.

LEADING SCORER- Henrik Sedin 14g 67a- 81 points

BACKSTOP- Roberto Luongo- 31-14-8 2.41 Goals Against .919 save%

EX-BLACKHAWK FACTOR-Andrew Ebbett

DIFFERENCE MAKER- Ryan Kesler his two way play may not get the headlines of the Sedins or Luongo, but he is a crucial part of what makes the Canucks click.

LA KINGS

The Kings only scored 194 goals this season, and struggled to find the net for most of it. They did find their scoring touch late in the final 13 games of the year, by scoring 3 or more goals in 8 of their last 13.  The telling stat for the Kings is they cannot be behind entering the 3rd period, they went an abysmal 1-22-3 if trailing entering the 3rd period (LA crowds must have loved this stat getting out of the stadium after 2 periods) LA also has one of its stars injured in Jeff Carter.  The story of the Kings season has to begin and end with Jimmy Quick! He’s the only reason, with the Kings poor offensive game, that they reached the playoffs, and he will have to stand on his head for them to advance!

LEADING SCORER- Anze Kopitar 25g 51a 76 points

BACKSTOP- Jimmy Quick 35-21-13 1.95 GAA .929 Save%

EX-BLACKHAWK FACTOR- Colin Fraser

DIFFERENCE MAKER- If LA has any chance to win this series it will be based 100% on Quick stopping the Canucks offense!

Season Series- Series tied 2-2

Prediction Sure to go Wrong- Vancouver wins in 7 games but this will not be easy for the Canucks especially if Quick has a great series. LA’s lack of offense will be it’s undoing.