What’s on tap for the Chicago Blackhawks this week? (picture courtesy of Chicagoblues-band.com)

The streak continues into another week and the first full week of March when the Chicago Blackhawks return home from a successful trip to Detroit. The Hawks play  four games in the next week three of them at the United Center.

The week kicks off Tuesday night against one of the 3 franchises that have put any type of blemish on the Hawks record in the way of the Minnesota Wild. The Hawks lost 3-2 in a shootout at Minnesota on January 30th.  The Hawks gave up an early goal and played catch up all night long before losing their first game in overtime. The Wild currently sit 2nd in the Northwest Division with 22 points which only trails Vancouver by 4 points.  The signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter have payed off as they are 1st and 3rd in points for the Wild so far this season.

Next up for the Hawks on Wednesday and Friday will be a home and away match with the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are fourth in the Northwest at 8-8-3. The Hawks haven’t face the Avs this season and rarely play well in Denver.  Semyon Varlamov is the starting goalie that is giving up nearly three goals a game while Matt Duchene is currently leading the team in points with 7 goals and 12 assists. Gabriel Landeskog had a big 3 point game Thursday night and could be a player to watch come Wednesday and Friday night.

The week ends at the United Center Sunday night with a rematch against the Edmonton Oilers. The game will be the last home game before the Hawks head to the road for 4 straight games. The Oilers gave the Hawks all they could handle last Monday night before a late goal and a Marian Hossa OT winner stole the game. The Oilers were without their star Taylor Hall who missed the game while serving a two game suspension.  This is a team that the Hawks struggle against so starting the season series with a win had to give the team a good boost of confidence.

What is your prediction for the Hawks this week?

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What’s On Tap For The Blackhawks This Week? (Picture courtesy of istockphoto.com)

The Blackhawks finished another exciting week without a loss in regulation after Marian Hossa‘s OT winner Monday night.  A very successful 6-0-1 homestand leads to the first road game in a couple of weeks.

The Hawks head to St. Louis to face the Blues in a division showdown against the team that currently sits in third place in the Central Division only a point behind Nashville for second place. The Blues and their fan base would desperately like to end the Hawks unbeaten in regulation streak.  The Blues have tightened the screws defensively yet only have  a win against the Blue Jackets last week to show for it for the month of February.  This will be a huge battle and the Hawks will need to bring their A game to St Louis if they want their streak to continue.

Friday night will be a trip home and the 2nd half of back to back games against another division opponent when the Blue Jackets visit the U.C. for the 2nd time in less than a week.  Sunday night’s game was by far the most boring game of the season with only Andrew Shaw putting a puck in the net.  The Hawks own the Blue Jackets and their goalie Steve Mason.  The Jackets are scrappy and young and if the Hawks play like they did Sunday night another victory will not be an easy accomplishment. The Hawks Columbus game is sandwiched between the Blues and the Red Wings so a downer effort needs to be avoided.

Sunday afternoon the Hawks head to Detroit for what if you have read this weeks realignment post this is not a big rivalry for the Red Wings fan base.  Red Wings fans don’t regard the Hawks much but apparently despise the Toronto organization even  more than Chicago.  So maybe the Hawks can just go out and beat Jimmy Howard and their defense that is missing a lot of pieces.  The Hawks offense has been struggling a little lately which could fall right in to the hands of the Red Wings in trying to keep with the Hawks in Motown.

The Central Division has to be tired of listening to all the updates about the Hawks and they will get three shots with two of them in their arenas to beat the Hawks.

What is your prediction for the Hawks record this week?

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Let’s Go Blackhawks!!!

What’s on tap for the Chicago Blackhawks this week? (picture courtesy of teamtzzle.com)

The Blackhawks are very close to making history with their 12-0-3 mark they have established.  If they win their next contest they break the 2006-2007 Anaheim Ducks record ,and  with a shoot out loss they would tie the record with a chance to break it with a win or tie Friday night.  The best stat that keeps being thrown up with the best starts without a regulation loss is the top three 1943-1944 Montreal Canadians, 1984-1985 Edmonton Oilers , and the 2006-2007 Anaheim Ducks all ended up winning the Stanley Cup after their great starts.

 First up for the Blackhawks this week is the first visit of the season to the United Cent by the hated Vancouver Canucks.  The Canucks are currently in first place of the Pacific Division and are only one of three teams to put any type of blemish on the Hawks record with a Roberto Luongo shoot-out victory.  This will be the first of four road games on the Canucks trip and you know that they will be totally focused on not letting the Hawks break the all-time record even if the game is in the United Center.  The goalie situation has calmed down for the Canucks after a shaky start and Luongo even with his name in a lot of rumors has played well.  The Canucks are led by the usual suspects in the Sedin brothers and Alexander  Burrows.  This game is always a backyard brawl so make sure you have a good seat for this potential record breaking game. 

Next up for the Hawks after two days off will be a Friday night match-up against the San Jose Sharks.  Strange scheduling quirk that the Sharks play in Chicago on consecutive Friday nights.  The Hawks have already beat the Sharks twice this season in two different ways, but the only difference now is that the Sharks after winning 7 games in January haven’t recorded a single victory in February.  Antti Niemi has been very good against the rest of the Western Conference but against his former team he has given up 4 goals in each contest.  If the Hawks beat the Canucks and break the record this could be a huge trap game with the Sharks out to prove they can play with the Hawks. 

The week ends in Chicago with the traditional doormat of the Central Division in the way of the Columbus Blue Jackets. They only have one road victory in 6 tries and when you look at their season stats only 6 players have a plus rating which well isn’t good.  The Blue Jackets have been competitive even if their 4-9-2 record doesn’t show it, and they gave the Hawks all they could handle in Columbus with a really bad no goal call costing the Blue Jackets.  Viktor Stalberg after owning them last season was held off the score-sheet in the first meeting and will look to get back to his old form against Columbus. 

Three games all at home this week, What is your prediction for the Hawks record this week? 

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The Chicago Blackhawks finally return home to Chicago after their 6 game road trip (picture courtesy of superjchung.wordpress.com)

The Chicago  Blackhawks finally get back to home ice after starting the season off with 10 road games out of their first 12 contests. 

The week kicks off Tuesday night when the Anaheim Ducks visit the United Center. The Ducks are one of the biggest surprises of the season with their 8-2-1 record.  Speaking of road trips the Ducks will be making their fourth stop on a 6 game road trip in 11 days. The Ducks always seem to have play the Blackhawks tough no matter which building the game is being  played.  The Ducks are being led by old man Teemu Selanne on the scoring side while Viktor Fasth and Jonas Hiller have provided the backstops for a team with the second highest point total in the Western Conference behind the Blackhawks.

 Friday night is will be a rematch with the first visit of the year by the San Jose Sharks to the UC. The Hawks beat the Sharks 5-3 in San Jose with Patrick Kane scoring the game winner off a one-timer after Jonathan Toews pick pocketed the Sharks defense.  Annti Niemi will have his hands full as will Corey Crawford in a battle of two of the elite offenses in the Western Conference. 

The week ends with a visit from the defending Stanley Cup champions LA Kings on a nationally broad casted game Sunday afternoon.  To say the Kings are on a extended Cup hangover would be an understatement. The Hawks beat them handily on opening day, and the Kings have never found their stride yet. The Kings currently hold down the basement of the Pacific division, and they are finding out that being the hunted is much harder than doing the hunting.  Jonathan Quick has not been the same but is still stopping pucks at a .889% pace, the real problem has been the lack of any type of offense from the Kings with Simon Gagne leading all scorers with only 5 points through 9 games.

 Two very tough teams to start the week and the Champ to finish off the week will not make this homecoming a walk in the park! What is your expectation for the Blackhawks this coming week? 

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What’s on tap for the Chicago Blackhawks This week ( Picture courtesy of Orlandoskyradio.com)

The Chicago Blackhawks continue the second half of the ice show road trip this week sporting a 7-0-2 record.

The Blackhawks get to visit the Sharktank and the offensive powerhouse that have been the San Jose Sharks with the highest scoring line in the league with Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton leading the way.  The Blackhawks usually play very good in San Jose, a memorable game for me was the first game of Marian Hossa‘s Blackhawks career and the Hawks scored three short-handed goals in a huge 7 goals outburst that had the Sharks play by play crew mumbling to themselves by the end of the telecast.

Thursday night the Hawks return back to the dessert to play the Phoenix Coyotes again.  In game 2 of the season the Blackhawks got some revenge back in the 6-4 victory.  This time Raffi Torres will be back on the ice so I can give you a 100% guarantee that Brandon Bollig and Jamal Mayers will be on the ice in Phoenix.  Mike Smith was not sharp in the first matchup but don’t expect that type of effort this week.

The road trip finally comes to end this Sunday in Dixie when the Hawks meet the Nashville Predators for the first of four meetings this season. Nashville is struggling to find goal scoring and their defense isn’t as strong as in the past minus the defection of Ryan Suter to Minnesota.  The Predators are an unusual -6 goal differential this season.  That being said the Predators are never easy to play against or look at either especially when they wear their hideous yellow jerseys, so this should be a good test before the Hawks head home for some home cooking.

What is your prediction for the week?

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What’s On Tap For The Blackhawks This Week ( Pictures credit Chicagoblues-band.com)

The Chicago Blackhawks after playing six games out of eight days in the shortened season, finally get two days off before hitting the road for a six game road trip thanks to the ice show at the United Center.

Wednesday night they meet up with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are currently tied for first in the Northwest division with a record of 2-2-1, they lost in overtime to the St Louis Blues Sunday night. Zach Parise has not disappointed since signing his free agent contract this summer, Parise is tied for 2nd in the NHL in goals scored with five goals.

Mar 21, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Blackhawks center Andrew Shaw (65) is congratulated by his teammates for scoring the game winning goal in overtime against Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo (1) at the United Center. The Blackhawks beat the Canucks in overtime 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

After a night off the Blackhawks road show will arrive at possibly our second biggest rivals stadium the Rodgers Arena. The Vancouver Canucks are currently tied with the Wild for first in the Northwest division with identical 2-2-1 records. Yes, the Sedin brothers still lead the team in scoring, but the early season woes for the Canucks have been because of their goalies. The new starter C0ry Schneider has a 3.45 GAA while everyones favorite rumor Roberto Luongo is hardly any better at 2.45. No matter what the records are this is a game everyone will be looking forward to watching.

Dec 18, 2011; Chicago, IL, USA; Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff (34) fails to make a save on a goal scored by Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (not pictured) during the second period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Hawks continue their pilgrimage through the Northwest division Saturday night when they visit the Calgary Flames. The Flames are currently holding down the basement of the division at 1-2-1, but they always seem to play the Hawks tough especially on home ice. Miikka Kiprusoff has started all four games for the Flames with an unsuccessful 3.45 GAA.  The Flames are coming off a 4-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers.

The Hawks have two very winnable games on this weeks road trip and one big rivalry game Friday night in Vancouver.  What is your expectation for the week and the ice show road trip? 6-0-0 is the fast start that the Hawks needed!!

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