What’s On Tap For The Chicago Blackhawks This Week?

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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