Blackhawks Look To Deflate The Winged Wheel In Game 2

Hawks and Wings will battle for the 801st time in the teams’ history as they fight for a chance to win the cup. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

Game #2– Detroit Red Wings vs Chicago Blackhawks

Game Time– 12:00pm Central

TV– CBC, NBC, RDS

Radio– 97.9Fm

Series Review: The Blackhawks and the Wings will be meeting for game two this afternoon for another skill laden affair.  Hawks won the opener 4-1 after dominating the Wings in the second and third period.  Howard looked solid for the Wings, but the Wings offense couldn’t help him out.  Crow made some big saves when he had to, which were few and far between.

Preview:  The Wings really need a win in today’s game, and going down 2-0 isn’t an option for them.  Babcock has had ample time to come up with a strategy to slow down the Hawks, so we could start to see some line changes.  The one thing you have to give Babcock credit for is his ability to adjust his team’s strategy from game to game.  Another thing to look out for is Abdelkader possibly looking for some revenge on Rozsival as I’m sure that crosscheck to the head didn’t sit well with the Wings.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see Shaw get ran a few times as well since the Wings must have figured out that he is more than willing to take a dumb penalty.  Detroit knows that stealing a win in the UC is vital, and they will need to take advantage of any situation that they can to get this win.

On the Hawks side of things, the Stalberg drama sideshow continues, and hopefully it’s not being a distraction to the team.  Chicago will definitely be focused on staying disciplined, and there is no doubt in my mind that Q talked to Shaw about his frequency in the box.  The Hawks know that the Wings are struggling in the third, so we should expect to see some extra pressure in period three.  Crawford has been rock solid down the stretch.  He’s leading everyone in the playoffs that played five or more games with a .950 SV% and a 1.27 GAA.  While Crow is pulling his weight in the crease, Sharp is having a great playoff run with six goals and three assists.  Along with Sharp, Hossa is in full on beast mode with four goals and three assists.  The Hawks will be looking to build off of an overall solid game one, and you can expect more of the same, but hopefully with fewer penalties.

Random Blackhawks Fact: Hossa is ranked 5^th among active players for points in the playoffs with 104, and 9^th in GWG with 8.

Prediction:  Wings are going to come out hard but Hawks come away with a 4-2 victory.

What’s your game 2 prediction?