Antti No Goal

Entering Sunday night’s contest the Blackhawks needed to convert some rebound opportunities and score a few goals. 

Fortunately Antero Niittymaki supplied rebound chances and his teammates couldn’t solve Antti Niemi. The result was a lopsided 4-0 Hawk victory. 

The battle of Finnish goal keepers wasn’t really much of a contest. Niemi was outstanding while Niittymaki wasn’t close to that level and the rest of the Bolts were not anything special. 

Niemi has three shutouts in seven starts and is on quite a roll. Antti has allowed only one goal in the last 81 shots he has faced. 

Patrick Kane became the first Chicago player to score 10 goals but he was unable to finish the game. 

Kane was tripped on an awkward play and his head bounced off the ice as he suffered a cut above his left eye. 

Kane left the game and it remains to be seen how badly he is hurt. It has been reported his vision was impaired and he probably did not suffer a concussion. We will see…

The Blackhawks have their family Christmas party skate on Monday and possibly more will be known then. Hopefully Kane didn’t suffer a concussion but his head did bounce hard off the ice. Fortunately Kane’s helmet stayed on his head. 

Jonathan Toews escaped serious injury in the second period when he was hit high and late by defenseman Matt Smaby. The two were teammates at North Dakota but chances are they won’t be going out to dinner anytime soon. 

There have been some opinions expressed of late concerning the rash of concussions around the NHL. 

Some of the best blogs on the topic were from Hockey Independent.com. We all have opinions as to what can be done to eliminate the head shots but after watching last night’s game one thing is certain. 

The officiating needs to be better. 

After Smaby hit Toews high and well after the puck was released there was no penalty issued. 

Players don’t show enough fear and the NHL doesn’t provide a consistent firm hand when doling out punishment. On top of everything else the officiating often misses the on ice infractions. It’s all bad and as a result someone is going to get severely injured. 

Toews has already suffered one concussion this season and his helmet flew off after he was hit on Sunday night. I am not sure how he didn’t slam his head hard into the ice. Toews was dazed when he got up because he went after Mattias Ohlund instead of Smaby. 

The captain was fortunate he wasn’t knocked out. The play happened right in front of the Tampa net and it is unbelievable both referees missed the call. 

The Hawks will rest on Monday and get ready to face the struggling St. Louis Blues. The records can be discarded when these two rivals face each other. The Blues have been horrible at home but do have a winning road record. The Hawks will hope Kane will be 100% as they face a divisional battle on Wednesday night. 

Trade Conjecture 

For those who like to discuss potential trades there were scouts from Toronto, Ottawa and Dallas who were slated to be in attendance at Sunday night’s game. There were a few others but they were from Western Conference teams which didn’t seem as significant. 

The Hawks do play Dallas at the end of the month but don’t face the Leafs again this season. Chicago will face the Senators, but not until the end of January.  I heard there were two Hawk scouts at the Leafs game on Saturday night.

As the schedule plays out it appears unlikely those in attendance were doing advance scouting on the Lightning, but maybe so. 

The Hawk player which continues to be talked about the most as being shopped around the league is Cam Barker.  Although Patrick Sharp could be the most sought after.

Al’s Shots 

I realize Todd Fedoruk was trying to provide his team with some emotion to go into the next game with…but c’mon. 

To chest bump the opposing goalie with little time remaining when you are down by four goals is stupid. Fedoruk should be admired for his perseverance to stay in the NHL but there is no excuse for that type of behavior. 

This is a long range observation but Tampa has two great young players to build around. The fan base might not like it, but now is the time to exercise a plan and build around those two. That would mean some veterans need to go sooner than later. 

Maybe the Canadiens would still be interested in Vincent Lecavalier? 

If they miss the playoffs this season and the stats on Vinny and some other high priced vets slide they will have a very tough time trading them. 

The Hawks power play is still not in sync…especially in 5 on 3 situations.  Kane being out doesn’t help. 

Marian Hossa’s polo shot goal illustrated the difference between a very good player and one with elite talent. Hossa was so precise it looked like he was in slow motion. 

Ben Eager hustled to get a gift goal on a Hossa set-up. He also handled himself nicely against heavyweight Zenon Konopka. 

Blackhawks Media Notes 

Before Sunday night’s game….. 

Sharp was a winner in 68% of his faceoffs the previous two games. For the season he has a 56.2 winning percentage. 

Toews ranks fourth in the NHL with a 60.8% winning percentage at the dot. 

Toews ranks tied for 11^th among NHL forwards in plus-minus rating. 

Duncan Keith ranks third in the NHL with an average of 26:56 of ice time per game. 

The Blackhawks are the sixth best penalty killers in the NHL and are successful 84.5% of the time. 

The Hawks rank third in the league with an average of 32.6 shots taken per game. 

The Lightning rank 27th in the NHL with an average of 28.2 shots per game. 

The Hawks rank first in shots allowed with an average of 24.5 per game. 

The Hawks have sold out 66 consecutive home games. 

Chicago ranks second, only behind Montreal in average home attendance at 20,539. 

The Blackhawks lead the NHL in operating at 104.2% of capacity through 16 home dates. 

blackhawkswin@comcast.net