Blackhawks 3, Devils 1 – Recap

By Kevin Schroeder
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Updated: February 14, 2015

The Madhouse on Madison was the site for the third game of the Blackhawks’ eight-game homestand, this one against the New Jersey Devils. The Hawks were coming off of back-to-back post-regulation losses, losing in a shootout to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday and then in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Yesterday, the Hawks made a couple roster moves, sending Teuvo Teräväinen to Rockford and calling up forward Ryan Hartman and defenseman Kyle Cumiskey. I like the call-up of Kyle Cumiskey. I think he’s worth a look with Trevor van Riemsdyk still recovering from injury and David Rundblad playing poorly, to say the least. I like the idea of getting a look at Hartman in the NHL, but I really wish the Hawks hadn’t seen down Teräväinen to bring him up. I liked what I saw from Teräväinen in the NHL, but with Versteeg back from IR, keeping him in the NHL would have meant putting him or maybe Bickell on the fourth line, which Coach Joel Quenneville obviously didn’t want to do. I still think Turbo would benefit more from developing in the NHL, as the style of play there suits him better, but I guess I’m okay with sending him back to Rockford if it means he’ll go back to playing, and developing at, center.

The Blackhawks would control the action for much of the first half of the period, but the Devils would get the game’s first power play 9:14 into the period, when Jonathan Toews was sent off for tripping. Despite the fact that it was one of their best penalty killers that was in the box, the Hawks were able to kill of the penalty. A couple minutes after the Devils’ power play ended, the Hawks would get one when Adam Henrique was sent off for slashing Toews. The Hawks would have a couple chances on the man advantage, but would come up empty. Not long after the Hawks’ power play ended, the Devils got the game’s first goal, when Peter Harrold’s shot went off the post, off Corey Crawford, and into the net. This was not a particularly good goal given up by Crawford; it’s a save he needs to make if he is to be mentioned amongst the game’s elite goaltenders. The Hawks would control the action for the rest of the period and get a few chances in the process, but would go into the first intermission down 1-0.

For the first half of the second period, the Hawks struggled to get anything going. It wasn’t so much that the Devils were playing great or keeping the Hawks from generating scoring opportunities; the Hawks just looked sluggish. I did get the feeling, though, that if the Hawks could get a goal, it would really energize the team and they could run away with this game. The Hawks would get a chance to get that goal on the power play 13:14 in after Jaromir Jagr hooked Kyle Cumiskey. The Hawks would get a couple good looks on the power play, but nothing got past Cory Schneider and the game remained 1-0. Even though the Hawks came away empty on the man advantage, they did pick up their play afterward. The Hawks would remain scoreless after forty minutes, but near the very end of the period, Michael Ryder was called for interfering with Niklas Hjalmarsson. The Hawks would go into the second intermission still trailing 1-0, but with 1:57 of power play time awaiting them at the beginning of the third period.

The Hawks made good use of the power play time to start the third, with, you’ll never believe this, Marian Hossa beating Schneider five-hole to tie the game at 1. This was Hossa’s seventh goal in the last four games. After the goal, the Hawks controlled the action, with the exception of a 2-0 chance for the Devils that was foiled by Crawford. The Hawks would take the lead just over four minutes in, when Schneider gave up a rebound on a shot by Hossa and Toews put it in the net. The Hawks would go on the penalty kill 6:12 into the period after Patrick Sharp hooked Jon Merrill. Though the Devils got set up early, the Hawks were able to kill off the penalty, getting a chance of their own in the process. The Hawks would go back to controlling the action after the Devils’ power play ended, and would get a power play of their own with 4:17 left to play after Eric Gelinas was called for hooking Patrick Kane. The Hawks didn’t do much on the power play, and, in fact, it was the Devils who got the better chances on the Blackhawks man advantage, but nothing went in either net, and the Hawks held on to their 2-1 while taking time off the clock. As the game approached the final minute, Patrick Kane would get a chance on a breakaway, but was denied by Schneider. He would grab his own rebound and look to set up again, but while the Hawks got a couple shots at Schneider, nothing got past him. The Devils were able to get the puck into the Hawks’ defensive zone and get Schneider to the bench in favor of the extra attacker. After they did, the Hawks were able to get control of the puck and Kris Versteeg put it into the empty net to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead, a score that would hold for the remainder of the game.

My picks for 3 stars:

★★★ Brent Seabrook, D, CHI (2 A)

★★ Jonathan Toews, C, CHI (1 G (GWG))

★ Marian Hossa, RW, CHI (1 G (GTG), 1 A)

Twitter: @KSchroeder2325

E-mail: schroeder.giig@gmail.com

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