Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks came up short against a dominant Jimmy Howard and the Red Wings in Detroit on Monday night, and now trail in their Western Conference semifinal series. The Hawks came out more physical than they were in Saturday’s disappointing … Continue reading →The post Jimmy Howard, Red Wings Beat Blackhawks Again appeared first on Committed Indians.

DETROIT -- The Chicago Blackhawks may as well have thrown their hands up into the air after losing 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinal series on Monday. The Blackhawks came out with a game plan to be more offensively aggressive, create more chances and be smarter with the puck after Game 2’s 4-1 disaster. When the final horn sounded at Joe Louis Arena on Monday, the Blackhawks felt they had accomplished nearly all they had sought out to do.

DETROIT -- This was the slap in the face, the splash of cold water. Not necessarily one the Chicago Blackhawks needed, but one they knew was coming. During any long playoff run for a Stanley Cup contender, there are moments when a big shove back from the opposition provides a very real reminder that it won’t come easy. After the Detroit Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-1 on Monday night to take a surprising 2-1 series lead over the favored Blackhawks, that was the message inside the Blackhawks dressing room.

The Blackhawks came out a totally different from how they played in Game #2. The defense was pinching and starting rushes and the Hawks feet were moving! The worst hit in the period was on Viktor Stalberg’s first shift when he went over the top of a Red Wing player and face planted himself on the boards.  Stalberg would return to the ice a few minutes later after going to the locker room.  The Hawks pace was quick and they were getting a lot of shots on goal but Jimmy Howard was up to the task and was able to see most of the shots cleanly.  The Toews complaining seemed to work as the refs called two interference penalties in the first period that would not have been called in Game #2.  The Hawks first powerplay was very productive without a goal, while the second powerplay was pathetic with the Hawks struggling to enter their own zone.  The Hawks only gave up 9 shots on goal in the first, but the one thing that was worrisome was the lethargic pace to getting the puck cleared especially by Michal Rozsival.  The Hawks and Wings played a very entertaining first period that ended with 0′s on the scoreboard at the end of one period. The Hawks didn’t bring the first period momentum on the ice in the second period.  Michal Rozsival had a period he would like to forget.  He was terrible which started in the first period and carried over on the Red Wings goals that were scored  31 seconds apart. First Gustav Nyquist scored on a great one on one move followed by Drew Miller crashing the net and all of a sudden a game the Hawks were dominating they were now trailing 2-0.  The game was still called tight but the Hawks were unable to convert on any of their powerplays.  Jimmy Howard was solid throughout the two periods.  One thing the Hawks couldn’t do was win a faceoff against Pavel Datsyuk in their own end which hurt all of their powerplay chances. The Hawks came out flying in the third period when Patrick Kane put one in for a 2-1 Wings lead off a nice pass from Duncan Keith. The Hawks looked to tie the game up when Stalberg threw one in front and it went in off Shaw but somehow Shaw was called for goalie interference even though there was no contact. This by far was the turning point of the game. Minutes later after the no goal Datsyuk put one high on the stick side past Crawford to put the score 3-1 Red Wings.  The problem with the game is that the refs made a difference in the game.  Howard wasn’t  interfered or obstructed but the ref was emphatic and called off the goal.  The Hawks were not able to get any more pucks past Howard and the final horn sounded 3-1 Red Wings. -Andrew Shaw is playing out of control and it cost him on the goalie  interference no goal call (this is exactly how he played last year against Phoenix until he was suspended). -Michal Handzus shouldn’t see the ice the rest of the series he is horrible and not what this team needs against Detroit especially when he’s losing faceoffs on top of everything else. - The Hawks haven’t given up a goal on the penalty kill which is a nice stat except they keep going on the kill for stupid penalties. -The extra day off will help settle the Hawks down and maybe give the coaching staff time to regroup. -Puck drops Thursday night at 7pm. -It’s only 2 losses and it takes 4 to lose a series, don’t get too close to the cliff just yet! -Teams on the way to the Cup must face adversity and find a way to get past it.  This is just a pit stop not a stopping point For more Blackhawks conversation follow us on Twitter @Blackhawk_Up or Like us on Facebook.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports The Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks are trying to get to the NHL‘s Western Conference finals, but it’s starting to look more and more like a chess match than anything. Jimmy Howard has been the grandmaster for the Red Wings over the past two games, allowing just two goals in the past two games. The Blackhawks looked dominant in game 1, winning 4-1, but Detroit answered with a 4-1 win of their own. That win leveled the series at 1-1 before the teams headed back to Detroit on Monday. The pace of each game has slowed from one to the next, turning into a game of entering the zone and working the puck rather than a wide-open chances and odd-man rushes. Game 3 continued the trend, until the third period. The Blackhawks out-shot the Red Wings in the first period but were unable take a lead before the first intermission. Detroit came out of the dressing room with a new approach, taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller about thirty seconds apart from one another. Patrick Kane cut the lead in half after a controversial no-call led to an odd-man rush halfway through the third period. That’s when the pace picked up. Pavel Datsyuk finished beautifully giving Detroit a 3-1 lead after Johan Franzen worked his way into the zone and left the puck for Russian star. Normally, a slower-paced game would favor the Red Wings, but they have been skating with intensity and have looked equal to the task over the last two games. Detroit went into clock-kill mode after the goal, which often comes back to bite the team that’s leading. But the Red Wings like to possess the puck and don’t mind slowing the game down. The Red Wings finished with a 3-1 win and an important 2-1 lead in the series. Detroit’s gritty play in the third period showed Chicago they are willing to play whichever style the Blackhawks choose. Game 4 on Thursday once again becomes the most important game of the series, as it almost always is. The Blackhawks will need a win if they hope to shift the home-ice advantage back in their favor, and the Wings would love to leave town needing only one more win to take the series. David Fouty is a writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davefouty, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

DETROIT -- Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville and his players believe an official made the wrong call of interference of the goaltender, disallowing a goal that would have tied the Detroit Red Wings in the third period of Game 3 in the Western Conference semifinal series Monday. The Red Wings scored less than two minutes after the controversial call on Andrew Shaw and went ahead 3-1. The game ended in that score, and Red Wings took a 2-1 series lead.

Blackhawks forward Viktor Stalberg talks about his team's 3-1 loss to the Red Wings in Game 3.

At this point, the worst part of this series is that it isn't the Western Conference Final. This is what postseason hockey is supposed to be. Aggravating, unnerving, eating away at your stomach lining. The Chicago Blackhawks had a 31-second meltdown in the second period, allowing 2 goals.That proved to be the difference as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Hawks 3-1 in Joe Louis Arena. Let's get to this: THE GOOD: The penalty kill. Why can't they just make the whole team out of the penalty kill? THE BAD: Having to go to the penalty kill so often. These Chicago Blackhawks have somehow greatly reduced the sizes of their individual brainpans, and have managed to each do their damndest to out-Carcillo each other. Andrew Shaw is making the transition from scrappy instigator to full-on jagoff. Not good. Brent Seabrook. He looked like he had a load in his pants on Nyquist's goal, and has been a day late and a dollar short throughout this series. Corey Crawford. He overcommitted on Nyquist and Miller's goals, then just got smoked on Datsyuk's. Not his best night. THE UGLY: Viktor Stalberg's series was almost over as soon as it began. During his first shift, he went head-first into the boards. He left the ice shaken up, but returned and gave the Hawks some speed up the wings. Next up is Game 4 Thursday night in Detroit. It's the first true "must win" game for the Blackhawks this year. Let's see how it plays out. And, please...take a second out from worrying about hockey to send a couple bucks to the Red Cross for the Oklahoma tornado victims: http://www.redcross.org/charitable-donations All content copyright 2013 hockeenight.com. Any reproduction or reuse of this material without the written consent of the authors is prohibited.

VISITOR 1 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKSGame 8 Away Game 3 Event Summary Western Conference Semifinals Monday, May 20, 2013 Attendance 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena Start 7:39 EDT Game 0233 Period 3 (00:00 Remaining) HOME 3 DETROIT RED WINGSGame 10 Home Game 4 SHOTS SUMMARY (Goals-Shots On Goal) EV PP SH TOT 1-30 0-8 0-2 1-40 5v5 5v4 5v3 4v5 4v4 4v3 3v5 3v4 3v3 1-30 0-8 0-2 EV PP SH TOT 3-24 0-6 3-30 5v5 5v4 5v3 4v5 4v4 4v3 3v5 3v4 3v3 3-24 0-6 FACE-OFF SUMMARY (Face-offs Won-Face-offs Total / Percentage) EV PP SH TOT 25-53/47% 1-7/14% 3-6/50% 29-66/44% EV PP SH TOT 28-53/53% 3-6/50% 6-7/86% 37-66/56% TEAM SUMMARY CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS G A P +/- PN PIM TOI S A/B MS HT GV TK BS FW FL F% TOT SHF AVG PP SH EV 2 D KEITH, DUNCAN 1 1 +1 1 2 25:54 31 00:50 03:45 03:10 18:59 4 1 2 1 2 1 4 D HJALMARSSON, NIKLAS +1 21:53 29 00:45 00:00 05:27 16:26 3 3 2 1 1 7 D SEABROOK, BRENT -1 17:44 20 00:53 04:06 02:55 10:43 4 1 4 1 8 D LEDDY, NICK -1 14:37 15 00:58 04:31 00:08 09:58 3 1 3 10 R SHARP, PATRICK 18:06 22 00:49 05:31 00:27 12:08 4 1 3 1 0 1 0 16 C KRUGER, MARCUS -1 10:31 17 00:37 00:00 04:01 06:30 2 1 4 8 33 19 C TOEWS, JONATHAN 20:13 26 00:46 03:56 02:43 13:34 7 1 3 1 9 10 47 20 L SAAD, BRANDON 19:17 23 00:50 00:52 01:42 16:43 2 1 1 25 L STALBERG, VIKTOR -1 09:44 15 00:38 00:00 00:00 09:44 1 1 1 1 26 C HANDZUS, MICHAL 1 2 07:24 13 00:34 00:00 00:36 06:48 1 5 3 63 27 D ODUYA, JOHNNY -2 18:01 28 00:38 00:09 03:43 14:09 1 1 2 29 L BICKELL, BRYAN -1 2 4 11:35 18 00:38 01:12 00:00 10:23 1 1 32 D ROZSIVAL, MICHAL -2 18:11 28 00:38 00:09 02:11 15:51 2 1 0 1 0 36 C BOLLAND, DAVE -1 14:08 19 00:44 04:04 00:00 10:04 2 2 4 9 31 65 C SHAW, ANDREW -1 3 14 13:42 21 00:39 01:55 00:19 11:28 2 6 1 7 4 64 67 R FROLIK, MICHAEL -1 08:55 13 00:41 00:00 04:10 04:45 1 1 1 81 R HOSSA, MARIAN 18:03 25 00:43 03:45 02:52 11:26 3 1 2 0 1 0 88 R KANE, PATRICK 1 1 23:24 25 00:56 06:05 01:03 16:16 4 3 1 1 30 G EMERY, RAY 50 G CRAWFORD, COREY TEAM TOTALS 1 1 2 -10 7 22 40 15 11 22 5 6 12 29 37 44 DETROIT RED WINGS G A P +/- PN PIM TOI S A/B MS HT GV TK BS FW FL F% TOT SHF AVG PP SH EV 2 D SMITH, BRENDAN 1 1 2 4 18:29 27 00:41 00:49 01:31 16:09 1 1 1 1 4 D KINDL, JAKUB +2 16:51 24 00:42 03:31 00:18 13:02 2 4 1 1 1 2 8 L ABDELKADER, JUSTIN +1 1 2 16:25 25 00:39 00:56 00:00 15:29 5 1 1 6 1 0 1 0 11 R CLEARY, DANIEL

DETROIT -- Here’s a quick look at the Detroit Red Wings' 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series at Joe Louis Arena on Monday. How it happened: The Red Wings shifted the game’s momentum during a 31-second span in the second period. First, the Red Wings’ Gustav Nyquist raced to a loose puck near the blue line, pushed the puck to his left beyond the reach of Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook and then waited out diving attempts by Seabrook and Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford before shooting from the left circle and into the net at 7:49.