The Bruins are in Chicago tonight, where they will take on the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. The Blackhawks are a young team that likes to play an uptempo, high scoring brand of hockey. After starting the season a disappointing 1-2-1, the Hawks fired Head Coach Denis Savard and replaced him with Joel Quenneville only 4 games into the season. The move seems to have been a catalyst for this young Blackhawks team. They are now 7-3-3 and sitting in second place in the Central Division. Both teams come into tonight's game on hot streaks. The B's have won 6 of their last 7 games, while the Hawks have rattled off 4 straight victories.Just who are these Blackhawks you speak of?
Chicago Blackhawks 7-3-3; 17 pts (2nd in Central)
Leading Scorer
Patrick Sharp 9 Goals
Goaltending
Nikolai Khabibulan 7 GP 4-1-2 2.38 GAA .919 Sv%
Cristobal Huet 6 GP 3-2-1 2.45 GAA .916 Sv%
Guys Who Like to Drop the Gloves
Colin Fraser 23 PIM, 3 Fighting Majors
Adam Burish 44 PIM, 2 Fighting Majors
Ben Eager 38 PIM, 2 Fighting Majors
Matt Walker 10 PIM, 2 Fighting Majors
Blackhawks Trivia
Tonight, the Blackhawks will honor defensemen Pierre Pilote and Keith Magnuson by retiring the #3.
Pierre Pilote played 13 seasons with the Blackhawks from 1955 to 1968. He played in 8 All Star Games and was awarded the Norris Trophy 3 times.
Keith Magnuson played his entire 11 year NHL career in a Blackhawks uniform from 1969 to 1980. Magnuson had a career +/- of +170. He was named to 2 All Star teams and twice led the league in PIMs. Magnuson died in a automobile accident in 2003 at the age of 56.
Injury Report
Boston
Shane Hnidy: Questionable (Undisclosed Lower Body Injury)
Chicago
Brent Sopel: Questionable (Undisclosed Injury)
James Wisniewski: I-R (Knee)
Things to Look for Tonight:
- Can the B's shutdown Chicago's high-powered offense. The Hawks are second only to the Detroit Red Wings in goals per game with 3.62. The Blackhawks have scored 12 goals in their past two games.
- Chicago's special teams play has been very solid. Their power play is fourth in the NHL with a 22% success rate. They also own the second best penalty kill in the league (90.6%).
- Jonathan Toews is suffering through the definition of a sophomore slump. Toews has only one goal in 13 games after scoring 24 goals in 64 games during his rookie season.
- The Blackhawks have finally decided that television isn't an evil fad that is going to destroy professional sports. They finally decided that it might be beneficial to air all their games in the third largest television market in the United States.
- Who will be in net for the Blackhawks? Huet and Khabibulan have split time so far this year. Cristobal Huet got the start last game and looked sharp, only giving up one goal and making 22 saves.
Today's Obligatory Embarrassing YouTube
I usually post an embarrassing video of the opposing team's fans but since most Blackhawks fans just recently jumped on the bandwagon when they found out that the team was going to play a game of pond hockey at Wrigley Field, it was difficult to find a good video. I decided to go with this clip of Patrick Kane bawling his eyes out because his coach got fired. It looks like someone went to the Brett Favre School of Media Relations.