Hossa picked up right where he left off last season
Fear amongst Chicagoans that the defending champion Blackhawks were going to struggle this season because of the fire sale of last year’s team intensified when the Hawks stumbled out to two quick losses to start the year. However, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp are doing all they can to slow down those racing heartbeats (Jay Cutler and the Bears need to take a hint). Hossa leads the league in goals (7) and assists (11), while Sharp put on a spectacular showing this past weekend with 2 goals Friday night, 2 goals Saturday night, and the OT game-winner Monday night. But that game-winner wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Marian Hossa lighting the lamp twice in the third period, single-handedly overcoming St. Louis’ 2-0 third-period lead. Hossa has 7 goals off 20 shots, which means that 35 percent of his shots hit the net (that’s the highest amongst any player this season with 15 or more shots on goal).
Hossa and Sharp’s brilliant starts helped Chicago win three straight and jump out to a 4-2-1 start; however, they also alleviated the pressure felt on the defense. Defenseman Brian Campbell went down before the season began with a knee injury that he still needs a few more weeks to recover from and Brent Sopel was shipped to Atlanta as part of the Dustin Byfuglien trade; therefore, the Hawks seem especially weak on the defensive end this year. Coach Joel Quennevillee was forced to separate the dynamic duo of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook in order to spread out the defensive talent amongst the other lines. Veteran Marty Turco joined the Hawks this season and has been decent at best, with Cory Crawford getting the start in two games including Chicago’s first-win.
Only two of Chicago’s seven games have come against teams who failed to qualify for the 2010 playoffs; therefore, the defending champs did not start their season out with an easy slate of games. The Vancouver Canucks (2-2-1) return to Chicago tonight for the first time since the playoffs. These two teams absolutely hate each other (see 2009 and 2010 Western-Conference Semi-Finals), so expect some hard hits during this contest between two very offensively skilled teams. The Hawks certainly haven’t proven that they’re as good as last year; however, the revamped roster certainly has more depth than most people believe.
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