Friday’s Three Stars: Ladd Annihilates D’Agostini, Sharpie Pots Winner

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

The Chicago Blackhawks skated into Friday night’s Original Six tilt with Montreal riding the “momentum” of a 2-0 loss on Thursday night to the Nashville Predators. It was a game that saw them get only one SHOT on the power play the entire contest, and also featured some brain-less penalties that likely had head master Joel Quenneville furiously stroking his thick mustache late into the night.

After the puck dropped, the Hawks and Habs engaged in a physical battle that saw not only furious hitting, but also some great scoring chances for both teams. It was a hockey game that saw a bit of everything, as the Hawks eventually prevailed 3-2 to enter a six day break on a good note.

Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker, and Patrick Sharp netted goals for the Blackhawks in the victory, and Michael Cammalleri and Travis Moen potted goals for the losing Habs.

The big story of the night, however, was the hit that Andrew Ladd laid on Matt D’Agostini early on in the contest. If you haven’t seen the video, you can check it out here, but the gist of the situation was that he nailed D’Agostini right in the melon with a solid shoulder check. The refs talked it over amongst themselves, and gave Ladd a five minute major for elbowing, and a game misconduct for the play.

As stated, replays do show that Ladd hit D’Agostini with his shoulder, not his elbow, but at first blush on the video, it certainly appeared that Ladd led out with his elbow. Only after careful scrutiny can you see it was his shoulder, and thus the officials on the ice, who couldn’t review the play on video, shouldn’t be criticized for their decision to eject Ladd. They made the call I’m sure everyone would have if they hadn’t had access to a replay, so PIB won’t be ripping officials for booting Laddie this evening.

For more reaction to the hit, you can check out Puck Daddy’s thoughts on it, Mike Kiley’s take on Blackhawks Confidential, or PIB’s very own Jim Neveau’s take over at The Hockey Writers.

With that, let’s get to the Three Stars:

Third Star: Patrick Sharp

Patrick Sharp had been going through a bit of a scoring drought recently, but he came through in a big way today, taking a pass from Patrick Kane and burying it in the back of the net to score the game winner with about four minutes left in the hockey game.

Sharp also contributed mightily to a short-handed Hawks’ forward core, notching over 22 minutes of ice time, and also had a plus-two on the evening.

The goal was his sixth of the season, which leads the team.

Second Star: Patrick Kane

Kane, who looked fantastic last night against the Predators in the 2-0 loss, came through in a big way offensively for the team tonight.

He notched his seventh and eighth assists of the season tonight, assisting on Versteeg’s power play goal in the first period, and also on Sharp’s game winner in the third period.

To flesh out his resume for the evening, Kane also played 23:47 of ice time tonight, leading all forwards on the Hawks. This comes after a large amount of ice time the previous night, so Kane has certainly earned the team’s upcoming rest period.

If he can keep bringing this amount of intensity to the rink every night, the soon to be 21-year-old will cement his place as one of the best young stars in the game today.

First Star: The Entire Defense

The defense of the Chicago Blackhawks rounded right back into form on Friday night after looking fairly atrocious against Nashville.

The Hawks, while allowing two goals, did hold the Canadiens to 22 shots on the game, as well as an anemic five shots in the entire third period.

The Q-Stache Would Be Proud (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)

Perhaps more importantly than the low shot total in the deciding frame, the Hawks defense was also disciplined, with their blue liners not committing any penalties in the period, and successfully killing off a crucial power play by the Canadiens with less than six minutes to play.

For a team that is only allowing 22.5 shots per game, the defense has been a huge contributing factor to the 8-4-1 start in October. If players like Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook can continue their physical play, and Duncan Keith can maintain his two-way dominance, the Hawks may just have a Stanley Cup caliber blue line after all.

Quick Notes

-Joel Quenneville said that injured stars Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager will both make the trip to Phoenix. This is welcome news for a team that was down to 10 true forwards on the ice during the game against Montreal, after Ladd was sent packing. Defenseman Jordan Hendry had been filling in on the offensive side of the puck the previous two games after the Hawks demoted Jake Dowell.

-Marian Hossa skated with the team during practice this week, and is eyeing a return in late November.

The Hawks will next play on Thursday night in Phoenix against the Coyotes. The puck will drop at 8:00pm CST, and can be seen on Comcast SportsNet in Chicago.

Tags: Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Blackhawks Confidential, Brent Seabrook, cam barker, Chicago Blackhawks, Duncan Keith, Joel Quenneville, Jonathan Toews, Kris Vertseeg, marian hossa, Matt D'Agostini, Michael Cammalleri, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, niklas hjalmarsson, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Puck Daddy, The Hockey Writers, Travis Moen