Saturday’s Three Stars: Kane, Toews Dominate as Hawks Roll to 6th Straight Win

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

Last season when the Circus Trip began, the Blackhawks scored 14 goals over three games, and won all three. Then, in the second three games of the trip, they only scored four goals in three straight losses.

In this year’s version of the Circus Trip, the Blackhawks have gotten off to a rip-roaring start again, scoring 12 goals in the first two games, including five tonight in their 5-2 triumph over the Nikolai Khabibulin-less Edmonton Oilers.

Jonathan Toews netted two goals for the Hawks this evening, and Patrick Kane, John Madden, and Kris Versteeg also tallied markers for the Hawks, who hit the 30 point plateau with the win. It moved their record to 14-5-2 on the season, and moved them to the aforementioned 30 point mark, a place they didn’t get to until December 7th a season ago.

Kane’s goal gave him at least one goal in each of his past five games, and moved his point streak to nine games. He also assisted on Toews’ goal in the first period.

The recurring theme of this hockey game was well-timed aggression by the Blackhawks. They issued some big time hits on Edmonton players, and as the game got out of hand on the scoreboard, the Hawks resisted numerous attempts by the Oilers to pick fights, most notably with Ben Eager and Niklas Hjalmarsson.

This kind of discipline was something that was notably absent from the team at a lot of points last season. After all, this is the same Hawks team that was forced to bench Patrick Kane and Kris Versteeg a couple times last season because of repeated stupid penalties. Those harsh lessons that were given to those young players have clearly rubbed off on the rest of the team, as they didn’t commit any overtly stupid infractions tonight.

The Hawks also benefited from a rare overturned goal at the end of the 2nd period, when Shawn Horcroff hit a puck in between Huet’s legs after time had expired.

Chicago will now head to Vancouver for a re-match with the Canucks, who injured Toews and Brent Seabrook the last time the teams met. You had better believe there is some retribution to be had during this game.

Now, here are PIB’s Three Stars of the Game:

Third Star: Patrick Sharp

Yes, Sharp had an assist in the game tonight.

Yes, Sharp did not take a single shot on goal tonight.

Yes, Sharp played over 21 minutes when no other forward sniffed 18 minutes (except for Troy Brouwer’s 18:03).

Why do these three things matter? Because Sharp can still contribute even if he’s not putting the puck on net, and he filled in quite a bit for Bryan Bickell, who left the game after leaving his feet on a check and landing head first on the ice.

There is a reason that I ranked Sharpie #1 on potential cap-space casualties that I posted on The Hockey Writers yesterday: even when he’s not shooting, he’s still a lethal force on the ice, and a great teammate to have.

Second Star: Patrick Kane

Kane has two streaks going that are worth noting: one is his consecutive games with a point streak, which now stands at nine after his first period assist, and his goal-scoring streak, which stands at five games after his tally in the first.

Kane is putting some really good shots on goal as of late, with a couple of pucks tonight that barely missed hitting paydirt, and the one that tickled nylon coming on a fantastic deke move to completely fool last-minute emergency starter Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers out of his skates.

In addition to his excellent scoring opportunities, Kane also keeps proving how much stronger he is over last season. On at least two occasions tonight the broadcast tandem of Foley and Eddie O. complimented Kane on holding onto pucks while being brutally assaulted by flying sticks and body parts. This effort didn’t go unnoticed, to be sure, and may reveal yet another quality that the quickly-maturing Kane brings to the table.

First Star: Jonathan Toews

He’s Captain of the squad and he scored two goals. That alone should be enough to give Toews first star honors, but I’m going to compliment him on the performance that led to his first goal.

In the San Jose game, Toews dug a puck out from behind the Shark net, and kept it long enough for a streaking Brent Seabrook to catch a pass and put it home for the victory in overtime.

In the first period against Edmonton this evening, Toews dug a puck out from behind the Oiler net, pulled it around, put it off of Drouin-Deslauriers’ pads, and flicked home the rebound over the goalie’s shoulder.

It’s the kind of play that Toews makes look all too easy: strip puck, dribble a bit, then fire. Ah, if only everything in life were that effortless.

The puck will drop at 9pm CST tonight between the Blackhawks and Canucks. The game can be seen in Chicago on WGN-TV.

Tags: Ben Eager, Brent Seabrook, Bryan Bickell, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobal Huet, Edmonton Oilers, John Madden, Jonathan Toews, kris versteeg, niklas hjalmarsson, Nikolai Khabibulin, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, The Hockey Writers, Troy Brouwer