Sunday’s Three Stars: Bickell Scores, Niemi Blanks Canucks 1-0

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

If there was any reservations about the Hawks inserting Antti Niemi for the first time in weeks, it was quickly forgotten as he covered every inch of the net to perfection in a 30 save performance. His spot-on goaltending gave the Hawks the boost they needed to overcome a massive Vancouver attack and sneak out of GM Place with a 1-0 victory on Sunday night.

Bryan Bickell scored his first goal of the season for the Blackhawks off a rebound, and that’s all the scoring for either team.

The Hawks did manage to win a second consecutive game in which they had been outshot, and also stretched their winning streak to seven games overall.

While watching the contest yesterday, one game that kept popping into my head was the game against Anaheim last year on Black Friday. It looked as though the Hawks had eaten one too many turkey legs, and they ended up losing the game 1-0 because they couldn’t get any scoring going.

In that game, they outshot the Ducks 26-21, and even with Cristobal Huet making 20 saves, the Hawks still didn’t have enough grit in them to win.

That notion is leading me to making this statement: this game was one that the Blackhawks would have lost last year, and if they keep winning these types of games, they may very well have what it takes to win a Cup after all.

Vancouver’s 30 shots on goal are misleading, simply because they should have had a lot more. Niklas Hjalmarsson and Duncan Keith both displayed excellent poke-checking and body positioning on several Vancouver rushes, and Dustin Byfuglien and Brent Seabrook each ended plays with great body checks.

Even Cam Barker made a couple of solid defensive plays, and if you are getting that out of him, then look out for the Hawks.

In addition, the Hawks never appeared to get frustrated at how physical Vancouver was playing. The Canucks, even on the very first shift of the game, went hard after a couple of Blackhawks players, including two crushing checks on Hjalmarsson.

Ryan Kesler also was assigned to shadow Jonathan Toews, and pretty much pulled an All-American Rejects on him by giving him hell (by the way “Gives You Hell” is a terrible song).

Antti Niemi: Shout-out for the Shut-Out (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)

Even with all of that abuse they were taking, the Hawks maintained their composure for the most part. They committed a bunch of penalties in the first period, but then cracked down and only committed two the rest of the way, one in the second and one in the third. Both of those penalties were negated by penalties to Vancouver as well, so there was no real damage done.

These types of 1-0 games used to happen all the time in the NHL, but in today’s faster paced league, with trapezoids and two line passes and aggressive interference enforcement, it is so rare that only top quality teams can do it with any regularity.

After wins of 7-1 and 5-2 in their previous two outings, it was great to see the Hawks switch gears and be able to play a dirty in the trenches game against a team that is quickly becoming one of our most bitter rivals.

Being able to control emotions against a team that is constantly trying to antagonize you into mistakes is a key to any team hoping for success, and as long as this contest was not an aberration, the Hawks could have “The Goods” needed for an even deeper playoff run.

With that, here are PIB’s Three Stars:

Ben Eager, PIB's Third Star (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)

Third Star: Ben Eager

Even though he got jobbed on a roughing call in the second period, Eager still proved to skeptics (like me) that he isn’t feeling the effects of his concussion that sidelined him for 13 games earlier in the season.

He got into a pretty good scrap with Rick Rypien in the first period that not only helped set a physical tone for the game, but also revealed that both men can certainly fight. Rypien’s family lineage of boxers galore, according to the radio broadcast of the game, certainly should have given him an edge, but Eager displayed some proclivity for fisticuffs as well. Good duel, men.

Second Star: Bryan Bickell

Hey kid, how’s this for a reward: you just scored our only goal against a hated Conference rival and helped us win the game! Now, you’re headed to Rockford!

Poor Bickell was just a pawn in the Hawks’ dirty game of “Wait for Hossa” and as soon as he does something noteworthy, he gets sent packing on the first plane to Rockford.

I’m of course kidding about the pawn thing, and I hope that Bryan can keep advancing his game and stay on up on the big club within the next couple of years. Good game yesterday Bicks, and I’m sorry for the mean tweet I had about you the other day.

First Star: Antti Niemi

If this guy isn’t the First Star, I’m not really sure who is. He stood on his head, made 30 saves, some of them so difficult that even the Vancouver fans were applauding, and he gave no second thought to the fact that he hadn’t started in nearly a month.

He effortlessly glided around the crease, stopping shot after shot and keeping his team in the game. If it was possible, he even stepped up more after they had taken the lead in the third period, knowing that Quenneville was looking at him to make it stand up.

With Cristobal Huet playing as well as he is, playing time will be sparse for the young man, but I will tell you this: I’d rather have two high quality players in net than one good young guy and a universally hated one.

Quick Notes:

Leafs Interested in Sopel? According to the Toronto Sun, the Leafs are currently evaluating their “cupboard” during the Marlies long homestand in the city, and one rumor is that Brian Burke may be willing to take on Sopel’s remaining two years of his contract, but he’ll want a high Hawks draft pick. Stay tuned, and read the whole piece here.

ESPN Power Rankings Go All Hawkey: ESPN’s latest NHL Power Rankings came out today, and the Blackhawks were on top. If you’ll recall, they were on top last year before the Winter Classic, and needless to say, they crashed and burned. We’ll see how this year turns out. For the full list, click here.

The Hawks will next play on Wednesday night in a Titanic showdown with the San Jose Sharks. The puck drops at 9:30pm CST and can be seen on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Tags: Anaheim Ducks, antti niemi, Ben Eager, Brent Seabrook, Brent Sopel, Brian Burke, Bryan Bickell, cam barker, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobal Huet, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, ESPN, Joel Quenneville, Jonathan Toews, marian hossa, niklas hjalmarsson, Rick Rypien, Ryan Kesler, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, Winter Classic