Wednesday’s Three Stars: Hossa Nets Two, Hawks Go Shorty Crazy in Big Win

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

Author’s Note: Pardon the shortness of this piece: I’ve got a turkey in the oven and about 14 different side dishes cooking. Gotta love Turkey Day.

Well, so much for Marian Hossa easing his way into the Blackhawks rotation.

The veteran sniper, playing in Game 1 of his new 12-year contract with the Hawks, scored two goals and played over 16 minutes as Chicago waltzed into the HP Pavilion and systematically destroyed the San Jose Sharks.

Troy Brouwer, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, John Madden, and Brent Seabrook also added goals for the Blackhawks in their 7-2 drubbing of San Jose.

The night, however, belonged to Mr. Hossa. In his first game as a Blackhawk, he looked a little sluggish at times, but he ratcheted up to full bore quickly enough to score a breakaway short-handed goal in the second period. Then, in the third, he broke to the net and nabbed a fantastic pass from Brent Sopel and deposited it for his second tally of the night.

The game, which was touted as one of the bigger match-ups of the year, was evenly contested in the first period, with the shot totals favoring the Hawks slightly, 8-5, and Brouwer’s short-handed tally beign the only goal scored.

The second period is when the Hawks began to pull away. At one point in the period, they had outshot the Sharks 18-1, and this included a power play that saw Hossa and Sharp score short-handed goals for Chicago.

The rest of the game was pretty much an exercise, with the Hawks adding three more tallies and the Sharks getting late meaningless goals from Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski.

Cristobal Huet stopped 22 of the shots he faced, and looked downright unbeatable until the last two cheapie goals. He made some spectacular saves early to keep his team in it,  and they never looked back.

Overall, the game was a big statement for the Blackhawks. It served notice that they can go into any arena on any night and win a hockey game, whether it’s a 1-0 win over the Canucks or a 7-1 throttling of the Flames. It’s hard to call a team “the team to beat” as early as November, but if you are bestowing that mantel right now, it’s got to be the Blackhawks.

Here are Wednesday’s Three Stars:

Third Star: Patrick Sharp/Troy Brouwer

Both men had short-handed goals that gave the Hawks a lead they would never relinquish. They both added assists to their scoresheets for their evening. They are going to share Third Star honors here because they were so close statistically. The only edge Brouwer had was in plus/minus, and Sharp had more shots. Therefore, they’ll have to share the last piece of dark meat (sorry, bad Thanksgiving joke).

Second Star: Duncan Keith

Three assists, a plus-four, and 24 minutes of ice time. Is there any game that Keith doesn’t show up to?

First Star: Marian Hossa

One of the more obvious choices for First Star this season, Hossa’s performance in his first game with the Hawks was certainly one to remember. Scoring twice and playing 16:35 is a good night for a lot of guys, but for a guy playing his first game after shoulder surgery, it’s even more impressive. If these kind of nights are what we can expect out of Hossa from time to time, then he might just be the best scorer on a team loaded with snipers. Look out NHL.

The Hawks will next skate on Friday afternoon against the Anaheim Ducks at the Pond. The game starts at 3:00pm CST on Comcast SportsNet. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Tags: Brent Seabrook, Brent Sopel, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobal Huet, Dan Boyle, Duncan Keith, Dustin Byfuglien, Joe Pavelski, John Madden, marian hossa, Patrick Sharp, San Jose Sharks, Thanksgiving, Troy Brouwer