The second round opponent for the Detroit Red Wings are the 1st seed Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago finished 21 points ahead of Detroit in the Central Division, they scored 155 goals and gave up 102 compared to Detroit's 124 scored and 115 given up. In the regular season Chicago had nine players with 20 points or more including leading scorers Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews, with Kane compiling 55 points including 23 goals and Toews getting 23 goals and 48 points. Detroit had five players with 20 or more points, with Pavel Datsyuk leading the charge with 15 goals and 49 points and Henrik Zetterberg with eleven goals and 48 points. Corey Crawford will be the Blackhawks goalie, he was 19-5-5 with a 1.94 GAA and a .926 save percentage and three shutouts. Jimmy Howard will be in net for the Wings, he was 21-13-7 with a 2.13 GAA and a .923 save percentage and five shutouts. Chicago's powerplay operated at a 16.74% good for 19th in the NHL. Detroit was 15th with a 18.4%. Chicago was 4th with five shorthanded goals while Detroit was 13th with three. I f the Wings can contain Toews and Kane, keep secondary scoring down and make life hard for Crawford then they can steal a couple game and maybe even send Chicago home.
Well, once again I am lagging behind and Game One was already happened. The Blackhawks beat the Wings 4-1 to take a one game to none lead in the best of seven series. The first period saw The Hawks score first on a goal by Marian Hossa, his fourth of the playoffs, assisted by Jonathon Toews and Patrick Sharp. The lead only lasted 1:54 before Detroit tied the score on a goal by Damien Brunner, his third of the post season, assisted by Gustav Nyquist and Jonathon Ericsson. The period ended with the score tied, the Wings outshot Chicago 7-6 while Chicago was 1 for 1 while the Wings were 0-2. The second period was scoreless withe the Blackhawks pouring 17 shots on Jimmy Howard while Detroit was able to send only five pucks at the Chicago net. Chicago was 0-2 while the Wings were 0-1. The period saw the Hawks take advantage of every Detroit turnover and only Jimmy Howard was keeping them in the game.
The third period was the undoing for the Wings in this contest. The Hawks broke the tie at the 8:02 mark of the period on a goal by Johnny Oduya, his second the the playoffs, assisted by the two Patricks, Kane and Sharp. The Hawks added another goal 3:21 later when Marcus Kruger scored, his second of the playoffs, assisted by Daniel Carcillo and Nick Leddy. As time wound down the Wings pulled Jimmy Howard for the extra attacker and Chicago made them pay,with Patrick Sharp scoring his sixth goal of the post season, assisted by Niklas Hjalmarsson. The Hawks outshot the Wings 19-9 for the period and 42-21 for the game, while neither team had a powerplay in the period.
If the Wings have any hope in extending this series beyond four games then they need to accomplish a few things: First they need to quit turning the puck over, this has led to way too many scoring chances and they can't expect Howard to stop every one. Second, they need to do a better job of getting to loose pucks and winning the battles in the corners. Lastly they need to keep the Blackhawks off Jimmy Howard, they are getting too many clear scoring chances, they also need to stop trying for the perfect goal and just get rubber on net. Just as Howard can't stop them all neither can Crawford, the more pucks they get on net the more goals they'll score, If they don't do these things the Wings will be golfing soon. Game Two is Saturday 5/18 in Chicago. Game Three is Monday 5/20 and Game Four is Thursday 5/23 both in Detroit.
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