Looking At Chicago With Malice In Our Hearts

The Chicago Blackhawks get to come to Jobing.com and face the red hot Phoenix Coyotes starting on Wednesday night. While we will know more about individual and line matchups, let’s look at some overall team numbers.

Chicago finished the season in 6th position with a 45-26-11 record and 101 points. 38 ROW (Regulation Overtime Wins). 248 goal for, 238 goals against for a +10 differential. 6-3-1 in their last 10 and a win in their final game. Led by Marion (girls name) Hossa with 29 goals, 48 assists for 77 points. He also led the team with 9 powerplay goals, 2 shorties, and 4 game winners. Next is goal leader Patrick Sharp. He found the back of the net 33 times with 36 helpers. Mr. Sharp had 7 PP, 1 SH, and 8 game winners as well as a team leading +28 rating. The cab drivers best friend Patrick Kane tallied 23 goals, 43 assists, 66 points. Most importantly, Phoenix won 2, lost 1, won 1 in OT. Chicago scored 9, allowed 14, and went 0-7 on the powerplay.

In goal, the Blackhawks were in the capable hands of Joey Crawford and Ray Emery. Crawford started 55 games, Ray 27. Crawford ended with a record of 30-17-7, goals against 2.72. Save percentage of 0.903 with 0 shutouts. Ray Emery also had 0 shutouts, a record of 15-9-4. His goals against was 2.81 with a save percentage of 0.900. The Blackhawks liked Emery enough to give him a 1 year contract extension at 1.15 million dollars as announced today.

Jonathan Toews missed his 22nd consecutive game with post-concussion symptoms on Saturday. His status is unknown for the playoffs.

The United Center is a tough building to play in as the visiting team. That is why winning at home is crucial for the Coyotes. They need to get those two games in the bank and then make it a best of five. As I wrote earlier. You don’t need to win 16 in a row. Just 16.