Puck Drop: March 19th, 7:30 PM CST

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 34-32-7
Points: 75
Place: 4th in Central, 13th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 15.6%, 25th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 81.7%, 16th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics

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Washington Capitals
Record: 36-30-8
Points: 80
Place: 2nd in Southeast, 9th in Eastern Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 19.8%, 6th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 80.6%, 25th in NHL
Capitals Team Statistics

Puck Drop: March 5th, 7:30 PM CST

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 32-28-6
Points: 70
Place: t-3rd in Central, t-11th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 15.1%, 28th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 81.9%, 17th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics

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Anaheim Ducks
Record: 38-23-7
Points: 83
Place: 3rd in Pacific, 4th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 17%, 19th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 82.6%, 14th in NHL
Sharks Team Statistics

I'm a little late on the deadline activity, but the gist of it is that Martin Lapointe was traded to the Ottawa Senators for a 6th round pick and, a little more surprisingly, Tuomo Ruutu was dealt to the Hurricanes in exchange for Andrew Ladd. I'll have more reaction later, but so far my reaction is kind of so-so to these deals. Lapointe was expected to go, but Ruutu has become one of my favorite Hawks because of his physical play, and the team seems a lot softer without him. We'll see how Ladd pans out, he was a first round draft pick in 2004 so he's got some talent, that much is for certain.

How about last night's game? What a crazy tilt that was. The Blackhawks managed to squander a 5-1 lead that they had built after 40 minutes to the Kings, and give up the tying goal with 15 seconds left, and still were able to win after Patrick Sharp picked up a goal in OT to make his team victorious, 6-5. It was a key 2 points for Chicago, because this team needs every point they can get if they want to stay in the playoff race, and coming away with only a point last night probably would have derailed this club big time. Props to them for pulling through and getting a big win.

Tonight, the Blackhawks will look to cap off the weekend with another win as they head into Anaheim for a match with the Ducks at 7:00 PM central time. The Ducks are 8-1-0 in their last 9 games, so this is going to be a tough one. I would assume Patrick Lalime will be back in net again. Hopefully this time if they pick up a big lead, they won't choke it away like they did last night. It's time to be greedy; they could really use another 2 points tonight, and let's just hope they get it.

Today was a good day if you are a Blackhawks fan. First off, the Blackhawks were able to knock off the Colorado Avalanche by a score of 2-1 this afternoon at the United Center. It was announced that every single ticket in the stadium was sold -- including the standing room only. That hasn't happened since the first season the United Center was in business. It's a great accomplishment and shows that hockey really is back in Chicago. As for the game, Patrick Lalime was great in goal, making 21 saves, and the Hawks received goals from Martin Havlat and Dustin Byfuglien in the winning effort. I would give the SCH Hawks Player Of The Game award to Lalime. This team is now six points out of the final playoff spot with 24 games to go, so they sure have a chance at a possible playoff berth.

In other good news, it has been reported tonight that the Hawks have re-signed young defenseman Brent Seabrook to a three year deal worth $10.5 million. Seabrook is still only 22 years old but I think has already developed into a top pairing defenseman, and he has complemented Duncan Keith quite well on the blue-line. He's become a young leader for this team and probably deserves a permanent "A" when Jonathan Toews gets the "C". Good to see he will be around for at least the next three seasons.

I thought this was fairly amusing. The Blackhawks were on a recent episode of MTV's "Made", in which a young girl goes to practice with the team at the UC hoping to become a hockey player. In this video you see Eddie Olczyk, Rene Bourque, Patrick Kane, Adam Burish and Martin Lapointe in various clips.

Maybe this team will receive a nice shot in the arm tonight, because they are getting back their future captain/star Jonathan Toews tonight, as they take on the Canucks in Vancouver at 9:00 PM central time. Also on the injury front, Jason Williams is expected to be back in a week, so that will provide another boost for the offense.

The Hawks come into tonight's game nine points out of the 8th and final playoff spot in the West, which is occupied by the Nashville Predators. The Canucks are one of the teams the Hawks would have to leap-frog over to get back into a playoff spot; Vancouver has 61 points and is 9th in the conference, just one point behind the Predators.

Nikolai Khabibulin is back in goal after a spectacular performance in the 2-1 victory over the Flames on Thursday night (he was the SCH Hawks Player Of The Game as well), and hopefully he can play just as well tonight. He made some ridiculous stops in the waning moments in Calgary.

Also, Jack Skille and Martin St. Pierre are healthy scratches tonight, along with Andrei Zyuzin (as usual). Toews is centering the top line with Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane, while the 2nd line is now Tuomo Ruutu, Robert Lang and Martin Havlat. You can see the rest of the lineup here.

Puck Drop: Feb. 6, 8:00 PM CST

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 23-24-5
Points: 51
Place: 5th in Central, 14th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 15.6%, 25th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 81.3%, 19th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics

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Edmonton Oilers
Record: 24-26-5
Points: 53
Place: 5th in Northwest, 13th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 15.1%, 27th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 85%, 5th in NHL
Oilers Team Statistics

Hawks Lineup:

Offense
1st line: LW Sharp - C St. Pierre - RW Havlat
2nd line: LW Kane - C Lang - RW Byfuglien
3rd line: LW Ruutu - C Perreault - RW Skille
4th line: LW Bourque - C Burish - RW Lapointe

Defense
1st pairing: Keith/Seabrook
2nd pairing: Hendry/Sopel
3rd pairing: Barker/Wisniewski

Goalie
Lalime

Scratches: Zyuzin (healthy), Adams (healthy), Eager (healthy)
Injured Reserve: Adam, Toews, Williams

The Hawks are looking to snap a four game winless streak tonight in Edmonton. This team is already barely hanging by a thread when it comes to playoff chances, so really every game feels like a must-win at this point. Patrick Lalime is back in the net, and deservedly so, because he's the best goalie on the roster currently. Khabibulin was good in San Jose, but Lalime has been better for the past month or so. Craig Adams is a healthy scratch, and that's a good thing, because he's been completely useless. I have no idea why the Hawks traded for him in the first place.

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(SO)  

Scoresheet - Super Stats

Even though today's game in San Jose ended in a shootout loss, I'm really not as frustrated as I normally would be because, really, the Hawks came up with a good effort on the road against one of the top teams in the West after getting off to a putrid start in this one. They had a good 3rd period and were able to get a point, and hopefully they can build on it for this road trip.

The game was kind of a snoozefest for a while because at one point the Blackhawks were being out-shot 21-5 and most of the play was in the Hawks' zone. Nikolai Khabibulin deserves a lot of credit, I've been a strong critic of him lately but he's a big reason the Hawks even came out with a point today. He made a lot of key stops, so kudos to him.

There was some chippy play in this one, as there was a fight just 17 seconds in between Adam Burish and Jody Shelley, in which Burish got man-handled as usual, but there were several other scrums throughout after the whistle. I don't think the Blackhawks like Steve Bernier too much.

Patrick Sharp finally broke his goal scoring slump late in the 1st period, with about a minute remaining, when he tipped in Cam Barker's shot from the point, a great deflection past Evengi Nabokov to make it 1-0 Hawks.

The 2nd period saw Jonathan Cheechoo pick up a goal on a 5-on-3 advantage, when the Blackhawks' penalty killers were just dead tired and couldn't prevent a goal-mouth one timer from ending up in the back of the net, making it 2-1 Sharks.

Early in the 3rd, Marc-Edouard Vlasic's goal after Cheechoo provided a screen in front of the net gave San Jose a 2-1 lead, and it looked like the Hawks were headed for another regulation loss.

However, it's at least a good sign to see they were able to pick up the game-tying goal, because less than 2 minutes later Duncan Keith put home a shot from the point after a great shift from Tuomo Ruutu, who also set up Keith for the shot, making it 2-2.

The game would go to overtime where Khabibulin came up with more big stops to keep it alive until it went to a shootout.

The Hawks were up 1-0 in the SO after Patrick Kane's goal as the first shooter, until Joe Pavelski kept it alive with a goal for San Jose to make it 1-1. Eventualy, ex-Hawk Jeremy Roenick would score to put up the Sharks up 2-1, and then in a stunning move, the next shooter for the Hawks was Cam Barker. Not Tuomo Ruutu, not Martin St. Pierre. Cam Barker. He would be stopped by Nabokov and the Sharks came away winners. Thank you Denis Savard.  

SCH Hawks Player Of The Game: Duncan Keith, had a goal and also played 30 minutes against the top San Jose offensive players.

Puck Drop: Feb. 2, 4:00 PM CST

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 23-24-4
Points: 50
Place: 5th in Central, 14th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 16%, 25th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 81.3%, 19th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics

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San Jose Sharks
Record: 28-16-7
Points: 63
Place: 2nd in Pacific, 4th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 18.2%, 13th in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 86.6%, 2nd in NHL
Sharks Team Statistics

The Hawks will play their 2nd game of a seven game road trip today in San Jose, and the bottom line is that they need to win, no questions asked. If they want to make any kind of a run at the playoff race, then they have to end this three game losing streak now, and get back in the win column.

Nikolai Khabibulin is going to be in net, which I completely disagree with, because he played like crap in the loss to Colorado (by the way, Yanic Perreault's two meaningless goals give him the SCH Hawks Player Of The Game award because no one else did anything), and Patrick Lalime has been playing much better lately. I'm really getting tired of Denis Savard's antics.

I can't really put up a full preview tonight, but the Blackhawks will start the post-All Star break portion of their schedule when they take on the Avalanche in Colorado tonight, at 8:30 PM CST.

It will be interesting to see how the team responds to Denis Savard ripping them after the 1-0 loss to the Blue Jackets in Chicago that closed out the pre-break schedule. Savard was obviously a very pissed off man and wants to see his team more willing to battle and get physical.

The Hawks have made some roster moves, placing David Koci on waivers, so his Blackhawks career is probably over, as well as his NHL one for that matter. Martin St. Pierre was called up and will be in the lineup tonight. Dave Bolland and Kris Versteeg, both battling injuries right now, were sent back to Rockford tonight.

Tonight's the start of a long seven game road trip that will extend into the middle of February, and will likely tell us whether this team has a chance to make the playoffs this season. Currently they are six points out of the 8th playoff spot, and the Avalanche are one of the teams tied for that spot, so a win in this one would be a terrific start to the second half.

Puck Drop: Jan. 24, 7:30 PM CST

Chicago Blackhawks
Record: 23-22-4
Points: 50
Place: 5th in Central, 13th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 16.6%, 22nd in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 81%, 19th in NHL
Blackhawks Team Statistics

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Columbus Blue Jackets
Record: 24-20-6
Points: 54
Place: t-2nd in Central, t-9th in Western Conference
Power Play Percentage/Rank: 16.6%, 21st in NHL
Penalty Kill Percentage/Rank: 86.5%, 2nd in NHL
Blue Jackets Team Statistics

Hawks Lineup:

Offense
1st line: LW Kane - C Lang - RW Havlat
2nd line: LW Bourque - C Sharp - RW Skille
3rd line: LW Ruutu - C Dowell - RW Adams
4th line: LW Eager - C Burish - RW Byfuglien

Defense
1st pairing: Keith/Seabrook
2nd pairing: Hendry/Sopel
3rd pairing: Barker/Wisniewski

Goalie
Khabibulin

Scratches: Zyuzin (healthy), Koci (healthy), Perreault (healthy)
Injured Reserve: Adam, Toews, Lapointe, Williams, Versteeg, Bolland

So, Ben Eager has come off injured reserve and will be playing tonight, with Martin Lapointe going on IR, I would assume because of the kidney problem he has been battling lately. Hopefully Eager can be a physical presence and maybe even drop the gloves in tonight's divisional tilt.

The Hawks are coming off a tough 3-2 loss in San Jose, in which I thought they played a pretty solid game but just didn't play well on special teams and couldn't bury some great chances on goaltender Evengi Nabokov. I think the SCH Hawks Player Of The Game award would have to go to Adam Burish, simply for FINALLY putting home a puck, his first NHL goal in his 58th career game.

I think it would be a big boost for this team if they can finish off the Pre-All Star portion of their schedule with a win against a divisional foe. Nikolai Khabibulin is in goal tonight, and I think there will be a lot of pressure on him to perform well, if he wants his starting job back, because Patrick Lalime has been excellent lately. We shall see how he responds.