After three exhibition games it’s premature to say that the Blackhawks have solved the problems that plagued them last season. But new coach Brian Sutter appears to be making significant progress.
Defensemen are scoring goals, opponents’ scoring chances are being curtailed and the power play is improving.
Last season defensemen contributed a meager 18 goals to the offense. In the three exhibitions they have accounted for four of the Hawks’ 10 goals, including Nolan Baumgartner’s game-winner at the horn Wednesday night against St. Louis.
In the first period of the opening exhibition against Dallas, the Hawks surrendered 14 shots on goal. In the eight periods since they’ve given up an average of just over six shots per period and haven’t permitted a double-digit period.
“It’s good to see a coach come to Chicago to address that,” said goaltender Jocelyn Thibault. “A couple years ago one of the strengths of the Hawks was their defensive game. When you came to Chicago you knew you weren’t going to score a lot of goals. Then we got away from that.”
Jon Klemm, the veteran defenseman signed as a free agent after helping Colorado win the Stanley Cup, was very aware of the Hawks’ defensive shortcomings when he played against them. “When you give up as many good shots as this team has in the past, the other team is going to get a lot of scoring chances,” Klemm said. “That’s one thing we have to change.”
Another important component that seemingly must be repaired for the Hawks to have a chance to make the playoffs for the first time in five years is the power play.
In Monday’s home-ice victory over Dallas and in Tuesday’s loss in the rematch on the road, the power play remained a glaring weakness. The Hawks were 0-for-5 in the first game and 0-for-8 in the second.
However, in Wednesday’s game, success on the power play proved to be the deciding factor. Preceding Baumgartner’s last-second goal that produced the victory were power-play goals by Tony Amonte in the first period and Mike Peluso in the second. For the game the Hawks were 3-for-9.
Farmed out: Before leaving by bus for Friday night’s game in Detroit the Hawks assigned defensemen Kent Huskins and Arved Rekis and forwards Tyler Arnason and Matt Henderson to their Norfolk farm team in the American Hockey League.
