March 03--After an up-and-down February in which there was more than a little bit of grumbling among Blackhawks fans, the Hawks started the March off with a 5-2 victory over the rival Red Wings that should satiate the masses for at least 24 hours.
The victory put them two points ahead of the Stars and Blues in the Central Division.
Ehrhoff gets high marks
When general manager Stan Bowman traded Rob Scuderi to the Kings for Christian Ehrhoff, he admitted it was a trade designed to give two defensemen who didn't fit in their current systems another shot. Ehrhoff got off to a good start on Wednesday.
Coach Joel Quenneville said he thought Ehrhoff looked "very comfortable" on the Hawks' blue line. Ehrhoff helped set up the Hawks' first goal of the night with a pass to Teuvo Teravainen and was active all night as a puck-moving threat, which is exactly what the Hawks were looking for in the deal. He led the Hawks with four shots on goal and finished a plus-7 in Corsi plus-minus, which measure how many more or fewer shots a team had when a given player is on the ice. He also had two high-danger scoring chances. Ehrhoff said when trade talks were swirling, he was hoping the Kings would deal him to the Hawks.
"I was very pleased," Ehrhoff said. "I wasn't really surprised because I knew Chicago was interested in talking to L.A. I hoped they could work out a deal and they did."
It's only one game, but if Ehrhoff can play like he did Wednesday, the Hawks may have found another contributor down the stretch run of the season.
5-on-3 = goal (most of the time)
Ahead 1-0 in the second period, the Hawks had a 5-on-3 power play after Niklas Kronwall committed a hooking penalty 14:09 into the period. It took the Hawks 25 seconds to covert that into a goal -- Brent Seabrook hit Kane, who hit Artemi Panarin for a one-time goal. It was helped along by good work from Jonathan Toews in front of the net to clear space for Kane's pass to Panarin.
"It sucks that (Toews) doesn't get an assist on that play because he pretty much creates the whole play where he gets position, locks up (a defender) without taking an interference penalty," Kane said.
It was the eighth time the Hawks have scored on a 5-on-3 advantage this season, which leads the NHL. They are 8-for-11 in such situations.
Corsi look
The overall numbers were essentially even during 5-on-5 play (Red Wings led 45-43) while overall, the Red Wings led 56-52. The Red Wings did double the Hawks in high-danger chances 16-8, according to war-on-ice.com, so Corey Crawford helped to bail out the Hawks in that respect. But when adjusted for score effects, since the Hawks carried a three-goal lead into the third period, the Hawks come out on top in the Corsi battle 51.8-43.9 in 5-on-5 play, 61.6-54.1 overall.
chine@tribpub.com
