The Blackhawks' First Quarter: It isn't just Kaner that's hungover

I can't say that the expectations this season were nearly as high for the Blackhawks, even with a Stanley Cup to defend entering this year. As noted in the predictions coming into this season, nobody really liked this team's chances to repeat. A lot of that probably had to do with the heavy roster turnover, but there's also just the simple fact that repeating as champions in the National Hockey League is something that doesn't happen all that often.

Still, the Hawks came out of the gate in quite the sluggish fashion to begin the 2010-11 campaign, and you name the excuse, most everybody will have cited it. In addition to the new faces, there was the short break following the Cup win, the simple number of games they had to begin this year (no other team in their division has played 20 games yet), and of course, the injuries that are basically unavoidable in any hockey season.

So now one-fourth of the way through this season after winning it all, there's still a great deal about this team that remains to be determined. After getting the annual "circus trip" off to an encouraging start last night, here's how the first quarter of the title defense began.

RECORD FOR THE QUARTER: 10-9-2 (10-9-2 OVERALL) — The Blues finally appear to be cooling off after their quick start and the Red Wings have looked as strong as I feared they would be, but the most concerning thing here has to be how poor the Blackhawks have performed at the United Center. After only a dozen contests at home, the Hawks are only one loss short of having the same number of defeats they suffered on the U.C. ice all of last season.

BEST WIN: October 18 (Blackhawks 3, Blues 2 [OT]) — With St. Louis up 2-0 midway through the third, Marian Hossa got the Hawks on the board with a power play goal and then two-and-a-half minutes later, had a relatively amazing no-look score to tie the game. The contest went into overtime and was headed toward a shootout when Patrick Sharp chipped in a pretty pass from Patrick Kane to send the U.C. into a frenzy. At that point in the year, the goals gave Hossa seven through seven games to lead the league, while Sharp had six on the season with five over the course of three games. After looking like Jaroslav Halak and St. Louis might shut the Hawks out, Chicago instead refused to die and mounted the sort of comeback you'd hope to see more often this year. Marty Turco also deserved praise for making 32 saves, a number of which came in the overtime session. The goalie's breakout pass could also have been counted as an assist in getting the Hawks on the board, but it apparently wasn't scored as such.

WORST LOSS: November 7 (Oilers 2, Blackhawks 1) — There's been a whole slew of games that have got away from the Blackhawks (their 7-3-1 record when leading after two periods is third-worst in the league), but this loss to the lowly team from Edmonton was probably most painful for how quickly things fell apart. Exemplifying a fairly concerning trend with the defending champs this season, the Oilers scored just 14 seconds after tying the game to take the lead in the third period. The Blackhawks have had a habit most of the season of just looking like the opponent is faster to the puck and seeming almost frozen after being scored on, but this loss was perhaps the most deflating of the season thus far because of how quickly that tide turned and because it was the second time that the Western Conference's worst team had come into the United Center and skated away with a victory. I'm guessing that at the end of the year, that pair of losses is likely to still sting the most.

MVP: Viktor Stalberg — Sure, he's not leading the team in any statistical category and I'm writing this the day after Captain Serious had a natural hat trick in Edmonton, but when you consider that there was the possibility Stalberg might not even make the team coming out of training camp and he's now on the team's top line, that makes this guy probably the most pleasant surprise. Stalberg's six goals and four assists also should help many Hawks fans feel better about what they got in return for Kris Vertseeg Versteeg. We've got the rest of the season to lavish praise upon the rest of the team's returning stars from last year, but I've got reservations about a number of players despite their strengths in this first part of the year: Patrick Sharp leads the team with 11 goals and 21 points, but he's also still sitting at a minus-10 right now; both Kane and Toews have started a little slowly, but will each probably be in this section of future quarterly updates later this year; Marian Hossa was gangbusters to begin the year, but then missed five games because of injury; and I really can't complain about the play the Hawks have been getting from Brent Seabrook, who's probably pretty likely to keep performing well since he's essentially playing for a new deal this year. Still, those are all players we expect big things from, and I'm awarding the mention this quarter to Stalberg simply because of how he's performed admirably better than I initially feared coming into this campaign.

LVP: John Scott — He was brought in as a free agent with a minimal contract, but Scott's been of little use to the Hawks thus far. No goals, no assists, and thus, no points, he can at least point to the fact that he's plus-one on the year. That's pretty remarkable considering he's averaging a team-worst 7:04 ice time per game, and additionally frustrating when he's actually been used as a wing while the far more promising Jeremy Morin has had to deal with being shipped to Rockford. Just as with the "MVP" portion of this quarterly update, there's been other nominees for disappointment, but I couldn't really justify putting anybody else here (Bryan Bickell got another goal last night despite being pretty below average most nights, and Duncan Keith will get it together eventually, I'm sure) when the thing I seem to get most consistently out of Scott is a loud groan whenever he takes the ice. If anybody looks like they'd be a perfect fit for Rockford, it would be this guy.

THREE THINGS I'VE LIKED SO FAR:

1. PUTTING THE POWER IN THE POWER PLAY — At 26.1 percent through the first 21 games, this is something that the Hawks need to continue to thrive at. When other teams try to intimidate the champs with force and commit stupid penalties, the Hawks need to continue to make them pay.
2. NOBODY WOULD ACCUSE THEM OF PLAYING DIRTY — The Hawks are currently averaging 9.4 penalty minutes a game, second-lowest in the league. Even with less chances, they've still got two shorthanded goals so far this year, which ties them with five other teams for fourth in the NHL.
3. THE BANNER CEREMONY — It was still more touching to watch each guy on that team get to hoist the Cup after winning Game Six in Philly, but there's no denying that the special evening at the United Center was pretty darn nice too.

THINGS I HAVEN'T:

1. THE SHOTS DIFFERENTIAL — Last year, the Hawks allowed a league-low 25.1 shots per game while averaging a league-best 34.1. I suppose there's bound to be some drop-off from a nine-shot differential, but it's fallen all the way to just over a three-shot difference between how many are taken and how many are allowed, with the 30.1 they're letting opponents take this year being decidedly middle-of-the-pack in the league.
2. THE LACK OF INTENSITY — Perhaps after reaching the top of the mountain, it's understandable that a team doesn't come back the following year with the same sense of urgency. But it has been frustrating to see how the Hawks are routinely beaten to loose pucks and caught flat-footed while their opponents have simply appeared to just want games more. A spot in the playoffs as defending champs is not guaranteed, after all.
3. WHERE'S THE FINISH? — Of the nine losses on the year, the Hawks were either leading or tied in eight of those games. That's a remarkably frightening trend that needs to come to an end sooner rather than later.

25 WORDS OR LESS:

It's too soon to panic, but it's not too early to expect the Hawks to start winning more winnable games.