advertisement

Oilers no problem this time for Blackhawks

Edmonton’s Rexall Place has been a house of horrors for the Blackhawks recently.

Rewind to the 2011-12 season, when the Hawks suffered lopsided losses of 9-2 and 8-4 there to the Oilers, who always seem to be ready to test themselves against the Stanley Cup champs.

“I think for whatever reason they get excited to play us,” Patrick Kane told reporters before the game.

That wasn’t the case Monday night as the Hawks jumped on the Oilers early and went on to dump them 5-1 for their third straight win on the circus road trip. The Hawks led 2-0 after the first period on a short-handed goal by Jonathan Toews and Kane’s power-play goal that extended his points streak to 11 games.

They made it 3-0 just 1:28 into the second period when Johnny Oduya scored, and then chased Oilers starting goalie Devan Dubnyk when Andrew Shaw scored not long after that.

Ilya Bryzgalov, signed as a free agent in the last few week to help solve Edmonton’s problems in goal, replaced Dubnyk.

Shaw, who also had an assist Monday, closed the scoring with his second goal of the night late in the third period.

So what has it been about the Oilers, who earlier this month at the United Center gave the Hawks all they could handle in a 5-4 loss?

“I think maybe part of our problem is we get into that run-and-gun, up-and-down offensive-style game,” Toews told reporters. “It’s one of those teams where we constantly have to remind ourselves to make sure we’re playing well in our own end first and then we can go on and make plays and create chances.

“You look at their four lines and it’s a group you have to be aware of no matter who’s on the ice.”

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville called the Oilers a dangerous team. “Coming into this building is kind of scary,” he told reporters. “I know they’ve had some success against us here.

“They like to go off the rush. We like to go off the rush, too, but I think we need to be a little more patient when we play these guys because otherwise we get into a track meet and it seems like they’re better at it than we are.”

The Hawks played for the second straight game without Marian Hossa, who returned to Chicago to attend to a private family matter. Quenneville said he expected Hossa to rejoin the team Wednesday in Calgary.

Center Michal Handzus returned to the lineup after missing 14 games with an upper-body injury. He played left wing on a line with Brandon Pirri and Kane.

“I’ve been on a table too long,” Handzus said. “Hopefully this is over and I can have fun in the (locker) room. I haven’t had that in a long time because I’ve been in the training room for too long.”

The Hawks were looking to improve their penalty killing, which came into the game ranked 29th in the NHL.

“We don’t take a lot of penalties, but for some reason they’re going in,” Quenneville said. “Even though we think we’re better at how we’re killing penalties, at the end of the night they still get 1 goal and 2 goals some nights.

“Whether it’s winning faceoffs, blocking shots or preventing entries, I think it’s a little bit of everything, but we’re better than we were when we started the season. The stats don’t reflect it, and it’s an ugly stat right now, but we feel we’re doing the better things.”

tsassone@dailyherald.com

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.