A year filled with hope and promise got off to a shaky start when the Blackhawks dropped their season opener to the New York Rangers.
They'll look to right the ship against a team with the same 0-1-0 start, the Washington Capitals.
Despite the huge promise of this season, not much went right for the Blackhawks who dropped their season opener by two goals.
They gave back goals right after scoring them and had trouble being physical with the Rangers when they had the puck in Chicago territory. The off-season signing of goalie Cristobal Huet (pictured at the top) also got off to a slow start. He had trouble stopping shots, giving up four goals although one, a kick-out that went right to a New York wing, was partially just bad luck.
Huet admitted that he didn't help matters post-game when he stated: "We made some mistakes and I didn’t help the team at the moment they needed me.”
Reports have surfaced suggesting that Khabibulin may get the start over Huet, who has significantly worse numbers career wise against Washington.
The two keys for the Blackhawks tonight will be to keep putting Washington players on the ice, no matter who is tending the goal. The obvious statement is that fewer shots on goal translates to fewer points for the opponent so defensive physicality will be imperative.
These second key will be to keep the puck moving in the Washington end. Capitals goalie, Jose Theodore, doesn't have particularily good career save percentages so keeping him moving back and forth should result in some wide open shots agasint a Washingon back-end that is lacking in defensive quality.
For a team that should have real aspirations of making a run at the finals, especially now that an aging Detroit team is having injury issues right out of the gate, an 0-2-0 start would be highly disappointing.
However, the outlook is good for Chicago, and they should return home with a split record.
Ray Bogusz can be reached via the comment box or email: raybogusz@yahoo.com
He hopes to preview and recap the vast majority of Blackhawks games this year. Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as he enjoys writing them.
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