Blackhawks-Avalanche: Toews Looks For His First Goal Versus Colorado

Game Preview

The Chicago Blackhawks welcome the Colorado Avalanche to the United Center Monday night as they look to continue their two game winning streak. The 'Hawks were able to scrap past the Columbus Blue-Jackets Saturday for their first overtime win of the season.

The Columbus game was Cristobal Huet's best game as a Blackhawk, as he made 48 saves on 51 shots. Although not all 51 were quality shots, Huet was still able to keep his composure and was able to stop all three shooters in the shoot-out from scoring. 

The official first star of the Chicago/Columbus game was Jonathan Toews, who netted the game-winning and only goal in the shoot-out. Toews has struggled to find the back of the net during regulation, but has been the 'Hawks shoot-out leader this season.

The real stars of the game for the 'Hawks were the penalty killers who killed all ten penalties which gives the 'Hawks the 4th best penalty kill in the league. This has been the biggest strength 'Hawks this season and will be their biggest strength going forward for the rest of the season and hopefully the post season.

The Colorado Avalanche have not had the greatest start to their 2008-2009 campaign, starting off 5-5-0 in their first ten games. Colorado started off the season with a three game losing streak, then a five game winning streak, and now find themselves on another three game losing streak after losing to San Jose on Sunday. 

As always, the Avalanche have a very potent offense that has been lead by up and coming NHL star Paul Stastny and grizzled veterans Milan Hejduk and Joe Sakic. The Avalanche's major weakness this season has been their goal-tending. Both Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft have a save percentage under 90%.

Keys to Success for Chicago

1. Score early and often: Take advantage of the weak goal-tending. It is likely that Andrew Raycroft will get the start in goal, so they will get shots on him early and often.

2. Keep up the strong penalty kill: Although I would hope that the 'Hawks stay out of the penalty box, you would have to imagine that the Avalanche will get a few man advantages. The 'Hawks need to be on their game to deal with the high powered Avalanche offense.

3. Get Jonathan Toews Involved: Let Toews try and take over a game. Give him opportunities early and often so that he can work his way out of his goal scoring slump.

Player(s) to Watch

Jonathan Toews

Maybe what the young captain needs is a penalty shot, because he has been clutch in the shoot-out with two goals in four attempts. It was just one year ago that Toews scored arguably the greatest goal of last season against the Avalanche. Look for Toews to take advantage of Colorado's weak goal-tending for his first goal of the season.

Aaron Johnson

This is a guy that you should know. He was brought in during the off-season for AHL depth, but when rookie Niklas Hjalmarsson went down with an upper body injury he stepped in and has been a very pleasant surprise. Oh and by the way he is currently tied for first on the 'Hawks in plus/minus. If you get a chance check this guy out.

Chicago Blackhawks Projected Line Up

Forwards

Versteeg-Toews-Kane

Brouwer-Sharp-Havlat

Ladd-Bolland-Byfuglien

Burish-Fraser-Eager

Defense

Keith-Seabrook

Campbell-Barker

Johnson-Sopel

Goal-Tender

Nikolai Khabibulin

Chicago Blackhawks News and Notes

Kris Versteeg had two points in his last game versus the Columbus Blue-Jackets but also logged a double minor in the second period that gave the Jackets a four minute power play. Versteeg has been producing well but he needs to not take foolish penalties and cause harm to his team, I still think he is playing great but needs to make sure he doesn't do this in the future.

Joel Quenneville is loving the Campbell/Barker pairing because it allows him to reduce the minutes that Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have been logging. Barker has made quite an impression Coach Quenneville and it looks like he will be staying with the big club for the foreseeable future.

The Chicago Blackhawks will feature their third jerseys tonight versus the Avalanche. Their third jersey is suppose to be very similar to their black jerseys of the past.