'Hawks in the Black to Start Off Season

Johnny Oduya is leading a recharged Blackhawks defense with a plus-10 rating (Credits: Dave Sandford/Getty Images)

Here it is, February 19^th, exactly a month into the NHL season, and the Chicago Blackhawks have yet to lose a game in regulation. Across the board, the league standings are now stuffed with crooked numbers and double-digit totals, and even atop the divisions that unenviable loss column reaches as high as five. But there is one brave zero still standing (aside from OT/SO losses), now looking more out of place than all those burly hockey players in corporate costume, pulled up to a negotiating table to discuss hockey-related-revenue, player pensions and other foreign terms until mid January.

It lingers there, that gaping zero, brash and proud in its appearance, refusing to acknowledge the fact that it should have left the party quite some time ago. And if it hangs around for one more game, that being tonight against Vancouver, it will represent a record that only one team in NHL history can lay claim to. A point earned tonight, and the Blackhawks will tie the league record for longest-season-opening points streak at 16, set by Anaheim in 2006-07.

But let’s rewind a bit. Let’s return to January 19^th, when the Blackhawks visited Los Angeles to drop the puck on the NHL season. In what was supposed to the Kings’ final celebration of their Stanley Cup championship, and more importantly, their first step in defending it, the Blackhawks crashed the party and pumped in three goals in the first period, five on the afternoon. Jonathon Quick, the reigning Conn Smythe trophy winner who posted an otherworldly .941 save percentage in last year’s playoffs, was yanked rudely out of orbit and back down to earth by the Chicago offense, reminding everyone it still knows how to score. Don’t forget, the Blackhawks had no shortage of scoring last season: their 248 goals ranked 3^rdin the Western Conference.

On that note, let’s rewind a bit more. Let’s return to last year’s conference quarterfinals, when the Blackhawks were ousted by the Phoenix Coyotes in six games. It was a disappointing end to a relatively disappointing season for the ‘hawks, who, despite racking up 101 points, finished 4^thin their division and 6^th in their conference. (Having to play as the lower seed against a Coyotes team who finished behind them in points was an unlucky break for the Blackhawks, but it was their inability to win on home ice that ultimately did them in. Chicago lost all three games it played at the United Center, including a 4-0 spanking in the decisive game 6.)

Of course, along with their inability to protect home ice, Joel Quenville’s squad suffered from an inability to protect their own net. Their unsightly 238 goals against last year was the third worst mark in the Western Conference, and put them in the inglorious company of the impotent Blue Jackets, Oilers, Ducks, and Wild. (Talk about a party they should have left a while ago.) Extended over an 82 game season, 238 goals against works out to 2.90 per game. In their playoff series against the Coyotes, they surrendered 17 goals, for an on-par average of 2.83 per game. Needless to say, the Blackhawks needed to find a more sustainable pattern of success entering this season, namely one that did not feature scores more suitable for a defensively tight lacrosse game.

Needless to say, they have found it. Your 2012-2013 Blackhawks still make the red light flash like a stoplight over a four-corner intersection, but they defend now too. With 51 goals through 15 games, they maintain their now-familiar seat at third in the West, but they have found a new place to reside in the goals against category. No longer inhabitants of the dungy cellar, where pucks whiz past goalies who barely seem to notice and where bones of decrepit defenses lay piled in the corners, the Blackhawks now live in the grand penthouse, looking down on the competition below. That’s right, the same team who last year lost by scores of 9-2 and 8-4 – not to mention, the same goalies! – now sits first in the Western Conference in goals against (31). The last time the Blackhawks were this explosive offensively and this sound defensively, was 2009-10 when they finished second in the West in both categories, and just so happened to win the Stanley Cup.

The taste of redemption for those two maligned netminders, Corey Crawford and Ray Emery, has to be more satisfying than a deep-dish pizza. In GAA, Crawford and Emery finished 32^nd and 34^threspectively last year. In save percentage, 35^th and 39^th. This is a blog that respects hockey, so we’ll refrain from listing their numbers here. Suffice it to say, choosing between Crawford and Emery last season was like choosing between kerosene and TNT to throw in your living room fireplace. If the firefighters didn’t show up – Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp – the results were disastrous: In games in which they scored three goals or less in 2011-12, the Blackhawks won just 14 times. Under the same scenario this year, they’ve reached half that total in just 15 total games.

It starts with Crawford and Emery, both of whom have vaulted themselves out of the barrel of the backups and into the vat of the Vezinas. Crawford’s GAA is a sparkling 1.65, good for 4^th in the NHL, while Emery’s is 2.14. Both of them rank above such prominent names as Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Smith, Quick, and Ryan Miller. The same is true in the save percentage department. But not all of the praise can be heaped upon the men between the pipes. Indeed, the Blackhawks defense is surrendering far fewer shots on goal this year and thus less often calling upon their goalies to bail them out. Consider this: Crawford ranks in the top five in wins, GAA and save percentage, and then falls to 22^nd in saves. Sure, part of this has to do with Crawford giving a few more starts to his backup than other goalies, but mostly it’s a function of Chicago’s recommitment to defense.

If they can sustain this lethal balance of offense and defense, who knows how far they can go before their point streak ends. They’ve already tied the 15-game mark set by the 1984-85 Oilers – you know, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey – and tonight they’ll look to tie the one set by the Ducks. Both the Oilers and the Ducks finished off their scorching starts with the only punctuation so fitting: a Stanley Cup championship. This isn’t to prematurely crown the Blackhawks, but simply to draw attention to what they’re doing. And to where it tends to lead.

Tonight, Vancouver comes into town as one of the three teams this year to deny Chicago two points. They’ll look at that last zero in the loss column and lick their chops. They’ll sharpen their knifes and forks – and, you can bet, their elbows – and they’ll take a good run at the NHL’s invincible squad.