What Boston Bruins Fans Need to Know About the Chicago Blackhawks

June 9, 2013 by

blakhawks

The Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks 

  • They won the cup in 2010 and have 8 players on their roster from that run. The Bruins won the cup in 2011 and have 17 (16 if you don't count Gregory Campbell who will miss the series due to injury) players from that run.
  • Post season stats:
    • 6th in scoring with 2.76 goals per game (Bruins are 2nd after the Penguins with 3.13 gpg)
    • 3rd in goals against with 1.94 goals per game (Bruins are 1st with 1.88 goals per game)
    • 7 powerplay goals (same as Bruins)
    • 3 powerplay goals give up (Bruins have given up 7, 5 to the Leafs)
  • Regular season stats:
    • 2nd in scoring with 3.1 goals per game (Bruins were 13th with 2.65 gpg)
    • 1st in goals against with 2.02 goals per game (Bruins were 3rd at 2.21 gapg)
    • 19th in powerplay at 16.6% (Bruins 26th at 14.8%) 
    • 3rd in penalty killing at 87.2% (Bruins 4th 87.1%)
  • Since going down 3-1 to the Red Wings, the Blackhawks are 7-1. Since Toronto tied up the series 3-3, the Bruins have gone 9-1. And really, the Bruins have been a totally different team since the historic comeback against the Leafs. Up to that point, they had been a very up and down team that seemed to lack focus. They have been a relentless machine since then. 
  • Most of their post season scoring has come from Hossa, Sharp, Kane, and Bickell who all have 13 or 14 points. Sharp and Bickell both have 8 goals which is one behind the postseason league leader, David Krejci. Bickell has really been a breakout performer scoring at a much higher pace than he has in his career previously. He is a free agent at the end of the year and is really driving up his price tag. Much like Nathan Horton who has 7 goals.
  • Captain Jonathan Toews has struggled with only one goal. He also has taken some bad penalties and really struggled against the Red Wings who took it to him physically. He will likely receive similar treatment from Krejci, Bergeron, and Kelly.
  • Much like the Rangers, the Blackhawks tend to pack it in around the net when in their own end. The Bruins pointmen will have plenty of chances to shoot the puck. The Bruins have 13 goals from the point so far in the playoffs. They had 14 during the regular season. This strategy did not work well for the Rangers or the Penguins against the Bruins.
  • The Blackhawks are a great transition team. Much of their offense comes on the counter attack from turnovers. The Bruins struggled at times against the fast counter attacks of the Leafs when they were not playing nearly as well as they have in the last 2 rounds. They shut down the counter attack against the league's best in that area, the Penguins. But… during the regular season teams were able to take advantage of the lack of speed of the Bruins defense at times. This is definitely going to be something the Bruins go after.
  • They score in bunches. Several times, including in Game 5, the Blackhawks gave scored multiple goals in a short period of time. The Bruins are going to have to be very wary of that.
  • The Blackhawks defensemen are great and held up well against the forecheck from the big and tough LA Kings which is similar to the Bruins. The Hawks D is mobile and moves the puck out well. One difference between the Bruins and the Kings is that the Bruins have more speed up front, similar to the Red Wings who caused problems at times with their forechecking for Chicago.
  • One big advantage Chicago has is that their 3rd line has been productive while the Bruins 3rd line has brought just about nothing offensively. If the Bruins can't fix that problem at least a little bit, it will cost them games.  
  • Goaltending will be interesting. Both goalies were in the top 3 for just about every goalie category in the regular season. Corey Crawford has put up some great numbers and has been very strong in the postseason. The biggest difference to my eye is that Crawford gives up a few more rebounds that Tuukka. Tuukka has been a vacuum. We'll see if this is a difference in the series. And Crawford has not faced an offensive team as good as the Bruins yet. While the Tuukka shutdown the best offensive team in the league in the Penguins.
  • Patrick Kane is a party animal. Yahoo! story. Deadspin details. He can join Seguin and Marchand after the series.
  • This is going to be a series of contrasts in style. The counter attacking of Chicago versus the forechecking and puck possession of the Bruins. The strong, mobile Chicago defense versus the big, rugged Bruins defense. 

Here's some articles looking at the upcoming series:

 

 

 

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