Hawks, Blues and Wings hot to start NHL season

After weeks of hype, predictions, speculation and pre-season tilts, the National Hockey League got rolling for real last Wednesday (Oct. 4, 2017) and there were a few surprises for the Midwest-based teams.

At the top end is the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago BlackHawks and St. Louis Blues, all rolling into the campaign in impressive fashion while the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild eased in a bit slower.

Here’s a quick look at how the five Midwest-based teams fared in their first week.

Detroit Red Wings

It’s just two games and they will certainly be long forgotten by the time April rolls around, but the Red Wings showed they disagree with the so-called experts who have predicted the team to finish at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference this season.

There are dozens of questions and factors for all teams entering the season, but it seemed so many players on the Wings were coming off sub-par seasons that the potential for a turnaround was there if most of them could put up normal-to-good numbers this season.

The Wings have rolled through their first two games, an impressive 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild, considered a Stanley Cup contender in its first ever game at the Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit followed by a thrilling 2-1 shootout win at Ottawa as the team begins four straight on the road.

Dylan Larkin, the young phenom who was among the Calder Cup candidates in 2015-16, saw his point production drop from 23 goals and 45 points to 17 goals and 32 points last season. It was hoped he could snap out of his ‘sophomore slump’ and he has collected points in both games so far and Jimmy Howard has been stellar between the pipes as well, handling 74 of 77 shots faced so far for a dazzling Save Percentage of .961.

Martin Frk who is well known in Grand Rapids, but not so much in Motown has collected a goal in each game and Mike Green’s four assists so far indicate the veteran defender could be on course for one of his bigger offensive seasons.

The Red Wings are scheduled to play the 0-2 (and likely a little annoyed) Dallas Stars Tuesday (Oct. 10) and will wrap up the trek with road tilts against the Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights before returning home for a game Monday (Oct. 16).

Chicago BlackHawks

The Hawks are another squad that didn’t receive the usual love from prognosticators leading up to the 2017-18 season and that is somewhat perplexing.

Sure, the Hawks have lost some more vets – the season-long injury to Marian Hossa and trade of Artemi Panarin (which returns Brandon Saad and adds quality back up netminder Anton Forsberg to the mix) and it was coming off a devastating four-game sweep in the opening round of the post season against the surging Nashville Predators.

But those prognosticators seem to forget that playoff disappointment aside, this team was the best in the West Conference last season and the younger faces added each season have caused little disruption in the way the team rolls through the campaign.

Alex DeBrincat gives the team a potential scoring superstar, based on his junior hockey numbers and Patrick Sharp will surely be revitalized with a return to the city where he hoisted a Stanley Cup.

The team couldn’t possibly have made a bigger splash entering the new season, pounding the two-time Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins 10-1 in its opener and then stopping the Blue Jackets 5-1 a couple of nights earlier.

The Hawks suffered a minor setback, seeing a 3-1 lead erased in the third period and ultimately dropping a 4-3 overtime decision to the Leafs in Toronto Monday (Oct. 9) but the team is ready to get right back on the horse tonight (Oct. 10) when it travels to Montreal to face the Canadiens.

That will wrap up a quick road trip for the Hawks who return home to face the Minnesota Wild Thursday night and get a shot at avenging that playoff shocker Saturday when the Preds roll into town.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues were not picked to do poorly in the off season, but injuries to key players like Robby Fabbri, Jay Bouwmeester and a few others might have lowered expectations of some entering the campaign. However, with an opening night overtime win against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Penguins after watching that team hoist its championship banner followed by a 4-2 win in its opener at the Scottrade Center against the Dallas Stars on Saturday (Oct. 7) and a shootout win at the New York Islanders Monday, the Blues are off to a strong start.

It’s a tough start to the campaign for the Blues who will be on the road for seven of its first nine games, but stellar goaltending from Jake Allen who has stopped all but eight of 115 shots so far and an impressive offensive start from nearly all the team’s key shooters has the team on the right track.

Alex Pietrangelo (2g, 3a) and Jaden Schwartz (1g, 4a) both have five points to lead the way while Vladimir Tarasenko (3g, 1a); Paul Stastny (1g, 3a) and newly added Brayden Schenn (1g, 3a) have four apiece.

The Blues will look to stay perfect tonight (Oct. 10), staying in NYC to play the Rangers before taking its road trip south to Florida on Thursday and Tampa Bay on Saturday. Next home game for the Blues will be on Oct. 18 when the Chicago BlackHawks pay a visit.

Minnesota Wild

There is no reason to panic early, but back to back road defeats to open the season has the Wild looking to break into the win column sooner rather than later.

The Wild faced a tough opener, making the trip to Detroit where it was the first guest at the new Little Caesar’s Arena.

Despite a 39-31 edge on the shot clock, the Wild found itself deadlocked in a scoreless duel after 20 minutes and trailing 2-0 heading to the third.

Rookie Joel Eriksson-Ek notched his first career NHL goal two minutes into the final period and Chris Stewart had the Wild even just 48 seconds later, but Henrik Zetterberg scored his first of the year at the 7:07 mark and Martin Frk added another just 3:32 later to put this one away.

On Saturday in Raleigh, the Wild scored first and owned a 3-1 lead halfway through the second period, but needed a goal from captain Mikko Koivu with one second to play to send this one to overtime. That secured the point, but no more as Jacob Slavin scored the lone goal for the Canes to secure the win in shootout.

Devan Dubnyk played a major part in getting his team the point in a game that saw the Wild outshot by a 42-27 count.

The Wild has some extra time to think about this tough loss with five days between games, before they pull into the United Center in Chicago to face the Hawks. The Wild will finally play its home opener at the Xcel Energy Center on Saturday (Oct. 14) night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Jackets enjoyed a breakout 2016-17 season but an earlier than hoped for playoff exit against the Penguins in the opening round.

The addition of Artemi Panarin has confidence even higher but after opening with an impressive 5-0 shutout against the Islanders on Friday (Oct. 6), in its home opener, the Jackets came up short 5-1 at the United Center in Chicago the following night.

One of the interesting stories early on is the progression of Sonny Milano, the Jackets’ First Round (16^th Overall) Selection in 2014 who has toiled in Cleveland for a few seasons and saw a few players pass him on the way through. Milano scored in both games and while, he is scheduled to play on the fourth line at Carolina tonight (Oct. 10), he seems to have cemented a spot in the lineup.

The Jackets not so long ago boasted a porous defensive unit, but now, led by Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky and including solid youngsters Seth Jones and Zach Werenski, the Columbus crew should be among the stingiest teams in the league this season.

After traveling to Carolina tonight, the Jackets will return home to Nationwide Arena for a Friday night test against the Rangers and then travels to Minnesota on Saturday to wrap up a three-game week.