CHICAGO — If the Chicago Blackhawks have any chance of rebounding from last year’s last-place finish in the Western Conference’s
Central Division
Andrew Hammond Jersey Womens , getting contributions from their big-name veterans will play a big role.That’s where captain Jonathan Toews enters the
picture.Heading into the Blackhawks’ home opener Sunday against the Toronto
Maple Leafs, Toews has produced goals in the first two games of the season for
the first time in his career.Article continues below ...Toews had three goals in
a 5-4 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night in which the
Blackhawks watched a one-goal lead vanish in the third period when the Blues
scored twice in a 22-second span to take the lead. But Chicago responded with a
Toews game-tying goal in the third period before he delivered the winner at 2:20
of overtime.“Johnny’s been unbelievable the first two games as far as leading
the way and leading the charge,” Chicago winger Patrick Kane told reporters
after Saturday’s victory, according to the Blackhawks’ official website. “You
couldn’t really ask much more from the captain.”While the Blackhawks will carry
the momentum of back-to-back overtime victories into Sunday’s game at the United
Center, the fact that Toews has found a way to come up with a heavy dose of
early season production with his four goals is a serious positive for the
Blackhawks moving forward.“Johnny looked powerful,” Blackhawks coach Joel
Quenneville told reporters after Chicago’s season-opening victory over the
Ottawa Senators, according to The Athletic. “He was quick in the puck area, got
some explosiveness out of it. Got some free pucks. With his line having the
puck, or him having the puck. A lot of things can happen.”As one of Chicago’s
aging veterans, Toews understands what a fast start could mean for him — and the
Blackhawks. But after an off season, both from a personal and team standpoint,
Toews said that getting back to basics could go a long way as he attempts to
bounce back.“We’re all trying to find our legs and get used to that pace and get
our timing down, myself included
J.T. Brown Jersey Womens ,” Toews said, according to The Athletic. “As the game went on, I just felt a little bit more comfortable. I think as a team, we
did a better job winning our battles and just being tough in the puck areas
later in the game. Hopefully, I can build off of that.”The Blackhawks will face
the Maple Leafs, who dropped a 5-3 decision to the Senators on Saturday.Toronto,
which scored all three of its goals in the second period, couldn’t produce the
equalizer after Ottawa scored 1:42 into the third period before the Senators
picked up an empty-net goal with 25 seconds remaining.Frederik Andersen finished
with 19 saves for the Maple Leafs. Backup goalie Garret Sparks will start in net
for Toronto against Chicago on Sunday.Despite the Maple Leafs’ loss on Saturday,
Andersen was encouraged by how his teammates played in front of him.“I thought
we had a good game,” Andersen said, according to NHL.com. “I think we created
some good opportunities to score and so did (Ottawa), but they scored a little
bit more. They got the most of their opportunities.”Leafs forward Auston
Matthews also saw improvement.“I think we played a much better game than we did
opening night,” Matthews said
Tomas Plekanec Jersey Womens , according to NHL.com. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) The worst season in nearly three decades is just a recent memory, and so is the
five-year drought.The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs, and again in
the hunt for the Stanley Cup. It’s like old times.The Devils completed a
remarkable comeback season by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Thursday
night to clinch their first postseason berth since making it to the Stanley Cup
Finals in 2012.It capped an offseason and regular season that saw general
manager Ray Shero reshape half his 25-man roster through free agency, the draft
and trades and have John Hynes make all the right moves to keep his team in a
playoff position every day of the season.Not bad for a club that won 28 games
and finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2016-17.”This is the best, the
best,” said veteran defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who won a Stanley Cup with
Pittsburgh in 2016. ”My first stint in Pittsburgh and Anaheim and then again in
Pittsburgh, I never appreciated what baseball players did. I thought it was
stupid when they would come in and have champagne when they made the playoffs. I
get it now. Making the playoffs is hard.”The Devils can point to so many players
in bouncing back from their worst season since 1988-89. Taylor Hall (39 goals,
54 assists) had a career year that teammates feel merits the Hart Trophy as the
league MVP. Top draft pick Nico Hischier overcame a slow start to have 19 goals
and 51 points. Free agent Will Butcher set a team record for rookie defensemen
with 44 points.The unsung hero was goaltender Keith Kinkaid, who stepped for an
injured Cory Schneider and carried the team over the final 10 weeks, going
10-1-1 in the last 12 games and helping the New York-metropolitan area avoid
being shut out of the postseason for the first time since the Devils took up
residence in New Jersey in 1982. The Rangers and Islanders will miss the
postseason.”It’s fun, but playoffs are a new breed
Tomas Tatar Jersey Womens ,” said Kinkaid, who re-signed with the team in the offseason despite being an unrestricted free agent.There are only two
players left from the Devils’ 2011-12 team: defenseman and captain Andy Greene,
and Travis Zajac, who centers the line Hynes’ uses against the opponent’s top
line.While there have been lean years, Zajac said the Devils rediscovered
themselves this season. They practiced and played hard, and made sure opponents
knew they were in for a battle every game.The results have been a 44-28-9 record
that includes a 25-8-9 mark in one-goal games. It was a record that reminded
many of the old Devils, a franchise that made the playoffs 20 of 22 times and
won three Cups between 1989-90 and 2011-12.This group, however, skates faster
and is relentless.Last year, the Devils were disappointing underachievers. Their
biggest sin was failing to compete every night. And they paid the price,
especially down the stretch when they went 3-17-4.Hynes and Shero changed that.
It started with the roster makeover that included the signing of veteran Brian
Boyle, and an attitude readjustment.”It’s a different skill set and youth,” said
Shero
Tom Kuhnhackl Jersey Womens , who also strengthened the team during the season by acquiring defenseman Sami Vatanen and forwards Michael Grabner and
Patrick Maroon in trades. ”But they had to fight, they clawed and scraped to get
what they’ve got and they’ve earned it.”With a game to play, the Devils won’t
learn their first-round opponent until Saturday at the earliest. They are the
top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference, and they will at least stay there
if they win at Washington on Saturday night. They also could go up or down
depending on what Columbus, Philadelphia, Florida and Pittsburgh do.It really
doesn’t matter. The Devils are just looking forward to the postseason.”You go
into this year thinking it’s going to be a bigger challenge,” said Boyle, who
provided inspiration by overcoming cancer early in the season. ”Plenty of people
were writing us off. It makes it pretty sweet to clinch. I have just tried to
tell everyone: `It’s going to be so much fun. You have never played hockey this
fun in your life until you play playoff hockey.”’—
