The Chicago Blackhawks are once again playing like the Chicago Blackhawks. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and company have won six straight games, have caught Nashville and are now leading the Central Division.
The Blackhawks are now 18-8-1 on the year and sit atop the central with 37 points, one ahead of the Nashville Predators. Patrick Kane is leading the charge with 8 points during the streak. His 12 goals are good for 9th in the league and his 26 points have him in 13th in scoring.
Chicago's streak is against top end competition as well. The have defeated the Ducks, Blues, Canadiens, Predators and defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles. The Hawks appear to be back on track and establishing themselves as a force in the western conference.
Beliveau
This past week was saw the passing of Montreal legend Jean Beliveau. He played 20 seasons in the NHL, all with the Canadiens. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.
Beliveau won 10 Stanley Cups as a player and additional 7 as an executive. The 17 cups is a record for most by an individual in NHL history.
Beliveau was the fourth player to reach 500 goals and 2nd player to score 1,000 points. He won two Hart Trophies as league MVP and one Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer. He set a personal best 91 points in 1958-59 .
He was a true legend of the game and will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Beliveau family. His star will continue to burn bright in the NHL sky.
Montreal Cooling Off
For the better part of the first two months of the season, the Montreal Canadiens lead their division and were close to and at some times atop the NHL. In the wake of three straight losses, Montreal now finds themselves in third place in the Atlantic Division.
The have been passed by both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings. Detroit has been on a bit of a roll in their own right since the return of Pavel Datsyuk. In a very tight Atlantic Division, Montreal will need to regroup to keep pace.
A New Kind of First
We mentioned last week Martin Brodeur played his first NHL regular season game for someone other the New Jersey Devils. Saturday saw another new first.
Brodeur relieved St. Louis starter Jake Allen during the game and the Blues came storming back to give Marty his first NHL win not in a Devils uniform. He now has 689 regular season victories, 688 with New Jersey and 1 with the Blues.
League Leaders through 12/7/14
Goals – Seguin (21)
Assists – Crosby (25)
Points – Seguin (35)
Plus Minus – Forsberg (21)
Wins – Rinne (17)
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
