Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa Each Have Goals So Far

Added on Oct 18, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

They don’t call Patrick Sharp “shooter” because he passes all the time, and thats okay by the Chicago Blackhawks. When you score as much as he has been scoring, you get the benefit of the doubt. Some players would be benched for taking 13 shots in one game; But when its this early in the season and you are one of 5 men in the league who has 5 goals, you are told to shoot hard and often. The other good piece of news for the Hawks is that they have another guy in that elite 5; Marian Hossa has also lit the lamp 5 times.

After scoring two goals in his last two games the media wanted to know his secret. “No real answer for you,” Sharp said, “Wish I knew. I’d do it every game. Just a couple of good plays by the team and the puck was going in.”

Blackhawks Coach Joel Quenneville was eager to heap some praise in Sharps direction as well. “”He’s got a great stick. He’s a goal scorer, but he seems to know that area around the net and gets rewarded around there…Hossa has been hot as well.”

“I just feel pretty good,” Hossa said about his goal, and assist that won the game against Buffalo. “I’m in good shape to start the season. When I’m getting good passes, I’m trying to do something with them. I feel like I have good movement right now.”

Coach Q is really trying to keep the reigns on the Blackhawks after such a good start. He doesn’t want them to comfortable with the recent success. Its a long season. There was plenty of concerns entering the game against the Sabres. Niklas Hjalmarsson checked Pominville into the boards while he was playing a loose puck. The refs, and the league, deemed it a hard hit and suspended him 2 games. However, that meant he would be back just in time for the rematch with them this past Saturday. Cooler heads prevailed though, as no real extra curricular activities took place. Hjalmarsson said he even regretted the play and thought it was a shoulder to shoulder check. “I really didn’t mean to hurt Jason and that’s not the way I play. Maybe I went in too hard, maybe I didn’t. It’s tough to say. But I don’t think anyone is out there to hurt people.”

Even more good news came the way of the Hawks. Patrick Kane missed the trip to Columbus because he was sick, but he will be back in time for the St. Louis game this Monday night. The Hawks will enjoy having him back, as the St. Louis game will be physical, even though St. Louis enforcer Cam Janesen will not be on the Ice. He received a concussion earlier in the week. Kane talked about how he felt after the morning skate ‘m getting there, The biggest thing now is getting all my energy back and my appetite and things like that. For a couple days there I was down and out. They said it was just a fever, the flu or a virus that I caught. So it was a bunch of things. I remember just waking up and my whole body was sore. I don’t know what it was.”

The 2-2 St. Louis Blues are on the road against the Hawks this Monday night at 7:30 (cst.)