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Blackhawks find elixir for ailing power play: Blue Jackets

hawksfixpp

James

To the shock of just about everyone, the Columbus Blue Jackets reacted to their awful 2-11-1 start by ... acquiring depth forward Mark Letestu. Common sense’s loss appears to be the Chicago Blackhawks gain, though, as Chicago has a 5-1 lead heading into the third period.

If that wasn’t enough, the squalid ‘Hawks power play even got off the mat, as they’ve already scored two goals on three opportunities.

The fact that the Blackhawks went with a non-traditional mix on the PP - a tactic that allowed Steve Montador to pick up a Gordie Howe hat trick - pours some more salt in Columbus’ hockey wounds. (It also emboldens my personal belief that teams shouldn’t be so static when it comes to their special teams units, but that’s another discussion for another time.)

So what can the Blackhawks take from these results through the first 40 minutes? Maybe not a whole lot, as the Blue Jackets are floating in a sad, sad funk. Still, Chicago got that statistical monkey off their backs ... and maybe learned that they can throw a few grinders out on the man advantage every now and then.