Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011
Posted: 10:27 p.m.Updated: 11:52 p.m.
By Tracey Myers
CSNChicago.com Blackhawks InsiderFollow @TraMyersCSN
Box score
VIDEO: Crawford ready for pressure
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN -- Two of the newest Chicago BlackhawksRostislav Olesz and Jamal Mayersscored. But Jordan Eberle got the go-ahead goal late in the third as the Edmonton Oilers went on to a 4-2 victory in Tuesday night's preseason opener.
"I thought some guys played well for us," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "The pace was pretty good. It's 2-2 late in the game, you'd like to get something out of it."
Ryan Smyth scored as an Oilers power play was about to expire in the second period. Josh Green also scored for Edmonton.
The Blackhawks went 0 for 4 on the power play. Ray Emery started for the Blackhawks, allowing two goals. Alex Salak played the second half, allowing one.
Quenneville was also happy with Mark McNeill's night. McNeill assisted on Mayers' goal.
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"Thought he had his best game tonight," he said. "He seemed to have good pace, have the puck more."
Boden's Breakdown
Two of the players the Blackhawks picked up in the offseason made an impact on the scoresheet. But the preseason-opening 4-2 loss to Edmonton in Saskatoon didn't leave us with a much clearer idea whether Ray Emery or Alex Salak is better-suited to backup Corey Crawford.
The first goal Emery gave up he couldn't quite pounce on before Ryan Smyth did. On the other, he was beaten stick-side on a blast from the right wing. He did make a couple of decent stops in the first period.
As for Salak, he was barely tested much as the Hawks controlled the puck for much of the third period. But a Jordan Eberle shot just after the Oilers remained perfect on the penalty kill was too quick for Salak and the Oilers added an empty-netter.
While David Toews took the first shift with brother Jonathan, he was then mostly relegated to the fourth line with Phillip Danault and Jimmy Hayes. Toews, meanwhile, teamed up with Viktor Stalberg and Rostislav Olesz as the most dominant line of the night.
Olesz has looked good so far in camp, and the player with some question marks that Stan Bowman got back in the Brian Campbell trade continued showing something, scoring the Hawks' first goal as they came back from a 2-0 deficit. He was active throughout. The Hawks will need some players to go into corners and get pucks for their goal scorers. Olesz, if healthy, has the body to do that, and being a 7th overall draft pick, has some skill, too. Stalberg had a handful of chances as well, but could probably use one or two to go in so he doesn't think some of his luck from last year is carrying over.
Jamal Mayers scored the tying goal off a nice feed down low from Kyle Beach, who'll need a lot more of that to overcome the veteran grit and depth the team committed to in the off-season, and his minus-24 rating last year in Rockford. Those two were centered by this year's top pick, Mark McNeill. The other line of Marcus Kruger, Ben Smith and Brandon Saad had its share of chances as well, but couldn't bury any. Kruger was at the doorstep late when the score was still 3-2 and an Edmonton player saved the puck in the crease.
The result wasn't what the Hawks wanted, but that's less important than seeing who can do what. Joel Quenneville and his staff started to get some ideas, even though the No. 2 goalie job remains unclear. Because of his tryout status, they have five more games (by Oct. 1) to decide on Emery, and he may not necessarily play in all of them. His next test comes Thursday night in Pittsburgh.
--Chris Boden
Tracey Myers is CSNChicago.com's Blackhawks Insider. Follow Tracey on Twitter @TramyersCSN for up-to-the-minute Hawks information.