For my NHL Stadium Series preview, Chicago Blackhawks versus Pittsburgh Penguins at Solider Field, I recruited an All-Star team of analysts to form the first line of Stadium Series game previews. There will be other Stadium Series game previews out there, but mine is going live first (so I’ve got that going for me, which is nice). More importantly, try to find a NHL Stadium Series preview that includes insight from this lineup:
Blackhawks legend and NBC hockey Analyst Jeremy Roenick, NBC NHL Analyst Mike Milbury, Scott King, Contributing writer for The Wall Street Journal, RedEye Chicago (Facebook Hawk Crazy) Penguins star Sidney Crosby, icon of the NHL and Team Canada, and Kevin Cross Comcast SportsNet Chicago News Director.
So let’s drop the puck on this NHL Stadium Series Preview!
TV: NBC Saturday March 1st 7 PM CST, the first outdoor NHL hockey game to be broadcast in prime time. Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, analyst Eddie Olczyk and analyst Pierre McGuire will have the call. NHL Live host Liam McHugh, and former players and analysts Mike Milbury and Jeremy Roenick do pregame.
Comcast SportsNet Chicago: Soldier Field remote editions of Blackhawks Pregame Live (5:30 PM CST Thursday before Blackhawks versus Rangers, 6 PM CST Saturday) and Blackhawks Postgame Live, (approx. 8:30 PM Monday, 9:30 Saturday) “Stadium Series: Soldier Field,” a half hour special airs on CSN Chicago Thursday after postgame and Monday at 5:30
SOCIAL MEDIA: wins tickets to the Stadium Series Facebook.com/CSNChicago When tweeting the game use hashtag #HawksTalk
Also check out the National Weather Service forecast for this game #Chiberia
Blackhawks Preview:
This week’s Penguins-Blackhawks NHL Stadium Series matchup is the fourth and final game in the outdoor series of games at iconic venues across the country. The previous three NHL Stadium Series games – Ducks-Kings at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and Rangers-Devils and Rangers-Islanders at Yankee Stadium in New York – all posted viewership records or milestones either nationally, or in local markets, on NBC and NBCSN. The Blackhawks (35-11-14, 84 pts) are tied with St. Louis for the Central Division lead and sit three points behind Anaheim for the Western Conference lead.
Milbury on Jonathan Toews: “This guy has been a wonder in every situation – whether it’s a faceoff, penalty kill, power play – you just call his name and you can trust that he’s going to get the job done.”
King’s keys to the game: “The Blackhawks will need to zero in on Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. If they play them physically and take away a lot of scoring chances, there’s a good chance the Penguins will fold. The Blackhawks top 6 forwards will obviously need to light the lamp as much as possible as an insurance policy.”
By the way, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook actually appeared on one of NBC’s prime time dramas Tuesday night.
Penguins Preview:
40-15-3, 83 pts, the Pens come out of the Olympic break with a sizeable 16-point lead over the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division, and are five points clear of the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
King’s Pittsburgh keys to the game: “Shut down Kane and Toews, shoot early, shoot often. The Penguins will want to get in Corey Crawford’s grill early and establish a strong net presence through out the game. It will be a scoring battle, but the Blackhawks are the more well rounded team.”
On Tuesday, Marc-Andre Fleury’s mask for the Stadium Series game was revealed. The mask has been painted in the fashion of a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet, with a few alterations.
Sidney Crosby on his experience in Sochi:
“We played together the whole time. Great defensive hockey… We got better with each game and that was the most important thing…Just the way this whole group played and stayed poised… We all believed in one another and the way we needed to play and stuck with it. Nobody changed anything and that says a lot about the group of guys here.”
Weather forecast:
17 degrees, with winds of 15-25 mph. sub-zero wind-chills, possible snow, but not very likely until after the game. Yes, this is a forecast on March 1st, 20 days before “spring.” Welcome to life in the Polar Vortex.
Any effect, if all weather will have on the game:
King: “If snow gathers on the ice, it will be difficult to make even the most casual plays. You’ll see less long passes and more shooting.”
Cross: “I think the weather is going to be an experience I think the people who live in this town, after the winter we’ve gone through, after the month of January that we’ve gone through. I think 17 degrees is going to feel like the tropics. Most people who’ve gone to Soldier Field have dealt with cold weather games before, I think it’s going to be great.”
Any effect, if all that the recent Sochi Winter Olympics will have on the game:
King: “Most of the Olympians playing Saturday will not be at 100% yet. Especially the ones who went further in the tournament, that goes both ways. The players who are recouped better will play better.”
Roenick on Canada’s men’s hockey team performance: “I can’t remember watching a team that had so many star players that I can honestly say not one of them had a bad tournament. Not one of them played badly, they all came together and they all worked the same way. They worked the system. Defensively, they made it impossible for teams to score against them – three goals in six games is a tribute to how well they played… If one guy got beat, his teammate bailed him out.”
Cross on the extra attention on hockey from the Olympics leading into the NHL Stadium Series game: “It’s very advantageous, the NHL on NBC worked hand in hand with us in terms of covering this event. It goes back further than the Olympics, it goes back to the Blackhawks Stanley Cup run this past season…a lot of the people we dealt with at NBC during the Stanley Cup are the same people that are setting us up for the Stadium Series, so that comfort level has made it easy for us to put it all together.”
Follow Scott King @ScottKingMedia on Twitter and on Facebook:
NHL Stadium Series Prediction: Blackhawks 3-1
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. An MBA and Fulbright scholar, he’s also a frequent analyst on news talk radio; with regular segments on ESPN,NBC, CBS and Fox. A former NBC Chicago and Washington Times writer, he’s also been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)