Sunday, August 22, 2010

Hawks Win Again, Even Without Toews and Seabrook [aka my first Game Review]

Minnesota Wild vs. Chicago Blackhawks Review
Monday, October 26, 2009
Final Score: 3-1 HawksScoring summary:
1st Period:CHI: 9:23-Dave Bolland (Andrew Ladd, Jordan Hendry)
CHI: 17:13-PPG Troy Brouwer (Tomas Kopecky, Duncan Keith)
2nd Period:No Goals
3rd Period:MIN: 3:29-PPG Andrew Brunette (Antti Miettinen, Mikko Koivu)
CHI: 6:54-Patrick Kane (unassisted)

For the second straight game, Hawks captain Jonathan Toews and defenseman Brent Seabrook sat out due to concussion-like symptoms.  Even with two of their most talented players out, the Hawks pulled out another win against the Minnesota Wild last night.

30 seconds into the first period, former Hawk, Marty Havlat, deked his way past Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell and had a good scoring chance, trying to go five-hole on Cristobal Huet.  Huet stood tall and stopped Havlat in his tracks.  That was Havlat's one and only shot on goal for last night.  9 minutes into the 1st, Jordan Hendry sent a long pass to Dave Bolland who was at center ice.  Bolland entered the Wild's zone down the left wing boards, and passed the puck to Andrew Ladd who was in the slot.  Ladd shot it and Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom, gave up a rebound off of his right pad.  Bolland put the puck past Backstrom, giving the Hawks the lead.

8 minutes later, the Hawks were on a powerplay due to a Chuck Kobasew high-sticking penalty.  Kris Versteeg had the puck down low by the left circle.  He sent a pass over to Duncan Keith, who fired one from the top of the right circle.  Backstrom made a save through a Tomas Kopecky screen.  Fortunately, for the Hawks, the rebound from the save came right to Troy Brouwer, who sent it into the wide open net, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead.

Backstrom kept the Wild in the game in the 2nd period, as he made some very good saves against the Hawks.  Huet did his job as well, keeping the score the way it was.

The Wild cut the lead in half in the 3rd period by a powerplay goal from Andrew Brunette.  Brunette was waiting by the left post for the puck.  He got the rebound from a Antti Miettinen shot and slid it behind Huet.

The Hawks came back 3 minutes later.  Patrick Kane took the puck away down below the right circle.  He waited behind the net for a play to develop, but nothing was happening.  He came out to the dot of the left circle, did a mini spin-o-rama, and fired it high stick side.  There was virtually no space between Backstrom's shoulder and the crossbar, but somehow, the puck found room and made its way in, giving Kane his 50th goal of his young career.  The Hawks would hold on, giving them their 2nd win in 3 games.

Kane said about his goal , "It's got to be a perfect shot.  It's lucky, too- kind of shoot and pray it goes in."

Tip In's: Coach Joel Quenneville gave the Hawks the day off of practice today after last night's win.
Jake Dowell's fight was only the Hawks' third fight all year.
Marty Havlat was -2, and had no points, and only had the 1 shot on goal early on in his return to the United Center, which he constantly had rocking last year.  He's now -10 on the year.
Jordan Hendry registered his first point of the season on Bolland's goal.
The Hawks are now 7-3-1 on the season, with 15 points.  They're 1st in the Central Division, and 3rd in the Western Conference.


Kane's reaction after his milestone goal

 

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