Saturday, March 5, 2011

Hawks' 3rd Period Propels Them To Win Over Canes

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Chicago Blackhawks
3-4-11
 Final Score: 5-2 Hawks
Scoring Summary 
1st Period
0:55-CHI-Jonathan Toews [26] (Patrick Sharp [27])
6:23-CAR-Eric Staal [29] (Cory Stillman [18], Erik Cole [23])
9:51-CHI-Bryan Bickell [15] (Brent Seabrook [32], Marian Hossa [23])
2nd Period
None
3rd Period
2:50-CHI-Ryan Johnson [1] (Chris Campoli [12], Brian Campbell [20])
3:57-CHI-Dave Bolland [15] (Hossa [24], Bickell [19])
7:22-CHI-Patrick Kane [21] (Sharp [28], Campoli [13])
12:09-CAR-Jeff Skinner [23] (Joe Corvo [24], Jussi Jokinen [29]) 

Coming off of a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory the night before, the Carolina Hurricanes rolled into the United Center to take on the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
 Backup goaltender Justin Peters got the start in net after Cam Ward had started the previous 24 games.
It wasn't pretty early for the Canes, but great for the Hawks. 55 seconds in, Jonathan Toews notched his 26th goal of the season by going low blocker side on Peters from the left hashmarks. The play all started when Patrick Sharp stripped the puck away from Cory Stillman at the top of the right circle of the Canes' zone.

The Canes tied it up about 6 minutes later. 
They took advantage of a Niklas Hjalmarsson offensive zone turnover from just inside the blue line. Stillman corralled the puck and brought it up ice with Erik Cole with him. He dished it to Cole just before the Hawks' blue line and Cole went to pass it back to Stillman in the slot. Hjalmarsson got back in time to break up the pass, and the puck stayed a couple of feet behind him and Stillman.
In came Canes captain Eric Staal to pick up the loose puck at the right hashmarks and he fired it by rookie goaltender Corey Crawford blocker side for his team leading and 29th goal of the year. Hjalmarsson was in front of Crawford and he didn't see it.

Just before the halfway mark of the period, and after some hard work and cycling from Marian Hossa and Dave Bolland, Brent Seabrook bombed a shot from the right point and it clanged off of the post and into a bunch of traffic in front of Peters. Bryan Bickell somehow found the puck and put it home to restore the Hawks' lead.

In the second, Peters was a rock for the Canes and kept them in the game. He made multiple remarkable saves that had the UC faithful wondering how the Hawks didn't put the puck in the back of the net.

One of those times included when he stoned Bickell in his attempt to get his second of the night with 16:14 left in the period. He came across the crease and bodied down Bickell's shot from the right hashmarks.

There were some scary moments for the Hawks on the power play as Pat Dwyer got past the defense at his own blue line for a shorthanded breakaway. In all alone, he went to his backhand to try and sneak the puck past Crawford's right pad, but Crawford made the save. Dwyer managed to get the rebound, too, and even tried a wraparound attempt, but Crawford still shut the door on him. Canes fans are used to seeing the 5'11" forward provide good, hard working shifts night in and night out whether it's on the penalty kill or even strength.

About 3 minutes into the second, newly acquired defenseman Chris Campoli led the rush up the ice and into the Canes' zone. He gave it to Ryan Johnson at the top of the left circle and Johnson threw it on net. It got by Peters for his first of the year because it deflected in off of Joni Pitkanen's skate.


A minute and seven seconds later, the Hawks struck again.
From under the left circle and to the right a bit, Hossa put the puck on net and Peters gave up a pretty small rebound. Bolland came in, following Hossa, and got to the rebound before Jamie McBain and chipped it in to give the Hawks a 3 goal lead.


At the 7:22 mark, Patrick Kane joined in on the fun. 
From the slot, Sharp sent a backhanded pass from the slot over to Kane in the right circle. Kane one timed it to give him 21 goals on the year.


Canes rookie phenom Jeff Skinner added his 23rd of the year a couple of minutes after halfway just to change the final score pretty much. 
Skinner provided traffic out in front of Crawford and Joe Corvo sent a shot from the point towards the net. Skinner was able to get to the rebound and shovel it home.


Canes centerman Brandon Sutter summed up their third period very well.
"We just kind of collapsed, I guess," He told the media, "I think through two periods we probably didn't have our best game but our goalie made some saves for us to keep us in it, and yeah, we just kind of collapsed.
"We started cheating a little bit, [we] weren't playing good defensively and they're going to capitalize on that."


Staal also added to the media: "It kind of got away from us in the third period and, you know, they got some skill and some guys that can find the back of the net and they did that in the third.
"We didn't have a good start. They seemed to skate it around us pretty good the first ten minutes of the game. They gave us one shot and we gave them probably a little bit too much respect as far as their skill goes and then we kind of got to our game a little bit better and [...] in the second period had a better push and some good chances, as did they.
"Petey made some good saves to keep it at 2-1 and would've been nice to get to 2-2 and then see what happens."


As far as the home team goes, that third period was one of their best in a while.
"We've talked about [our third periods] a lot this season," Brian Campbell told chicagoblackhawks.com after the game, "We talked about it Monday night in Minnesota and that didn't happen and obviously we did again Wednesday night.
"[Friday night] was better. I know they played [Thursday] night, so I'm sure they're a little bit tired, but it was better all around. We gotta learn from it and grow as a team."  


The win was also the Hawks' 7th in a row and with every game, their confidence seems to be improving.
"It's in the air here," Campoli said, "Guys believe that we're gonna win. We find ways to score goals, we get up on teams and [Friday] we buried them.
"Good teams do those things. They don't let teams back in games and as of late, maybe we have a little bit, but we still find ways to win and at the end of the day, that's the bottom line."


"We're just playing better overall hockey, working harder," Campbell said, "Obviously, the lines that are going have some chemistry and feel good. We got depth and skill in all areas of the four lines. I think that's the biggest part of it. We're just working harder for pucks and winning battles."


Crawford is appreciative with what he's seeing in front of him.
"We keep getting a ton of chances and keep scoring a ton of goals.
"For a goaltender, that's pretty nice when your guys are scoring that many goals every night," He said with a smile.
"We're playing great, we're playing awesome. We've been good all year, especially offensively we've been good; [it] hasn't really changed." 


Notes

•The Hawks were monsters on faceoffs Friday night. Granted, the Canes aren't that great of a faceoff team...
The percentages of the Hawks' centermen were:
-Jake Dowell [the birthday boy]: 91.7%
-Ryan Johnson: 73.7%
-Jonathan Toews: 72.2%
-Dave Bolland: 50%
•The Hawks outshot the Canes 29-20.
-Both teams went 0-2 on the power play.
-The faceoffs wins were 47-19 Hawks.
•The 3 stars of the game were:
1. Marian Hossa
The Hawks' right winger had two assists on the night. 
2. Ryan Johnson
The Hawks' gritty centerman tallied his first goal in a Hawk uniform and played a solid game in which he played 13:42.
3. Jonathan Toews
The Captain kept on rolling with his 26th goal of the year.
Patrick Kane played in his 300th NHL game Friday. He's the second youngest Hawk to reach the mark, next to Grant Mulvey.
•The scratches for the Hawks were Jordan Hendry [torn ACL], Fernando Pisani, and John Scott [both healthy].
Duncan Keith led the Hawks in TOI, playing 25:57. He also led them in shifts with 29.
-Troy Brouwer had 4 hits.
-Patrick Sharp had 3 takeaways.
-Jonathan Toews had 5 shots on goal.
-Niklas Hjalmarsson and Chris Campoli each had 2 blocked shots. Campoli also record his first points in a Hawk uniform with assists on Ryan Johnson's and Patrick Kane's goals.


Post Game Interviews

Corey Crawford
Brian Campbell
Chris Campoli 
Duncan Keith
Coach Q 
Ryan Johnson's Interview on WGN Radio
Game Highlights


Jonathan Toews celebrates his first period goal with Duncan Keith.

Bryan Bickell celebrates with Dave Bolland and Brent Seabrook after he gave the Hawks a 2-1 lead in the first period.

The Hawks salute the home crowd after their 5-2 win.

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