Monday 17 April 2017

NHL - Hawks - Round Up - March 3-10, 2017


NY Islanders @ Hawks 1-2 SO - Friday, March 3, 2017

Artemi Panarin scored to tie the game late in the third period and again in the shootout to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders at United Center. Panarin tied it 1-1 with 1:14 left in the third period, with goalie Corey Crawford pulled for an extra skater, and then ended the shootout with a goal in the top of the third round. Jonathan Toews scored the deciding goal in the first round for the Blackhawks (41-18-5), who won their sixth straight game and trail the Minnesota Wild by one point for first place in the Central Division and Western Conference. Chicago plays at the Nashville Predators on Saturday before four straight days without a game. It is unknown who will start in net for the Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena with backup Scott Darling out three weeks with an upper-body injury that occurred at the end of the morning skate Friday. The Blackhawks played without rookie forward Nick Schmaltz (illness) and injured center Artem Anisimov (lower body), who might play against the Predators. Rookie Joshua Ho-Sang, playing his second NHL game, and Nikolay Kulemin missed on shootout attempts for New York (30-22-11), which got 30 saves from Thomas Greiss. The Islanders, who are 3-1-1 on their nine-game road trip, lead the Toronto Maple Leafs by one point for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. That was true in overtime, when the goalies traded great saves to keep it tied. Crawford made a pad save against Josh Bailey on a breakaway with 56 seconds left, and Greiss stopped Marian Hossa on an ensuing 2-on-1 rush at the other end. Brock Nelson scored with 7:33 left in the second period to put the Islanders up 1-0. His 14th goal came just as Anders Lee exited the penalty box after he put New York on the penalty kill by cross-checking Brent Seabrook. Defenseman Travis Hamonic returned to the Islanders lineup after missing 23 games with a lower-body injury. He had the primary assist on Nelson's goal.
* Following a timeout, Panarin scored his 20th goal of the season off a one-timer from the top of the left circle. Defenseman Duncan Keith faked a shot and passed to Panarin, who beat Greiss over the right pad.
* Bailey checked Hossa and stole the puck to create his breakaway late in overtime. Crawford came up with a huge stop by turning the puck away with his right pad and blocker. "That's fun," Crawford said. "Our team lives for those situations. The game's more fun that way, and our guys enjoy it."
* In addition to Darling, Schmaltz and Anisimov, the Blackhawks played without defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body) and Johnny Oduya (ankle), who will not travel to Nashville. … Chicago recalled goalie Jeff Glass from Rockford of the American Hockey League.
 "With injuries, there isn't any good timing. That's part of our game. The last couple of days have been a little bit uncertain as far as our health, lineup and look, but I commend the guys on staying focused again … be it going through the [NHL Trade Deadline] or tonight's game with not just a lineup in flux, but the lines over the course of the game were all over the place." Joel Quenneville
"We just kept playing hard, never gave up, and it's nice to see [Panarin] get a big shot there [in the third]. It's good. We're not always going to be up in every game. It's not always going to go our way, so we've got to battle back in some games. We showed some character there." said Crawford.
Hawks @ Nashville Predators 5-3 - Sunday, March 4, 2017
Brian Campbell scored with 1:05 remaining in the third period to propel the Chicago Blackhawks to their seventh straight win, 5-3 against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Jonathan Toews hit Campbell in the slot with a pass, and he beat Predators goaltender Juuse Saros for his fifth goal. Patrick Kane scored into an empty net with 39 seconds to play. The Blackhawks (42-18-5), who have won 12 of their past 13 games (12-1-0), moved one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild for first place in the Central Division and the Western Conference, though Chicago has played three more games. The Predators (32-24-9) have lost two games in a row. The Blackhawks set a franchise record with their eighth consecutive road win. Toews gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead at 19:03 of the second period on the power play. Duncan Keith took the original shot that went off Richard Panik, and Toews got to the rebound for his 17th goal. Calle Jarnkrok scored 14 seconds later for the Predators on a wrist shot from the left circle. It was his 13th goal. Viktor Arvidsson tied the game 3-3 at 4:13 of the third period on a wrist shot from right circle. Ryan Johansen dropped the puck for Arvidsson, who beat Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford for his 23rd goal of the season and second of the game. Crawford had 32 saves. Kane gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 16:23 of the first period on the power play. Toews was in front of the net screening Saros, and Kane beat him for his 28th goal. Saros made 28 saves.
Jordin Tootoo gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead at 11:03 of the second period on a wrist shot from the slot. It was his first goal and first point of the season.
Arvidsson made it 2-1 at 12:20 of the second period.
* Kane skated into the left circle to set up a wrist shot on his first goal. He pulled the shot around Predators defenseman Matt Irwin and past Saros.
* Arvidsson beat Keith to the puck in the offensive zone and got off a shot in one fluid motion for his first goal of the game.
* Kane has nine goals in his past five games and 14 goals in his past 13. … Predators forward Filip Forsberg had seven shots on goal and 14 shot attempts.
"It kind of takes the monkey off my back [getting his first goal of the season]. It feels good. The bottom line is we got two points against a divisional team. That's all that we care about." Jordin Tootoo
"We knew we weren't playing [again] for five days. It felt like we were a little tired even from last night [a 2-1 shootout win against the New York Islanders], but we gutted it out and got through it. We wanted to finish this little break off here where we don't play for five days on a good note." Campbell said.
"It's special. Obviously with the franchise, it's been around a long time. We've had some great runs here, but to set that record and play so well on the road lately, it's been great for us." Kane said.

Anaheim Sucks @ Hawks 1-0 - Thursday, March 9, 2017

Jonathan Bernier's 100th NHL win was one to remember. Bernier made 43 saves for the Anaheim Ducks in a 1-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Thursday. It was his second shutout of the season, the 14th of his NHL career. Corey Perry scored the only goal late in the second period, ending a 10-game drought dating to Feb. 9. The Ducks (35-22-10), who won consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 17-19, lead the Edmonton Oilers by two points for second place in the Pacific Division. They trail the first-place San Jose Sharks by five points. Chicago (42-19-5) lost for the first time in eight games.
Bernier made 19 saves in the first, 12 in the second and 12 in the third, including stops against Artemi Panarin with 1:18 left and Jonathan Toews with 59 seconds remaining. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks, who are one point behind the Minnesota Wild for first in the Central Division and Western Conference. The score was 0-0 after the first period, but Bernier was busy from beginning to end. The Blackhawks outshot the Ducks 19-2 and kept Anaheim from putting a shot on net for the final 16:27 of the period. The two shots tied a season low in a period by the Ducks, who didn't get another one on net until Perry's wrist shot at 1:59 of the second. Perry also took Anaheim's final shot of the second when he scored his 12th goal with 2:16 left to make it 1-0.
That goal came 10 seconds after Marian Hossa nearly scored at the other end.

* Perry scored off a play started by defenseman Kevin Bieksa after Bernier turned away Hossa's shot.
* Richard Panik made two great moves to get past Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg and sent a wrist shot to the net with 5:29 left in the first. Bernier made a right-pad save but didn't know if he had stopped the puck.
* Oduya (ankle) and Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper body) each returned from injury. Oduya played his first game since he was reacquired by Chicago in a trade from the Dallas Stars on Feb. 28. … Ducks forward Nick Ritchie (upper body) stayed in Anaheim. … Gibson faced shots during the morning skate but isn't ready to return. … Shaw played his 100th NHL game.
Hawks Quotes
"We did a lot of good things, not scoring. I thought our shot, either selection or net-front presence, was a little off. We had some good looks with no finish, but definitely did a lot of good things." Joel Quenneville said.
"I saw a little bit of it [video played to welcome him back in his first game since being reacquired Feb. 28]. It's very nice, obviously. Nice gesture. I was trying to focus on the game as much as I could, but that's something as a player you appreciate a lot." Johnny Oduya said. 


Hawks  @ Detroit Red Wings 2-4 - Friday, March 10, 2017

Tomas Tatar scored twice, and the Detroit Red Wings ended the Chicago Blackhawks' road winning streak in their last game at Joe Louis Arena with a 4-2 win. Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard made 24 saves in his first NHL game since injuring his knee on Dec. 20. Gustav Nyquist had three assists for Detroit (26-29-11), and Xavier Ouellet and Andreas Athanasiou scored. The Red Wings had lost four straight, including 6-1 to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks (42-20-5), who lost back-to-back games after a seven-game winning streak. Chicago lost 1-0 at home to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. Artemi Panarin gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 4:23, one-timing Kane's pass inside the left post for his 21st goal. It was the first NHL shot Howard faced since his injury. Ouellet tied it 1-1 at 16:25 with his third goal, pinching in from the left point and beating Crawford with a slap shot.
Athanasiou gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 19:52, taking a pass from Nick Jensen and shooting through Dylan Larkin's screen for his 15th goal. Chicago challenged the play for offside, but the goal was upheld. Tatar made it 3-1 at 15:17 of the second period, knocking a deflected puck past Crawford for his Red Wings-high 16th goal of the season. Trevor Van Riemsdyk made it 3-2 at 19:15, scoring his fourth goal on a slap shot from the right point. Tatar put the Red Wings up 4-2 at 15:31 of the third period off a pass from Henrik Zetterberg.

* Detroit led 3-2 late in the third period when Nyquist forced Kane into a turnover. Nyquist passed to Zetterberg, who dropped the puck onto Tatar's stick for his second goal of the game. Zetterberg leads the Red Wings with 41 assists.

"It's disappointing to lose in our last game in this building. We've had a lot of great memories in this place."
"They came out with a lot of energy and we didn't match it. I know they were coming off a couple very bad games, so we knew they were going to be a tough matchup for us." Patrick Kane said.
"We've played with a lot of pace and energy in our last 14 or 15 games, but it wasn't there tonight. Detroit's a team with a lot of talent, and tonight they played with tenacity and fight. We didn't have time with the puck, and we didn't handle it well." Joel Quenneville said.

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