The Chicago Blackhawks rolled into the Mile High City on Tuesday night riding a four game point streak. The Hawks came out a bit on their heels facing an Avalanche team returning from a five game road trip that saw them go 5-0-0. Corey Crawford was the story early as the Hawks spent the majority of the first ten minutes defending in their own end. Hawks winger Patrick Sharp said after the game “He made some really big saves for us and it could have been coming from behind pretty early on so he’s been just getting better and better every game for us and he was a big part of our game tonight.”
Hawks Coach Joel Quenneville added “We weathered the storm with him holding the fort early in the game. We were very sloppy. They have some quickness and some speed in their game and we were in our end for the first ten minutes. He was strong all game long and he seemed square and I think all the saves he made them look like his position was so good that it didn’t look like they were great saves but he seemed to keep the puck and his rebounds were great.”
Hawks Captain Jonathan Toews added, “He played some great hockey the way he has all year already, so its kinda what you need to win on the road in some of these tight games and he was there for us tonight.”
After a sloppy start, the Hawks seemed to get better as the game progressed. Hawks Captain Jonathan Toews made it 1-0 Hawks with a top shelf back hander from Dan Carcillo and Nick Leddy at 16:02 of the first. Ryan O’Byrne tied it for the Avalanche on a puck that deflected off of his glove at 15:27 of the second period. Despite the unlucky goal for the Hawks, they outshot Colorado 12-8 in the period and seemed to take control of the game.
The Hawks turned the tables on the Avalanche in the third playing a good chunk of the period in their offensive zone. Patrick Sharp scored the game winning goal at 7:20 of the third with helpers from Duncan Keith and former Avalanche winger Andrew Brunette. With Brent Seabrook off for tripping and the clock ticking down the Avalanche pulled goalie Semyon Varlamov for a 6-4 advantage. Marian Hossa capped the scoring with a shorthanded empty net goal and the Hawks killed the remaining power play time for a 3-1 victory. It was the second straight road win for the Hawks who head home for a rematch with the Avalanche on Saturday night.
Hawks goalie Corey Crawford was impressed with the third period and said, “Our third period was really good. That’s the kind of period we needed to finish the game. We were solid, we didn’t give them much, we were smart with the puck. You know that was probably one of our best periods this year.”
The top line of Toews, Brunette, and Sharp had a big night after playing well but not having much to show for the first five games of the season. Hawks winger Patrick Sharp who scored the game winning goal said, “We’re moving the puck well, had a lot of scoring chances, nothing different from the first five games, just the puck went in.”
Added Hawks Captain Jonathan Toews, “We weren’t worried we know we just got to keep working hard and even tonight we could have had two or three more.”
Colorado outshot Chicago 32-30 for the game. Chicago continued their struggles on the power play going 0-2 on the evening. The penalty kill continued to be strong as the Hawks killed off both shorthanded situations against the league’s number one power play coming into the game including a crucial kill with two minutes to play in the third. Chicago improved to 4-1-1 on the year.
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