The Hawks came out strong after laying an egg in Carolina last night outshooting Columbus
10-8 in the first period. Marcus Kruger scored his first goal of the year at 2:51 of the first after Blue Jackets goalie Allen York gave a juicy rebound that Kruger banged home. The lead was short lived as Vinny Prospal snuck a shot inside the right post at 5:58 that Ray Emery was very slow moving side to side on. The Hawks weren’t very disciplined in the first as Dave Bolland took two tripping penalties and Jonathan Toews a hooking call. The penalty kill continued to impress killing all three Jacket power plays and at 18:21 Dave Bolland was absolved of his sins scoring the Hawks 3rd shorthanded goal of the season. The Hawks continued their struggles on the power play going 0-1 in the first and were also whistled for a penalty while on the man advantage.
The Hawks came out buzzing in the second period. With James Wisniewski in the box Patrick Sharp ripped one off both posts and Patrick Kane had a goal waved off after it was ruled to be tapped in with a high stick and the Hawks failed again to capitalize on the power play once again. The Hawks were 0-2 on the power play in the second period. At 14:02 the Jackets were able to tie it as Derek MacKenzie slammed home a rebound as three Hawks were star struck in front of the net by Rick Nash and failed to clear the puck. Chicago outshot Columbus 12-8 in the second period.
Early in the third period Patrick Sharp looked to score on the power play but the goal was waved off and Bryan Bickell was sent off for high sticking. With time winding down on the 4 on 4 Viktor Stalberg was given way too much open ice and made the Jackets pay with his first goal of the season. The Hawks killed off the ensuing power play time aided by a painful shot block by Dave Bolland. 1:58 later Stalberg tallied again after an Andrew Brunette pass left him looking at an empty net for a 4-2 Hawks lead. Just minutes later Stalberg’s bid for a natural hat trick was denied as Marian Hossa put Stalberg in alone and he fired just wide of the right post. The Hawks had a third power play goal of the night disallowed when the Zebras ruled that Bolland kicked the puck in at 12:57. Columbus killed off the ensuing time and the Hawks failed to convert on the power play for the fifth time in the game despite 3 goals disallowed with the man advantage. With Patrick Kane off for tripping Columbus had a goal disallowed when Derick Brassard kicked the puck into the net for the fourth disallowed goal of the night. The Hawks killed the remaining time for their fifth kill of the night. Michael Frolik added an empty net goal at 19:57 for a 5-2 Hawks winner. The Hawks outshot Columbus 16-13 in the third period.
The Hawks were a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill and added a shorthanded goal. The power play put up another goose egg but showed some signs of life as 3 power play goals were taken off the score board. Ray Emery stopped 27 of 29 shots for his second win in as many starts. The Hawks outshot Columbus 38-29 for the game. Chicago improves to 6-2-2 for the season and are still undefeated in regulation on home ice at 4-0-2.
The Hawks will skate again on home ice Monday night when they take on the Nashville Predators. The Hawks were 3-1-2 against the Predators last season going 2-1-0 on home ice. This will be the first meeting of the season for the Central Division rivals. Nashville comes in winners of two straight and trail the Hawks by 3 points in the Central Division standings.
No comments:
Post a Comment