The Chicago Blackhawks took on the San Jose Sharks Sunday night in a battle of Western Conference heavyweights. The Hawks got an early power play with Andrew Desjardins going off for boarding at 2:12 of the first period. Chicago failed to convert on the man advantage and the game remained scoreless. Viktor Stalberg went off for tripping moments later to give the Sharks their first crack at the power play. The Hawks killed the power play aided by a good glove save by Ray Emery. Marian Hossa went off for tripping halfway through the period that the Hawks promptly killed. Jamie McGinn got the Sharks on the board with under 4 minutes to play poking a rebound by Emery for a 1-0 Sharks lead. San Jose outshot Chicago 17-8 in the first period of play.
The Hawks got a very early power play in the second period when Dan Boyle went off for hooking. The Hawks failed to tie the game on the man advantage. Niklas Hjalmarsson blasted one from the point that was tipped home by Marcus Kruger to tie the game at 1-1 at 7:53. That broke a scoreless streak against the Sharks this season of 87:53. But at 9:38 it was Justin Braun ripping one home for the Sharks to go back up 2-1. Emery made a huge save with just under 8 minutes to play in the second to keep the deficit just 1 goal. The Sharks outshot the Hawks 16-5 in the second period and 33-13 through the first two periods.
The Hawks nearly tied the game less than a minute into the third with Toews, Kane, and Sharp swarming the net but Anti Niemi shut the door. The Hawks looked more alive to start the period and after a whistle Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews had a little disagreement. Thornton went off for high sticking and the Hawks went to the man advantage. The Hawks had a number of chances but highway robbery by Niemi on Marian Hossa kept the Hawks off the board and the Sharks killed the penalty. The Hawks continued to swarm the Sharks net for most of the period but couldn’t solve Niemi. The Hawks won every board battle late and created chance after chance but Niemi continued to say no. The Blackhawks pulled Emery with 70 seconds to play and a faceoff in the Sharks zone. Toews won the draw and Marian Hossa who had been denied by Niemi over and over in the third period slammed it off of Andrew Brunette and home to tie the game 2-2 at 18:54 of the third. At the end of regulation Ryane Clowe punched multiple Hawks and a brawl ensued involving Hossa, Keith, and Clowe. Somehow no penalties were called and overtime would start 4-4.
In the overtime the Hawks were all over the Sharks as they seemed to take exception to the gutless referee who didn’t call a penalty on Ryane Clowe who punched 3 different Hawks. With under a minute to play in the overtime it was Patrick Sharp having the final say cleaning up a Marian Hossa rebound and ending the game.
The Hawks move to 18-8-4 on the year and 9-2-3 on home ice. Their 40 points put them 3 points ahead of Detroit for the Central Division lead and 3 points behind the Wild for the Western Conference lead. The Hawks will battle the Wild on Wednesday night in Minnesota in the first meeting of the year between the two best teams in the Western Conference.
No comments:
Post a Comment