Just want to first pass on my condolences to the friends and family of a guy I had the pleasure of hanging out with on a number of occasions, Jeff Hanneman of Slayer. Great guy, and it was very sad to learn of his passing.
Luckily for us Bloggers, the Blackhawks were able to pull out a tight 2-1 win against the Wild, Tuesday. The crap that the meatballs would have been spewing would have been homicide inducing, with a 3 day break in between games. The Wild used Josh Harding in net again Friday night, because of the injury to Backstrom. The Blackhawks, on the other hand, would be dressing the game lineup from Game 1. A two game lead in the series would be huge head start for them. Live from the United Center in Chicago, it's the Blackhawks and the Wild!
The Hawks first period was the opposite of the game 1 first period, as they came out and dominated the Wild. Not only did the Hawks out shot their opponents 17-7 after 20 minutes, but they were up 1-0 on the score board. The key was to keep this up.
The second period wasn't as good as the first but the Hawks were able to extend their lead, before the Wild scored their goal. Minny actually out shot the Hawks 15-14, which had to concern the Hawks coach. One more solid period, and the Hawks would be heading to Minny for game 3 up 2-0.
The Blackhawks put the game away in the third with 3 goals on 17 shots. The Wild were able to somewhat keep it close but that wasn't nearly enough. The Blackhawks pretty easily walked away and headed to Minnesota up 2-0. Next game Sunday.
- Nice to see Dullig actually do something positive, as he rag dolled Tom Gilbert early in the first period.
- After the negated goal, the Hawks took a 1-0 lead a few minutes later with the 4th line on the ice. Shaw drove into the zone and fired a long slapshot that was blocked. Harding had committed to the original shot and the block made it's way through Tom Gilbert's legs to Frolik's stick. Open net, and 1-0 Blackhawks lead.
- Fifteen seconds after an El Capitan high sticking penalty the Hawks had a 3-on-3 rush and Frolik was the fortunate recipient of another lucky bounce off a Wild defender. He was able to slide it between Harding's legs for a 2-0 Blackhawks lead, shorthanded no less.
- The Hawks showed a part of their game they hadn't shown in years, when they started throwing some heavy body checks, especially in the second period.
- Shooter threw his hat in hat ring with less than 5 minutes into the third frame. After a failed chance by Zus, Kane got the puck to Sharp, who was just to Harding's left. Sharp pulled the puck in front of the net and over Harding's shoulder for a 3-1 Hawks lead.
- Shooter struck again on an amazing Crazy 8s spinning pass. Sharp was left wide open with the entire net in front of him. Kane's pass was pretty much a blind spin-o-rama pass
- Bickell was able to out race the Wild's Brodin, to flip the puck into a open net with the goalie pulled to ice the game.
- Forty eight shots on net is huge. you're not going to lose many games with totals like that.
- Hjalmarsson was a very quiet plus 3 on the night.
- Michael Roszival led the Hawks with 17:51 toi again and had a +2.
- The Hawks beat the Wild in face offs, 54% to 46%. Toews led and the three other centers were right at 50%. Sharp chipped in winning all 4 face offs he took.
- The Hawks looked to have take a lead 5 minutes into the game, but it was clear that Kane tried to kick the puck to his stick and actually kicked the puck into the net. Not much complaint there.
- Matt Cullen found Devin Setoguchi in behind the napping Hawks defense of Seabrook and Keith to put him in 1-on-1 with Crawford. Setoguchi did what an NHL sniper should, which is beat Crawford with a perfect snipe over his glove that went off the crossbar and in. The Hawks defense was looking far too cocky, which led to them getting sloppy. After the goal, the Wild had an almost identical chance that seemed to have sent Quenneville's crew to the doghouse.
- Marco Scandella brought the Wild back in within 2 goals, just two minutes after the second Sharp goal. The Hawks had a lot of trouble getting the puck out of the zone and Crawford was able to save several shots, but one of the rebound made it out to the point, and Scandella beat Crawford.
- Minus 8 total for Koivu, Parise and Suter. That's clutch for the letter wearers, there.
