It seems like every night there's a different milestone ceremony at The UC. Tonight, that honor belonged to Brad Richards as he celebrated his 1,000th NHL game. Kudos Brad, you're living proof that slow skaters can make it in the NHL. In seriousness, congratulations, well earned.
It seemed as if we were going to see a throwback 10-9 slugfest as the scoring got started early and often. Duncan Keith opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, giving the Blackhawks an early 1-0 lead. Dallas answered back with 2 goals of their own, in just under a minute, to take a 2-1 lead. Brent Seabrook kept the defenseman scoring going for the Hawks, as he tied the game at 2 with a power play goal (I could get used to saying that) just after the midway point of the first.
With no scoring in the 2nd period, the game headed into the 3rd period still tied. Then the Blackhawks finally woke up, and tore the game open by scoring 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period, for the 6-2 win. The 3rd period scoring was lead by; Kane, Toews, Versteeg, and Saad.
This was a nice win against a division opponent, in the final home game before the Circus Trip. Hopefully the Blackhawks can build some moment thru the road trip.
The Good
- Aside for the mental lapse in the 1st period, the Hawks played a complete game. This is the kind of response I want to see after Friday's embarrassing performance.
- We've been hard on Andrew Shaw this year, and rightfully so, but thank you for finally fighting that dickbag Antoine Roussel.
- 47 shots, 6 goals. That's what you're supposed to see, not 49 shots, 1 goal. Great to see the Blackhawks find the back of the net.
- In the 6 goal theme, it was also nice to see the scoring spread around to 6 different Hawks. A nice balanced attack.
The Bad
- Screw it, I really didn't see too much bad tonight, except for the aforementioned 1st period lapse. I'm not going to nitpick. Enjoy the win.
The Ugly
- TVR left the game in the 1st period and didn't return. Afterwards, Coach Q said TVR would be out for awhile. In other words, fire up the Rockford Shuttle for a defenseman.
- New punching bag, Bryan Bickell managed under 9 minutes of ice time. When Versteeg doubles your ice time, you know you've hit a new low. How much longer until we seriously start considering giving Bickell the Rene Bourque treatment?