The Blackhawks were a the United Center, Tuesday night, to face the Minnesota Wild. They would be without Duncan Keith, who was out with an illness, for this one. With the mumps running rampant through the league, everyone is concerned. And they should be.
It took a good ten minutes into the game for either team to show life. Once they did show life, it was the Wild that had the momentum. Oddly enough, the stats said that the shots were tied 9-9, but no one with eyes would have guessed that. The Wild took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
The Blackhawks had a completely different demeanor in the second period. They came out and out shot the Wild 21-8 and out scored them 3-0. Without a major member of their defense, this was very impressive. A 3-1 lead, at home, go time!
The Blackhawks went back into their shell for a majority of the third period, allowing the Wild to actually tie the game. Luck was on their side as they got a late lucky bounce and a late empty netter, holding on for a sloppy 5-3 win.
- In the second period, Andrew Shaw laid a big hit on Prosser, but Prosser hot hit elbow up to protect himself. Shaw wasn't happy, but the trainer clearly made him go back for a concussion test. With the screw up regarding Toews just a few games back, this was a no brainer.
- Roughly halfway through the second period, Patrick Kane led a rush into the Wild zone that went from Versteeg to the stick of a wide open Brent Seabrook. With all the time in the world, Seabrook unleashed a cannon over the blocker of Backstrom, tying the game.
- With 8 minutes remaining in the middle period, El Capitan figured that it was about time to put on a little puck control clinic, as he has been known to do quite frequently. The end result was a saucer feed to Boss Hossa for a 2-1 Blackhawks lead.
- Few minutes after the Hossa Goal, El Capitan got one of his own. First he stole the puck from Christian Folin and then fed the puck to Ben Smith, who was WIDE FUCKING OPEN in front of Backstrom. Smith got a few whacks, and the puck eventually squirted in behind the Wild goalie. Toews followed up his feed and chipped the into the net for a 3-1 lead.
- Seabrook-Oduya, Hjalmarsson-Rozsival, Erixon-Rundlbad, ended up being the pairings for the second and third periods. That's more like what I would have expected, given the Keith absence. Why wasn't this the setup from minute one?
- After blowing the lead, the Blackhawks caught a lucky break on the powerplay. Patrick Kane tried to hit either Toews or Versteeg in front and banked it off Jonas Brodin's skate, right into the net.
- For good measure, Ben Smith got a late empty netter.
- Three points each for Toews, Kane and Seabrook.
- Another great night at the dots for the Blackhawks. They held Koivu, Granlund and Coyle to under 45% each.
- The Wild took a 1-0 lead about 13 minutes into the game, as Thomas Vanek was left wide open in the slot, about 10 feet in front of Raanta. Granlund carried the puck in behind the Hawks net and found Vanek on the other side. Raanta had no chance on the one timer. The second pair had already gotten bailed out by the post and then given up the lead goal at this point.
- with 8 minutes El Nino Niederreiter got in behind the Blackhawks D and Marian Hossa got dinged trying to help Raanta out. There was no debating that it was a penalty shot. Niederreiter did what he was drafted by the Isles to do. Activate lead evaporation.
- Right after the Shaw incident, rookie Brett Sutter, son of Darryl, crushed Versteeg into the crossbar for standing over Backstrom looking for a rebound. A borderline dirty play by a Sutter......Shocking.
- Three minutes after the Niederreiter goal, Marco Scandella let a long one timer go, that seemed innocent enough; until it ended up in the net. Not the best goal.
- Niklas Backtrom's team headshot looks like he's John Scott's bastard brother.
- After the game Mike Yeo said that Keumper was sick, Spurgeon was sick, and Backstrom started feeling it after the first period. The plague is wiping out the NHL. As I said on the twitterz, it's like this is the Oprah Winfrey Show. YOU get the mumps, and YOU get the mumps. EVERYONE GETS THE MUMPS!!
Saad-Toews-Hossa
Kane-Richards-Versteeg
Sharp-Shaw-Bickell
Carcillo-Kruger-Smith
Rundblad-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Erixon-Roszival
Scratched = Mumps, Nordstrom