Kane, Huet lead Hawks past Maple Leafs
Forty minutes of solid hockey was enough for the Chicago Blackhawks to outlast the rebuilt Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 Friday night before another sell-out United Center crowd and extend their victory streak at home to six games. The matchup between the two Original Six franchises was undecided until the final horn, but the Hawks thoroughly dominated the outclassed Leafs for the first two periods. If not for the outstanding effort by beleagured Leafs' goaltender Vesa Toskala, this one would have been over early.
More focused on physical extracurriculars, the Maple Leafs were no match for the higher skilled Hawks. To the credit of Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville, his team refused to fall bait to the Leafs' tactics and as a result the Blackhawks were rewarded four unanswered powerplays through the first two periods as they built a 3-0 lead. After Cristobal Huet was run over by the Leafs' Alexei Ponikarovsky, Troy Brouwer redirected a Patrick Sharp shot past Toskala for the Hawks' lone powerplay goal and the eventual gamewinner at 5:31 of the second period. Credit also goes to Jonathan Toews for another faceoff win in the offensive zone.
After Toronto's Phil Kessel beat Huet to the stick side with a wicked wrist shot from 45-feet out at 17:51 of the second period, the Blackhawks carried a 3-1 lead into the locker room before heading out for the third period. Most observers, including this one, thought this game was over after Brouwer's goal. Not so fast. After previously dominating the Leafs in every facet of the game, the Hawks were off-balance to begin the final period and never regained stable ground until the conclusion of the contest.
Communication errors by the Blackhawks contributed to the Maple Leafs comeback attempt. After a bench minor for too many men on the ice, the Hawks were shorthanded for the first time in the game at 3:23 of the third period. Facing the second rated powerplay unit in the NHL, Huet preserved the Hawks' two goal advantage by making a great glove save on a Matt Stajan shot attempt. However, shortly after the Tornonto powerplay expired, the Blackhawks displayed poor communication in the defensive zone allowing Kessel to skate unmolested into the middle of the ice as the Toronto forward netted his second goal of the game to pull the Maple Leafs to withing one at 5:33 of the the third period. The goal was no fault of Huet's as he was screened on the play and never saw the puck.
The final period for the Hawks was only dissapointing because of the dominating performance they displayed earlier in the game. Ben Eager and his fourth line mates jump-started the offense with a strong effort. A tired Maple Leafs group was forced to ice the puck after a long shift against the Hawks' fourth-liners. After the Hawks lost the offensive zone draw, Patrick Kane pickpocketed the Leafs' Luke Schenn then turned and fired the puck past Toskala for the Hawks early 1-0 lead.
Later in the period, John Madden won another offensive zone faceoff then redirected a Duncan Keith slapshot into the Toronto net to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead at 13:20 of the first period. The Blackhawks were outworking the Leafs in every instance and firing pucks at Toskala at every opportunity. The Maple Leafs goaltender entered the night with the worst save percentage in the NHL, but he stopped 18 of the 20 Blackhawks' first period shots. And, the Hawks had some glorious chances. If not for the play of Toskala, the Hawks would have turned this game into a no-doubter.
With the exception of Kessel's first goal, Huet matched Toskala's performance. The Blackhawks goaltender stopped 29 Maple Leafs shots on the night and he was tested with quality chances in every period. Late in the first period, Huet sprawled to his left on the ground and stopped a determined attempt by the Leafs' Niklas Hagman to punch the puck through his glove hand. Toronto fans will argue Hagman succeeded in scoring, but video replays were inconclusive as to whether the puck crossed the goal line.
Schenn, the Maple Leafs 19-year old defenseman, had a rough night. After he reported Kane for theft earlier in the evening, Schenn decided to challenge Brouwer to a tussle. Brouwer showed the kid he sill had some learning to do by winning the short scrap with a couple direct blows. The Blackhawks responded to the physical Toronto play with a steady discipline. The Hawks got their shots in, but, for the most part, they waited for the right time to respond. Even Huet refused to step down from the cheap shots. Much to my pleasure, the Hawks goalie traded some shoves with Francois Beauchemin late in the third period. Eager came to Huet's aid and drew a penalty, but that's what the big guy is supposed to do. Good to see the guys standing up for each other.
One other note of interest from the game was the Blackhawks continuing job interviews as they search for Dave Bolland's replacement on the second line. Andrew Ebbett took the opening draw between Kane and Kris Versteeg, however his ice time dwindled as the game progressed and he finshed the night with 8:41 of playing time. On the other hand, Thomas Kopecky appears to be the front running candidate for the fill-in role. He spent more quality minutes between Kane and Versteeg and nearly doubled Ebbett's ice time with 15:06. Ebbett did finish a plus-one to Kopecky's minus-one, but the eye test favors Kopecky as he appears more active in both zones and is also a contributor on the powerplay. Something to watch in the games ahead until general manager Stan Bowman decides to make a move.
All in all, a good win against a still developing Maple Leaf club. A blow-out would have been nice, but two points is two points. I'll probably get some criticism for going negative in a win, but a club needs to learn how to finish. Now the Hawks needs to finish the four-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday with a victory before they head out on their annual "Turkey Trip." And, hey, it's Jeremy Roenick's heritage night. Wonder who he'll be rooting for?
7 Comments
Dave Morris said:
Nice work, Mark.
As you said, it doesn't have to be pretty.
This game was exciting though, and always wonderful to see the Hawks and Leafs in Original Six regalia battling it out.
Great goaltending and beautiful goals scored both by Kane and Kessel.
The Blackhawks are surely missing Bolland, as the elevated shot count in the last two games indicates...they haven't adjusted to the absence of his defensive contribution.
The Count of Monte Cristo has come to the rescue, and hey, how about that. But they'll need to be crisper in front of him.
The Maple Leafs get a lot of scorn in the Canadian media, but they fought hard and their checking was definitely a headache for Chicago.
The San Jose Sharks smell blood and it will be interesting to see how the Hawks handle Heatley tomorrow night.
Mark Kiley said:
I'm not convinced the Hawks will ever adjust to missing Bolland without making a deal for a true second line center. Neither Kopecky, Versteeg nor Ebbett appear to be the answer. I still believe Kopecky will get first crack at centering a line for Kane and Hossa, but I'm not too confident it will work.
iplagitr said:
Yeah, the Hawks let them back in the game.... but it's easy for us to think they should easily steamroll any team with a 3-9-5 record for the whole 60 minutes. Let's not forget these guys are all NHL players and any team in the league is very capable to beat any other team. That said, the Hawks are the better team and should have won, and they did. This is one of those games the Hawks would have probably ended up losing a few years ago as we all sat and watched in horror. Let's give them credit for hanging in there against a fired up Leaf team in the third. I would like to know why Huet wasn't one of the "stars of the game!"
Mark Kiley said:
Iplagitr, Huet should have been at least the #2 star of the game. He made crucial saves throughout the game including in the beginning few minutes of the first allowing the Hawks to gain their legs. Huet's improvement is his ability to make saves that keep the momentum with the Hawks. He wasn't doing that earlier this season. Huet was vry god last night and should have been recognized for the performance.
In the same way, Toskala was solid for the Leafs. Without some of his great saves, the Hawks could have been up 5 or 6 in the second period.
Dave Morris said:
Gentlemen, I agree that the Maple Leafs are a tougher opponent than fans seem to think.
Mark, you nailed it...Bolland's value, as Q puts it, "in all situations" isn't going to be replaced by Ebbett or Kopecky...or Fraser for that matter.
So does Bowman have an alternative? Not many competent two-way centermen to be had these days with all the injuries in the NHL.
How will the Hawks handle the Sharks? Big test coming up.
Steve Dale said:
Aren't you the dude who gave up on Huey the second week of the season? Guess my memory is weak. No matter, I SO SO SO wish I could go tonight, but I have to write my Pet Minutes.
Mark Kiley said:
Steve, yes, I criticized Huet's play earlier in the season. He deserved it. For the past month, the Frenchman's performance has greatly improved and I will continue to recognize his positives whenever appropriate.
I still have may doubts as to whether Huet can be a stable enough performer come playoff time. It's a long season. So far, his positives have outweighed the negative start.
I only hope the trend continues and Huet proves me wrong in the end so we can all celebrate a Stanley Cup victory.
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