Now that's more like it.
Patrick Sharp scored 2 goals including the game winner, Adam Burish provided the spark that we were all hoping for, and Antti Niemi made 28 saves as the Hawks beat a good Kings team, 3-2 in overtime.
Burish got the United Center crowd fired up from the beginning, assisting on Sharp's first goal and getting a fighting major in his first two minutes of ice time.
The Hawks showed composure in the 2nd period, when things looked eerily similar to Sunday as the Kings picked up two very quick goals to take the lead. Instead of folding, Niemi and the Hawks kept their cool throughout the remainder of the period, which resulted in a huge tying goal by Kris Versteeg. Steeger showed great effort on the shift, and was rewarded with a nice bounce off a rebound.
The Hawks' 3rd line looked fantastic all night, as John Madden, Kris Versteeg, and Andrew Ladd continued their solid play as of late. The trio created numerous scoring chances and won puck battles consistently. Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson played solid as usual, laying a massive hit on the Kings' Wayne Simmonds in the 1st period which later led to a retaliatory penalty against Los Angeles.
Duncan Keith looked a tad shaky, and was bailed out numerous times by Antti Niemi.
The story tonight was Adam Burish, rightfully so, but the most important part of the game was that Antti Niemi didn't lay an egg. Niemi saved 28 shots of the 30 thrown at him, and unlike Huet on Sunday, didn't let two quick second period goals turn into four quick goals. Granted, the team tightened up better defensively in tonight's game as well, but Niemi's performance was still encouraging.
While Niemi has looked shaky in parts of this season, he has been a very solid 3rd period goaltender. The same was true tonight, as he fended off 10 Kings shots, many of which were very good scoring chances. I had confidence in Niemi when the puck was in the Hawks' zone late, and I'm sure the team did as well. Look for Quenneville to give the net to Niemi again this saturday at Philadelphia.
