While the Hawks were lighting up the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 Sunday night, Patrick Kane was forced to watch.
He suffered what the Hawks are calling an "upper body injury" after tripping and hitting his head on the ice in the 1st period. As the Hawks winger was chasing a loose puck, his legs were taken out from under him, and he hit the side of his head on the ice and left the game.
UPDATED 9:40pm : Hawks Coach Joel Quenneville said it's not a concussion for Kane. He suffered a cut over his eye that needed stitches and impaired his vision. Should be back Wednesday vs Blues.
Aside from Kane's injury, Sunday night's 4-0 win was a complete
success. The Hawks took it to the Lightning in nearly every aspect of
the game.
Antti Niemi picked up his 3rd shutout of the season (ho hum). Kane scored his first goal in 9 games before his injury, while Ben
Eager, Marian Hossa and Toews added the Hawks other tallies. The 4 goals the Hawks scored came after a two week long goal scoring drought for the team, but goaltending and offense hardly told the whole story.
As soon as the Lighting found out they couldn't skate with the far superior Hawks (I would say about 5:00 into the 1st), they started taking runs. Jonathan Toews and Antti Niemi were both victims of cheap shots in the game. With 1:00 left in the game, head coach and chief punk of the Lightning Rick Tocchet put his goon squad out on the ice.
Lightning forward Todd Fedoruk collided intentionally with Niemi, and the skirmish was on. When the smoke cleared, Fedoruk flipped the helmet of Niemi and was given a misconduct. It was a classless display by a classless player and classless coach. After all of the shenanigans, the Hawks were on a powerplay to end the game. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville remained classy. Instead of running up the score, he gave a few of his grinders some powerplay time. He could easily have tried to run up the score, but decided to take the high road.
Hopefully, tonight's victory ends the Hawks goal scoring drought. It couldn't come at a better time with some big divisional games on the horizon.
This Thursday at 7pm head out to Lawlor's Bar at 111th and Millard for my Bud Light Chalk Talk Q&A with Adam Burish. It's our first trip to the South Side so come on out and show support. Grab a Bud Light, and meet Adam Burish and me.
Filed under: Adam Burish, Antti Niemi, ben eager, Blackhawks, Chicago Sports, danny mac show, goaltending, hockey, jonathan toews, marian hossa, NHL, Patrick Kane, sports, wscr
Tags: adam burish, antti niemi, ben eager, blackhawks, chicago blackhawks, chicago sports, danny mac show, goaltending, hockey, jonathan toews, marian hossa, NHL, patrick kane, Sports, wscr
