Recap
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in a shootout on Thursday night. Next up on the four game road trip for the Hawks is Dallas Stars on Saturday evening.
It was another dandy between the Hawks and Blue Jackets. There was no scoring in the first period but plenty of chances for both teams. Corey Crawford and Sergei Bobrovsky were on their A game all night long. Columbus outshot the Hawks 11-10 in the first period. The second period would feature a lot of action as well. The Hawks would get on the board when Patrick Kane found Johnny Oduya in the slot. Oduya beat Bobrovsky up high at the 16:45 mark for his first goal of the season. However, Columbus would tie the game up 52 seconds later when Jack Johnson beat Crawford up high off a faceoff that trickled into the slot. The shots were 21-20 at the end of the second period.
The third period featured a lot of action from both sides. Columbus started out hot early and dominated play for the first half of the period. But the Hawks turned it on in the second half of the period to gain a 13-3 edge in shots. However, the game would remain tied. Overtime would bring a ton of action but no scoring. Bobrovsky stonewalled Bolland with his stick when he had everything above the ice level open. Afterwards, Crawford was forced to make a series of several difficult saves. There were 13 shots in overtime but not one got in and the game would go to a shootout.
Columbus would elect to shoot first in the shootout. Artem Anisimov beat Crawford with a sick backhand top shelf. Jonathan Toews would go first and beat Bobrovsky five hole to tie the shootout at 1. Ryan Johansen was up next for Columbus and was stopped by Crawford. Kane would go next for the Hawks and after doing his patented slowdown move, he purposely lost the puck on a deke and came back to the puck to beat Bobrovsky backhand. Derick Brassard was up next and Crawford poked checked the puck away to seal the victory.
What it means
The Hawks end a 2 game losing streak and are now 22-2-3 on the season. They are six points up on the Anaheim Ducks for first place in the Western Conference. Tonight was the last game of the season series for the Hawks against Columbus and their last as division foes as Columbus is officially moving to the Eastern Conference as of earlier today. The Hawks went 4-0-0 against Columbus this season but all games were one goal affairs.
3 stars of the game
3. Corey Crawford- Crawford was spectacular tonight which was good as he needed a strong bounce back performance after struggling in his last two games. Crawford made a great poke check to win the game and was strong in overtime. On the night, Crawford made 29 saves on 30 shots.
2. Patrick Kane- Kane continues his hot streak. He registered his 400th point of his career tonight and is the 5th fastest Blackhawks to do so. It only took Kane 426 games to get to 400 points. Kane’s move on the shootout was sick as he abused Bobrovsky for the game winner. Kane had one assist and a shootout goal on the night.
1. Sergei Bobrovsky- If Crawford was spectacular then Bobrovsky was stellar. He made highlight save after highlight save to get the Blue Jackets a point in their ninth consecutive game which is a franchise record. Bobrovsky made 39 saves on 40 shots for an incredible performance.
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