Recap
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Calgary Flames 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night. The Hawks are off until Tuesday night when they take on the still undefeated San Jose Sharks in San Jose.
The Hawks were playing their third back to back of the season so far. They have a total of ten back to backs this year. The Hawks would be badly outplayed tonight but Ray Emery was a rock in the net all night long. In the first two periods the Hawks were outshot 20-12 but it would get much worse for the Hawks.
A horror show would be the way to explain the third period for the Hawks. The entire period was played in their zone and the Hawks just could not get out of their own way. However the Hawks would get on the board first when Patrick Kane would beat Miikka Kiprusoff five hole that wound up trickling in. Right after the Hawks scored is when the barrage started. Time after time again Emery was bombarded and saved great scoring chance after great scoring chance. The Hawks would give up a power play goal to the Flames when a Dennis Wideman shot went off of Brent Seabrook’s skate and into the goal. In the final six minutes Emery continuously made a huge save as the game was in the offensive zone. A costly turnover by Kane led to a 3 on 2 by the Flames and Jay Bouwmeester would fire a shot past Emery. But after sleepwalking through the game for the first 59 and a half minutes the Hawks would wake up. Marian Hossa put in a rebound past Kiprusoff with two seconds left in the game to tie it up and send it to overtime.
In overtime the Hawks would again be bombarded in their own zone for the last three minutes as the killed off a penalty. Emery made several sensational saves as the whole overtime was played in his zone even after the Hawks killed off the penalty. The Hawks would have their third shootout in as many games. Emery would make a great save on Alex Tanguay as he saved it with his pad. Jonathan Toews was stopped by a sprawling Kiprusoff. Perhaps the finest save of the night for Emery was on Jiri Hudler in the second round of the shootout. As he attempted a poke check, Hudler pulled the puck away and Emery went down and gloved the puck as he was falling to the ice. Kane would score as he put the puck past the five hole of Kiprusoff. Emery would make a solid save to end the game and give the Hawks an amazing win.
What it means
The Hawks absolutely stole 2 points tonight from Calgary who deserved to win the game. The Hawks were outshot 47-19 and still somehow won the game. Calgary also missed several open nets and probably had about 60 shots that touched Emery, hit the post or outside of the net. The Hawks complete the first leg of the trip at 1-0-2 and face an early season showdown in San Jose on Tuesday. The Hawks have gotten at least a point in every game this year. This was the first shootout win of the year for the Hawks.
3 stars of the game
Normally I never say anything before announcing the three stars but there is only one star of this game. But if I had to choose Hossa would be the third star for his game tying goal and Kane would be the number two star for his goal, assist and game winner in the shootout.
1. Ray Emery- Emery is the number one, two and three stars of tonight as the Hawks should have lost this game 15-2. Tonight was all about Emery who was sensational in the goal tonight and the only reason that the Hawks won the game. On the telecast it was mentioned that the Emery had saved close to 25 scoring chances tonight. He made more saves in the third period than most goalies make in a game as he saved 22 of the 24 shots he faced in that period alone. Emery was sensational as he saved a pathetic effort by the Hawks.
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