Recap
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in overtime on Sunday night. The Hawks improved to 6-0-0 on the season. Next up for the Hawks is a 6 game road trip over the next two weeks.
After the victory last night, Joel Quenneville had no reservations about tabbing Corey Crawford as the starter again in a back to back. In just their second home game of the year the Hawks wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. The Hawks worked the puck around the offensive zone on the power play and Duncan Keith fired a slap shot over the blocker of Jimmy Howard just over two minutes into the game. That would be all of the scoring that would be in the first two periods as the Hawks were able to shut down the Red Wings with a combination of Crawford and a number of blocked shots. Fortunately for the Hawks, Detroit was unable to convert on the power play as they were 0 for 6 in the first two periods.
The Red Wings would tie up the game in the third period. It wouldn’t take too long as four and a half minutes into the third period Johan Franzen would beat Crawford to the near post. The goal was a product of a more aggressive forecheck that gave the Hawks problems with the puck in their own zone. The responsibility for keeping the Hawks in the game fell on the shoulders of Crawford who again was superb. The game would go to overtime when Nick Leddy would score his first goal of the season on a knuckler that Howard could not get all of.
What it means
The Hawks are 6-0-0 for the first time ever in franchise history. For the Hawks the next part of the season will be a crucial six game road trip before they can return home for a long homestand. This will represent a tough test and we will find out just how good the Hawks really are.
3 stars of the game
3. Duncan Keith- Keith had his usual workhorse game. He was on the ice for 27 minutes and had a power play goal. In addition to scoring a goal, Keith blocked three shots.
2. Nick Leddy- Leddy has been one of the most improved Hawks this year. He has been better in his own zone. While he didn’t have the ice time that he had in previous games Leddy found a way to contribute by scoring the game winner.
1. Corey Crawford- Perhaps the most improved player so far has been Crawford. He has allowed 9 goals in his 5 starts. This was the first time that Crawford allowed fewer than 2 goals. Again he was huge when his defense started to let him down. Crawford had 29 saves on 30 shots.
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