Recap
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime on Thursday night. Next up for the Hawks is the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday to conclude the two game road trip.
The early pace of the game featured some action up and down the ice. There multiple odd man rushes for each team and both goalies stayed strong. The only goal that was scored in the first period was for the Dallas Stars. Loui Eriksson scored shorthanded with 0.6 seconds left on the clock. Corey Crawford made the initial save but the puck trickled through his legs and into the net. It was the softest goal that Crawford has allowed this year.
In the second period the Stars would stretch their lead halfway through the period. The Hawks have generally been solid in their own end but they turned over the puck and Cody Eakin passed to Ray Whitney who was all alone in front of the net. Whitney put a backhand top shelf past Crawford to make it 2-0. However, the Hawks would take advantage on the power play to cut the lead to one. A fortunate bounce led to the Hawks goal as Patrick Sharp’s pass bounced off of Trevor Daley’s stick and into the net. After two periods the Hawks would have a 30-14 advantage in shots on goal.
In the third period the Hawks would finally be shorthanded and killed off a penalty. Not long after successfully killing off the penalty the Hawks would find themselves back on the power play. With just under six minutes remaining the Hawks would get on the board with another power play goal. Jonathan Toews tied the game as he fired a wrist pass top shelf past Kari Lehtonen. The Hawks would have to kill off another penalty to get to overtime which they did. In overtime the Hawks still had to kill off 42 seconds of the penalty. Fortunately, the Hawks would see Brenden Morrow commit a dumb penalty to give the Hawks a minute and forty seconds of power play. Given a 4 on 3 power play would give the Hawks the advantage they needed to finish off the game. Marian Hossa fired a pass to Patrick Kane in the slot. But Kane hesitated and fired a behind the back pass to Hossa who one timed it past Lehtonen for the victory. The Hawks finished with a 41-23 advantage in shots.
What it means
The Hawks are now 4-0 for the first time since the 1972-1973 season. In addition the Hawks 3 for 7 performance on the power play improves their power play to 6 for 20 on the season for a 30 percent conversion rate. Their 3 power play goals were the most in a game since December 5, 2010 when they scored 4 against the Calgary Flames. On the season the Hawks have now scored a power play goal in all four games this year.
3. Kari Lehtonen- Lehtonen was stellar in net for the Stars tonight. He made at least ten brilliant saves to keep the Stars in the game. Without Lehtonen the Stars would have easily been blown out tonight.
2. Patrick Kane- Kane has been great so far this year. He was all over the ice and had over 21 minutes of ice time tonight. Kane finished the game with 2 assists and had 6 shots on goal. His pass to Hossa on the game winner was a beauty.
1. Marian Hossa- Hossa gets the number one star for his game winner. He has been on fire for the first four games of the season. For the season Hossa has 5 goals and 6 points total. His goal was a classic Hossa one time slap shot that was a no doubter the second it went off his stick.
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