Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Blackhawks Erupt for 7 Goals Against Coyotes in 7-5 win

The Chicago Blackhawks came into tonight losing their last two games while scoring a total of one goal.  Their power play, which came into the game 5th in the league, was in a 1 for 11 slump.  Coach Quenneville was hoping for a change.  He got it with 7 goals, 3 of which were on the power play, and a huge win on the road, as the Hawks took out the Arizona Coyotes, 7-5.

The first period had plenty of scoring.  The Blackhawks started with a Duncan Keith power play slap shot goal as he received a drop pass from Patrick Kane to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead, 6:21 into the game.  Arizona didn't learn from the last power play, as they took another penalty right after, and the Hawks, 1:15 after Keith's goal, took a 2-0 lead when Brent Seabrook fired a shot that Artem Anisimov tipped past Coyotoe goalie, Anders Lindback.  Half way through the period, the Coyotes' ageless Captain, Shane Doan, bounced a puck towards Corey Crawford that bounced on edge and deked past Crawford to bring the Coyotes within 1 at 2-1.  Not quite 2 minutes later, Zbynek Michalek wristed a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game at 2.   Just as things were dying down, towards the end of the period, the Blackhawks found themselves on their 3rd power play of the period.  And like the previous two power plays, the Hawks once again cashed in as Artemi Panarin was given time to snipe a shot past Lindback to end the period with the Hawks leading, 3-2.  The Coyotes had the edge in shots in the period, 12-5.


After a wild 1st period, the 2nd period  had just as much action, if not as many goals.  Arizona replaced Lindback with Louis Domingue to start the period.  Two minutes in, Andrew Desjardins wristed a shot that Domingue whiffed on to extend the #Blackhawks lead, 4-2.  Both teams traded power plays and scoring chances until the 13:48 mark when Erik Gustafsson nicely held the puck in the Coyote zone, found Andrew Shaw, who wanted the puck, and then one-timed a pass to Kane who had an entire open net to deposit the puck to give the Blackhawks a 5-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.

In the 3rd, the Coyotes pressured Crawford early and he stood tall. Five minutes into the period, Desjardins got his 2nd goal of the night as he had his shot initially blockered away by Domingue, but the rebound bounced off of a Coyote defenseman and into the net giving the Blackhawks a 6-2 lead.  Two minutes later, Doan got his 2nd of the game on the power play as Crawford was screened by ex-Blackhawk Antoine Vermette.  Bryan Bickell, with a rare shift, found himself in the penalty box.  I'm sure he will be in Coach Q's doghouse after that.  As that penalty ended, Connor Murphy found the back of the net as Vermette again screened Crawford making the score, 6-4, Blackhawks, with 7 minutes remaining.  The Blackhawks didn't make things easy as they took 4 penalties in the 3rd period.  While on the power play, the Coyotes pulled Domingue.  Jonathan Toews, Captain My Captain, deposited the puck into the empty net to make it 7-4.  While on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, Shane Doan completed the hat trick ending the scoring, 7-5.

Notable mentions: Erik Gustafsson was recalled and he played just under 15 minutes.  In his 8 games this year, he has 4 assists, and is a +8.  The Blackhawks scored 4 goals on their first 8 shots tonight.  As bad as the score looked, it was a goalie win.  Crawford made some huge saves.  Arizona could easily have scored 8 or 9 goals tonight.

Three Stars Of The Game
1st - ARI - Shane Doan (3G   9 shots)
2nd - CHI - Patrick Kane (1G 2A)
3rd - CHI - Duncan Keith (1G 2A)

Next game: Thursday, December 31st, Away vs. Colorado Avalanche, 7PM CT

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!

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