Blackhawks respond after leaders speak up
This time there was no third-period meltdown by the Blackhawks.
In fact, the Hawks owned the third period Sunday night at the United Center, scoring 4 goals in a span of 7:06 to roar from behind to beat the Nashville Predators 6-3.
While it was a happy dressing room after the Hawks made it 4 wins in their last five games (4-0-1), it was anything but that after a dismal first period.
The Hawks took 4 penalties and let Nashville score twice on the power play for a 2-1 lead.
Several veterans spoke their mind after the first period, captain Jonathan Toews being one of them.
It was just Saturday night in Nashville that they blew a 2-0 lead in the third period before losing in a shootout.
“When those guys say things like that, it gets everyone's attention,” winger Troy Brouwer said.
“We had a lot to say in here,” center Dave Bolland said. “One thing about this room, guys speak up. Nobody holds anything back.”
Toews said he wasn't the only one speaking up during that first intermission.
“The good thing is it wasn't just one or two guys,” Toews said.
“I don't think there's anything left to be said in this locker room as far as what we need to do. We've seen it time and time again what makes us successful as a team, and what doesn't. It's pretty simple and pretty easy for us to figure out. There should be no excuse for us not to play the right way and not to play the way each guy in this room expects to play.”
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville wasn't in the room and was pleased to hear his leaders stepped up.
“Sometimes there's nothing wrong with players addressing certain situations,” Quenneville said. “Sometimes coming from them is a good thing.”
The Hawks went to the third period tied at 2-2 and actually had a bit of momentum from Bolland's highlight-reel goal at 11:58 of the second period.
Bolland turned defenseman Ryan Suter inside out with a sweet move then sneaked the puck through the pads of goalie Anders Lindback.
The Predators went ahead 3-2 on J.P. Dumont's second goal 3:45 into the third period, but it was the Hawks with the impressive finishing kick.
Troy Brouwer's power-play goal at 9:19 tied it with Brouwer scoring again 40 seconds later, cutting into the slot to beat Lindback with Toews creating traffic in front.
Bryan Bickell made it 5-3 at 14:08 off a feed from Brian Campbell with Toews finishing the scoring at 16:25 with his 100th career goal.
Hawks goalie Marty Turco battled through the rough first period to get the win in his first start since Dec. 30.
“I knew tonight was going to be a battle for me no matter what after not playing for a while,” Turco said. “I just wanted to win so bad. Sometimes I found myself just lunging forward a little bit wanting it when the whole game is just sit back waiting and trusting myself to make saves that come my way.
“The guys were great. The third period was huge for us to pull it out. They did me a big favor for sure.”
Tim Sassone's game tracker
<b>Three stars</b>
<b>1. Troy Brouwer, Hawks:</b> His 2 goals 40 seconds apart in the third period wiped out a 3-2 Nashville lead.
<b>2. Dave Bolland, Hawks:</b> Plus-3 with 2 goals and won 11 of 20 faceoffs.
<b>3. J.P. Dumont, Predators:</b> Two goals in a losing cause.
<b>Block it to me</b>
Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson, who was minus-9 through his first 12 games this season, was plus-3 Sunday and now is plus-8 for the year. Hjalmarsson blocked 6 more shots in the win.