Hawks’ home work gets an A-plus
If the Blackhawks were trying to give themselves a bit of a cushion in the standings before heading out for their annual circus road trip, they did a pretty good job.
With their 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers at the United Center on Sunday night, the Hawks went 7-1-2 in their opening 10 home games, collecting 16 out of a possible 20 points.
“It was important we finished this homestand off right,” said defenseman Steve Montador, who had 2 goals in the Hawks’ third straight win.
“I like the emphasis and taking care of what we need to take care of here at home early in the year,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “It has put us in a great spot. We want to be a great home team.”
The Hawks’ six-game road trip through Western Canada and California begins Wednesday, but it might start without defenseman Brent Seabrook in the lineup.
Seabrook suffered a left- leg injury 5:28 in the second period after losing a skate edge on a rush with the puck and crashing hard into the end boards.
Seabrook skated off under his own power but couldn’t finish the game.
“We’ll say day to day right now and we’ll know more (Monday) morning,” Quenneville said. “We’ll see how he presents.”
Jonathan Toews and Montador each scored 2 goals in the win. Their first goals against Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin came 34 seconds apart early in the first period, and the Hawks never trailed after that.
“Khabby is one of those goaltenders that if he stops a couple big ones early, he can get hot and kind of steal a game from you,” Toews said. “We didn’t want to let that happen and stayed on him.”
With Montador scoring twice and Duncan Keith once, that’s 6 goals for Hawks defensemen in the last three games. The defense combined for just 2 goals in the first 15 games.
“We’ve talked about it long before it’s happening on the score sheet,” Montador said. “You need to have a four- and five-man rush to be a part of the game.
“It was just a matter of time. We obviously have some talented guys on the blue line. Coincidence? I don’t think so. We’ve just been practicing it a lot and talking about it a lot.”
After Toews opened the scoring at 4:55 of the first period, Montador got the night’s prettiest goal seconds later.
Patrick Kane made a great move into the Edmonton zone and spotted Montador cutting to the net. Montador then made like Kane and faked Khabibulin out of his pads to score.
“I don’t know if I can ever look like that guy; I don’t look like Justin Bieber,” joked Montador about the Kane comparison. “Obviously he’s in a league all his own. I just tried to hold on to the puck there and was able to get it around Khabibulin.
“I mean, he can see anybody at any time on the ice. You just want to find a hole and let him find you, and he did that.”
Toews appreciated Montador’s sweet move.
“Not bad at all,” Toews said. “He said he even meant to sauce the puck over the guy’s stick to himself and then dangle in there like that. Pretty impressive, I guess.”