Kane's goal still all the rage
The Blackhawks admitted they had some fun Saturday morning replaying the video of Patrick Kane's out-of-this-world, game-winning goal from the previous night — time and time again, in fact.
“We saw it a few times this morning, and it's just amazing to see that goal,” said defenseman Brent Seabrook, who is tied with Kane for the team lead with 8 playoff points. “Not too many players can do that, and Kaner's done that.
“We were laughing a little bit about Kaner. That's a beautiful goal and would be a highlight of probably any one of our careers, but Kaner's done that probably 10 times, so it's old hat for him.”
Turns out they weren't the only ones replaying the video.
“It was a great shot, but I was probably should been in a different position,” Wild goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. “One pad down, get a little bit taller, and he'll hit me in the shoulder.
“I thought he might cut in the middle, that's what I kind of put my stick down.”
But when the Hawks went over the rest of the tape the laughter no doubt died down as they watched themselves let a 2-goal lead slip away late and had to rely on the heroics of No. 88 to come away with a 1-0 series lead over a no-quit Minnesota team.
“I think we almost fed them that confidence that they could win that game with our own sloppy play,” Jonathan Toews said. “We weren't happy with the way we played. We made a lot of mistakes that were unnecessary.
“It just comes down to making sure that we've got that work ethic and that we've got that energy and that high pace we always talk about and other things will fall into place and make things harder on them.
“They gained that momentum, gained that energy that they wanted off our poor play.”
Especially in the second period when the Wild outshot the Hawks 17-3. Fortunately for the home team, goalie Corey Crawford stood on his head to keep the lead intact.
“We had a terrible second period. They took it to us,” Seabrook said. “We've got to be better than that.
“We had a better third and whatnot, but the way we started the game and through the second period we didn't play the way we wanted to play. It's definitely something we have to do better at.”
Back-to-back goals by Clayton Stoner and Kyle Brodziak tied the game early in the third, but the Wild came up just short down the stretch against the defending champs.
“When I watched the game again — and I watched it carefully — we played a good game, but we didn't play a great game,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “There was just a very small dip in some of the little things — stick on puck, net front screens, whether it's a shot block that ends up being the difference.
“Knowing who we're playing against and the level of team that they are, we're not going to get away with playing (just) good games.”
That makes the Wild's strategy heading into Sunday's matinee Game 2 at the United Center quite simple:
“Hey, we played a good game and it didn't go our way,” Yeo said. “Let's make sure that the next game we play is a great game and make it go our way.”
As for the Hawks?
“We've talked (enough) about this game,” Johnny Oduya said, “now we just have to play better.”
mspellman@dailyherald.com