Smiles all around as Hawks win 4-3 over Habs

There were a lot of smiles on a lot of different faces Friday night at the United Center after the Blackhawks' thrilling 4-3 victory over Montreal.

There was Michal Rozsival's look of absolute joy after opening the scoring with his first goal of the season just two minutes into this Original Six showdown.

There was hardworking Ben Smith, who could not have looked any happier after scoring for the first time since mid-October, appropriately as a result of some extra effort.

There was Antti Raanta recalling the breakaways he turned away as part of his 38-save performance.

But perhaps the biggest smile of all was worn by Brandon Saad.

And why not?

He was the guy who took a “pass” from Patrick Kane and put a smile on 22,000 faces at the UC by beating Carey Price for the game-winning goal with just 27 ticks left in regulation.

“I think Kaner was trying to get it to the net and it got deflected and ended up on my stick,” Saad said of his second game-winner of the season. “I'm thankful for that,”

And the Hawks were thankful to get out of town with their fifth straight victory over a Canadiens team bent on getting revenge for the 5-0 thumping they took at the hands of the Hawks in Montreal.

“This is the kind of win that takes the whole team's confidence higher and higher,” said Raanta, who picked up his second straight victory since replacing the injured Cprey Crawford.

Rozsival broke his streak of 34 games without a goal by opening the scoring two minutes in, courtesy of a cross-circle pass from Bryan Bickell. With just less than two minutes remaining in the period, Smith made it 2-0 after a scramble in front of the net.

“That one felt good,” Smith admitted. “It didn't help that they came back the next shift and (Brendan Gallagher) put one in the back of the net. But it's always nice to contribute. It's been a little rough in that area for me.”

In fact, the Canadiens would score the next 3 goals to take 3-2 lead after two.

Jonathan Toews' power-play goal early in the third tied things up. It was the captain's 11th goal of the season. For the next 15 minutes or so there was a lot of scrambling and a lot of swarming, but no scoring as both teams threatened.

“The D-men were helping me a lot again,” Raanta said of the final 20 minutes. “I owe (Brent) Seabrook lots of beers or something after the season.”

But then Saad struck in the final minute, and all was right again.

“Tonight wasn't perfect, but we found a way to get 2 points,” Smith said.

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