Toews' tip gives Vermette, Hawks the winning edge
Give Antoine Vermette credit.
The new Blackhawks center already knows to listen closely when The Captain gives you advice.
It was a brief comment from Jonathan Toews that gave Vermette some valuable information when he jumped on the ice as the shootout's third shooter Friday night at the United Center, with a chance to send 22,017 fans home happy.
"Jonathan said something before I jumped on there that he saw," Vermette said. "It got my attention."
Vermette, playing in just his second game as a Hawk, proceeded to slip the puck under Ben Scrivens' legs, giving the Blackhawks a 2-1 victory and a 9-3 record in shootouts this season.
So what did Toews tell Vermette?
"It's a secret. I can't tell you," said the affable Vermette, cracking up the media horde in front of his locker.
But then he gave up the secret, saying Toews told him "something might be available in the five-hole."
Corey Crawford made 46 saves as the Hawks climbed within 2 points of St. Louis and 6 of division-leading Nashville.
"Corey's great. Real solid. Kept us in the game," said coach Joel Quenneville.
Scrivens was equally impressive, turning away 38 shots, many from point-blank range.
"He was amazing," Vermette said. "He was really big for them."
Quenneville gave Vermette a chance in the shootout based on the veteran's impressive numbers over the last two seasons. He's now 9-for-18 since the beginning of the 2013-14 campaign.
"We were visiting where he's at, where he's used," Quenneville said. "He's coming off two real good years. Very timely. I think that'll be good for him as well. Everybody leaves happy and can get excited going forward."
It nearly didn't turn out that way, however, as Edmonton held a 1-0 lead throughout much of the game and took the most shots of any Hawks opponent all season.
But Brent Seabrook saved the day by scoring on a blast from just inside the blue line with 6:02 left in the game. It was his eighth of the season and broke his 28-game goal-scoring drought.
Edmonton nearly won it late in overtime when the Hawks were caught in a change, creating a perfectly-spaced 3-on-2. But Duncan Keith showed why he's one of the best defensemen in the league by poke-checking the puck away and sending the game into the shootout.
The Hawks had multiple scoring opportunities turned away all night by Scrivens. The first came about eight minutes in when Niklas Hjalmarsson made a gorgeous pass to Vermette, who tried to make a move but was stoned by Scrivens.
Other great opportunities came on a Patrick Sharp breakaway, a Jonathan Toews rebound attempt and a Marian Hossa-Toews-Kris Versteeg flurry in a four-second span that Scrivens deftly turned away.
"I think we missed some high-quality chances around the net that we didn't bury where it looked like we had an empty cage," Quenneville said. "Hung in there (though). We'll take the 2 points. It wasn't our best, but the 2 are very valuable."
Said Vermette: "It's so exciting. The end result, getting 2 points being surrounded with the atmosphere around here - it's a great feeling."
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