Blackhawks' Ladd, family welcome baby boy after Game 1
ST. LOUIS - To stay or play.
That was the reality facing Andrew Ladd hours before the Blackhawks took on the Blues in Game 1 of their opening-round series Wednesday at Scottrade Center.
Ladd's wife was in labor that day, so the Blackhawks' winger had to decide if he should stay in Chicago or fly back to St. Louis.
As Hawks' fans probably know, Ladd played in Game 1, and his son, Walker, was born shortly after midnight Thursday.
"It's been busy," Ladd said. "A few flights. I think the main thing is we have a healthy, happy boy and my wife is doing well."
Ladd was getting updates on his wife's condition during the intermissions of the Hawks' 1-0 overtime loss. He said it wasn't a particularly difficult choice to play in the game, given that he had his wife's blessing.
"If she wasn't comfortable with that obviously I wouldn't have come," Ladd said.
Ladd and his wife, Brandy, now have three children - Locklan (born in 2013), Andi (2014) and Walker.
Hammer time:
One day after Joel Quenneville said he's not sure if there's a tougher player in the league than Niklas Hjalmarsson, it was Blues coach Ken Hitchcock's turn to sing the praises of the Blackhawks' defenseman.
"Well, I don't understand him as a player. You look like you need five stretchers on the end of the bench, and then he just keeps playing," Hitchcock said.
Hjalmarsson blocked a pair of wicked Vladimir Tarasenko shots in Game 1, but barely missed a beat.
"He won't go down," Hitchcock said. "Or when he goes down, they carry him off and he just does a U-turn and he's back out playing again. He should be down and out … but he just keeps coming back."
Lineup:
With Duncan Keith returning from a six-game suspension, it meant either Erik Gustafsson or Viktor Svedberg would have to sit out Game 2, and Joel Quenneville decided to sit Gustafsson. Svedberg was paired with Brent Seabrook.
Richard Panik replaced Brandon Mashinter on the left wing of the Hawks' third line. He skated with Teuvo Teravainen and Tomas Fleischmann.
He said it:
"It's fun on the off days watching you guys chase the tail. … We've got to have some fun at this stuff too."
Ken Hitchcock on putting out the storyline that his team is looking to lay 70 hits a game on the Blackhawks.