Red-hot Hossa scores again in Hawks' 3-1 win
Marian Hossa is en fuego. Smokin'. Red, red hot.
Or - as Bears play-by-play man Jeff Joniak used to say about Devin Hester - REEEEDICULOUS!
The born-again Hossa once again scorched an opponents' net when he scored his 15th goal of the season in the second period of the Blackhawks' 3-1 victory over Dallas at the United Center on Sunday.
"He just knows how to do it," said goalie Scott Darling. "He's got the magic touch right now."
Darling, in net for a fifth straight game with Corey Crawford out, made 23 saves to improve to 6-2-2, and the Hawks also got goals from Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin.
Brent Seabrook, who did take part in the morning skate, nonetheless missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said Seabrook is "doing much better" and he's "hopeful" the defenseman can play at the Rangers on Tuesday.
The Hawks are now 18-8-4 (12-2-3 at home) and 4 points ahead of St. Louis, which has played one less game, for the best record in the West. They are 5-2-2 without Jonathan Toews, who missed a ninth straight game with an upper-body injury, 1-0-1 without Seabrook and 2-2-1 without Crawford.
"Well, this (is) definitely a good test of what the team can do without key players," said Hossa, whose goal was the 514th of his career and moved him past Jeremy Roenick into 38th place all-time. "It's hard to replace guys like that - all three of them. But I think with the little things, guys doing baby steps, those guys get opportunities to play more and they're taking advantage of it.
"That's good for the future, when everybody's going to be back."
Hossa's goal completely flipped the momentum just 52 seconds after Devin Shore had given the Stars a 1-0 lead 1:25 into the second period. The veteran winger took a pass from Ryan Hartman, carried it over the blue line and rifled a bullet from 45 feet away that somehow slid through the five-hole of Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.
Hossa's shooting percentage, which was a career-worst 6.8 percent last season, improved to 23.1 percent.
"Obviously Hoss, he does what he does out there," Hartman said. "You get him the puck and he's able to find the net even though it's from a far outside shot. It's able to squeak in.
"That's the type of player he is. He's a natural goal scorer for a reason. It's fun playing with a guy like that."
Hartman was all over the place Sunday, and he set up the Hawks' second goal at 12:30 of the second period when he charged out of the penalty box, raced down ice and fired a shot on Lehtonen. The Stars' goalie made the save, but Anisimov swooped in to clean up the rebound for his 12th goal of the season.
"Hartsy was unbelievable tonight," Darling said. "Big hits, big assist."
Dallas fell to 11-13-6 and is just 2-5-1 in its last eight games.
"When you don't score goals, every mistake becomes costly," said Dallas' Jason Spezza, who has just 1 goal in his last 15 games. "We are trying to get out of this funk and are working at it. It's frustrating."
Panarin made it 3-1 at 10:03 of the third when he fired a one-timer off a pass from Duncan Keith that Lehtonen had no chance to stop.
"I wanted to see it again," Quenneville said. "I thought it was a pretty amazing angle. It was an amazing shot."
Darling has allowed just 7 goals and sports a .951 save percentage in his five starts in relief of Crawford.