Ward can only do so much in Chicago Blackhawks' loss
Seventy-seven years ago, the Boston Bruins set an NHL record by firing a whopping 83 shots on goal against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Sam LoPresti, a 24-year-old rookie goaltender, kept the Hawks from utter humiliation by turning away 80 of those attempts.
"They were shooting from every angle and I didn't see half the shots," LoPresti said, according to a story by The Hockey News. "They were bouncing off my pads, chest protector, my arms, my shoulders. I didn't even know where they were coming from."
Boy, can the Blackhawks' Cam Ward relate after a 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday night at the United Center.
Ward saw wave after wave of attackers during a frenetic second period in which the Lightning took an incredible 33 SOG. Shots by Anthony Cirelli, Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh found their mark as Tampa Bay took a 4-1 lead.
"That was a tough, tough period in all aspects," coach Joel Quenneville said. "I don't think we touched the puck at all, and that was the part that was disturbing."
The Lightning tied an NHL record for most shots in a period since it became an official stat in 1997-98.
Said Ward, who finished with 49 saves: "It's pretty rare to be seeing that much work in a period. But, oh man, I don't even know what to say, to be honest."
Jonathan Toews certainly did, and his words ought to send a strong message to his teammates.
"Sometimes you've got to take hits to make plays; you've got to go into traffic," Toews said. "When we haven't been good these last couple games, we're doing the opposite. We don't want it. We're losing those battles. We're losing the races. The effort's not there."
Alexandre Fortin, David Kampf and Nick Schmaltz scored for the Hawks. Fortin's came on a breakaway at 11:40 of the first period and tied the game at 1-1. It was his first NHL goal.
Kampf and Schmaltz made a game of it by scoring at 15:17 and 16:12 of the third period to make it 5-3, but Ryan Callahan scored into an empty net with 2:05 remaining to put it away.
The Hawks, by the way, took 6 shots on goal in that middle frame.
Ward kept the score respectable by stoning Steven Stamkos at 3:47 of the first period, turning away a breakaway attempt by Tyler Johnson 44 seconds into the second and somehow swiping the puck off the goal line on an Ondrej Palat attempt 3:26 into the third.
"We rate our players on a given night," Quenneville said, "and he had as high a mark as you can get."
At some points, Lightning players looked like shooting-gallery contestants at an amusement park. The second-period flurries included:
• Three shots in 15 seconds.
• Four shots in six seconds, the fourth being Cirelli's goal that made it 2-1.
• Four shots in 20 seconds.
That's 11 shots in just 41 seconds.
"Their speed and their tenacity was hard to contain at times," Ward said.
Even though the Hawks (4-2-2) have a day off to regroup, this marks a second straight game in which they were thoroughly outplayed.
Toews knows things need to change. Fast.
"Even though we don't think we played the best 60 minutes last night (at Columbus), it was a good feeling coming out with a win on the road," Toews said. "We kind of threw that feeling away with the effort we had tonight.
"So we'll flush the feeling of losing that confidence, I guess. But we can't forget games like that in the sense that we know we've got to be much better in our building."