Victory by committee as Hawks drop Calgary 5-2
No Red Wings?
No Patrick Kane?
No problem for the Blackhawks.
The Hawks did what good teams do Sunday night at the United Center. They parked their two straight losses to Detroit and rebounded with a convincing 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames.
"After winning all those games (nine straight), then coming off a couple losses, it's really deflating, so we wanted to get that energy back rolling our way and I think that's what we did," Kris Versteeg said.
And the Hawks did it without Kane, their leading scorer, who sat out with a high right ankle sprain.
The Hawks got contributions from all around in Kane's absence with Martin Havlat, Andrew Ladd, Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Sharp chipping in goals.
"With Kaner out guys have to step up," Ladd said. "It's got to be kind of by committee with different guys every night. If it's me tonight and another guy another night, that's what we need."
The Hawks don't know how long they'll be without Kane, but what will also help ease the sting until he returns is more great goaltending like they got Sunday from Nikolai Khabibulin.
Khabibulin's best work came in the third period, when he stopped 19 of 20 Calgary shots.
Khabibulin was the difference when the Flames began buzzing the Hawks' net after they had pulled within 4-2 on Daymond Langkow's goal with 13:37 to play.
"I thought Habby was very sharp and kept us in there," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "They were coming and we were fortunate to protect that lead. He was very responsible for that as well."
The Hawks busted open what was a tight 1-1 game late in the second period with 3 goals in the final six minutes.
Ladd scored off a feed from Havlat at 14:07, but the next 2 goals were backbreakers for the Flames.
Versteeg short-handed goal on a great individual effort at 15:26 made it 3-1, then Byfuglien scored on a power play with two seconds left in the period.
"Chicago had a lot more energy, especially in the second period," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said.
Versteeg broke up a play at his own blue line and took off the other way at full speed. With Flames defender Adrian Aucoin closing fast and whacking away with his stick, Versteeg dipped his shoulder into Aucoin and got off a shot that beat goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
"It was a fortunate bounce on my part and I kind of just hopped on it and made the best of it," Versteeg said. "I saw Aucoin coming across so I tried to drag my shoulder and whatever happens, happens. If I get a shot and a rebound, or if it goes in, I'm lucky. I just tried to put it on net."
That's 10 wins in 12 games for the Hawks - 10 straight against teams other than Detroit.
"We don't want to forget about what it's like to play those guys," Duncan Keith said. "We know the Wings are a good team and that's what we want to be one day, where we can say we're the best team in the league and go into games where teams are talking about us the way everyone talks about the Wings."