Blackhawks beat Avalanche in shootout
Goaltender Cristobal Huet came up huge when the Blackhawks needed him most Saturday night.
The Hawks slipped past the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 at the United Center, winning in a shootout that lasted a club-record nine rounds.
Huet stopped 5 of the final 6 attempts by the Avalanche before Andrew Ladd's goal won it.
"He made some big saves in the shootout when you need it from your goalie," Ladd said.
Ladd's goal came after Tomas Kopecky scored in the eighth round. The Hawks would have lost if Kopecky failed.
"They're pretty unpredictable things," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said of shootouts in general. "Certainly we liked the result."
The Hawks had six chances to win in the shootout before they finally did it on the seventh try.
The victory came on a night when the Hawks didn't bring their best game to the rink. They looked out of sync at times and slower than the Avalanche.
"Coming off Detroit, we might have played our 'A' game there and got nothing," Quenneville said. "We found a way to hang in there and overcame an ordinary effort."
It was 3-3 going to the third period with the Hawks having to rally twice from 1-goal deficits.
"Tonight I don't think we played a spot-on game at all," defenseman Brian Campbell said. "We were out of position in a lot of areas and not making good plays. Pucks were everywhere. We'll get back it and be ready Monday (for Calgary)."
The Avs scored their 3 goals on only 13 shots against Huet, who had no chance only on Wojtek Wolski's tip-in at 5:45 of the second period that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead.
"I wasn't complaining about the goaltending," Quenneville said. "He was doing his job."
Ladd answered Wolski's goal just 29 seconds later, deflecting in a shot by John Madden.
Moments later the Hawks had a two-man advantage for 55 seconds only to fail miserably again, generating just 1 shot and never really setting up.
It was the third time in four games the Hawks couldn't convert on a 5-on-3 power play that lasted 55 seconds or more.
The Avs had no trouble scoring on the 5-on-3 they got later in the second period with Milan Hejduk beating Huet from the low left circle. Huet appeared to get over to the post in time, but the puck somehow got through him.
Colorado still was on the same power play when Duncan Keith scored short-handed at 16:08 to tie it.
Jonathan Toews knocked the puck free along the boards to Kris Versteeg, who found Keith alone on the left side and Avs goalie Craig Anderson out of the net.
"It was a nice play by Versteeg, but that play doesn't happen unless Toews takes that hit along the boards," Keith said. "I was calling for it, but I didn't really expect him to make that pass. I just had to put it in the net."
The Hawks did get a power-play goal from Cam Barker to open the scoring at 17:52 of the first period. The Hawks caught a break on the play when it appeared Kopecky bumped Anderson and the puck sailed into the net from the right point.
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Tim Sassone's game tracker</b></p> <p class="factboxtext12col">Blackhawks 4, Avalanche 3 (SO)</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">Three stars</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">1. Andrew Ladd: Hawks winger scored a goal in regulation then notched the winner in the ninth round of the shootout.</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">2. Kris Versteeg: Two assists and a goal in the shootout for the Hawks winger.</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">3. Duncan Keith: Hawks defenseman scored a critical short-handed goal and blocked 7 Colorado shots.</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">Key stat</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">The Avalanche blocked 26 shots, which helped make for an easier night for goalie Craig Anderson.</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">Shootout recap</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">The Hawks got goals from Jonathan Toews, Kris Versteeg, Tomas Kopecky and Andrew Ladd in the nine-round marathon. Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland, Dustin Byfuglien and Troy Brouwer failed to score.</p> <p class="factboxtext12col">Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said John Madden would have been his 10th shooter. "The (defensemen) were starting to get some consideration," Quenneville joked.</p>