Night belongs to Niemi in Blackhawks shootout win over Stars
Antti Niemi saved his best for last Tuesday night.
Niemi made 2 big saves on a Dallas power play in overtime, then stopped all 5 shots in a shootout as the Hawks edged the Stars 4-3 at the United Center.
Kris Versteeg ended the shootout in the fifth round with a snap shot past Dallas goalie Marty Turco, who had frustrated the Hawks much of the game.
"He's a heck of a goaltender, and any time he's hot it's scary," Versteeg said of Turco. "We had a lead and lost it (and) that might have been a momentum changer, but it was good to win it in the shootout."
The Hawks looked to be in trouble when Duncan Keith took a hooking penalty 2:29 into overtime, but Niemi and defensemen Brent Sopel, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brent Seabrook stood tall in killing it off. Niemi stopped Mike Modano from the right side with 1:47 to play then smothered a point-blank shot by Brad Richards with 45 seconds left.
"Huge kill because it seemed like it was in our zone (a lot)," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We definitely dodged a bullet there and got through it and got an extra point because of it."
It was 2-2 in the third period when Troy Brouwer broke the tie at 6:13 with his 18th goal. Brouwer fired into an empty net from the right circle what appeared to be a pass banked off the end boards by Marian Hossa, who was skating down the left wing.
"You're going to have to ask him," Quenneville said. "I haven't asked him yet either."
Hossa wasn't available in the dressing room after the game.
"I'm going to say it was a great pass," a laughing Quenneville said.
Until then Patrick Kane had been the only Hawk able to beat Turco, who faced 40 shots. Twice the Hawks fell behind by a goal and both times Kane answered with goals to bust out what had been a mini-scoring slump for him.
Kane had 1 goal in his last seven games before making it 1-1 at 13:54 of the first period with a shot from a tough angle from the left side.
Dallas went back ahead at 18:03 of the first period when James Neal tucked a rebound through Niemi, but Kane got his second goal with 29 seconds to play in the period from the right side through a screen.
The goals were Kane's 23rd and 24th, putting him within 1 of his career high set last year.
The Stars tied it at 3-3 with 3:50 to play when Loui Eriksson was left alone in front of the net to beat Niemi.
"It seemed like we were going to win the game 3-2," Kane said. "We were playing pretty good defensively and they got one good chance there. It was good to see Steeger pop one in the shootout."
The Hawks finished the game without center John Madden, who left with what Quenneville called a lower-body injury.
"I'm going to say doubtful for the weekend," Quenneville said. "We've got some time off (with the Olympic break) and we'll get a better idea coming out of it."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Tim Sassone's game tracker</p>
<p class="News">Blackhawks 4, Stars 3 (SO)</p>
<p class="News"><b>Three stars:</b></p>
<p class="News">1. Patrick Kane, Hawks: Two goals to bust out of his mini scoring slump.</p>
<p class="News">2. Antti Niemi, Hawks: Came up big in overtime and even bigger in the shootout, stopping all five Dallas attempts.</p>
<p class="News">3. Brad Richards, Stars: Dangerous most of the night with 2 assists and 9 shots on goal.</p>
<p class="News"><b>By the numbers:</b> The Hawks outshot the Stars 40-27 won 61 percent of the faceoffs with John Madden going 10-2 before leaving with a lower-body injury.</p>
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