Hawks' defensemen contribute to score sheet
ANAHEIM, Calif.-- Heading into Friday's game with Anaheim, Blackhawks defensemen had scored a total of 6 goals.
Courtesy of a beautiful one-timer by Duncan Keith while skating short-handed, and Niklas Hjalmarsson's deke-and-blast from the point, that total increased dramatically in the span of just a few hours.
“There were some good passes by our forwards, and that was a good shot by Hammer to get that puck through,” Keith said. “I think more than anything we used everybody and everybody played well.”
Hjalmarsson thought he could have played even better even after notching his first goal of the season.
“It felt good, but I thought I could actually score a couple more goals in this game,” he said. “But it's always nice to see the puck go in it doesn't happen too often for me.”
‘Ex' marks the spot:
The toughness quotient on the Blackhawks may soon go up a notch after the Hawks signed former Chicago Wolves defenseman Garnett Exelby and assigned him to the Rockford IceHogs.
Exelby had been playing with the Hawks' AHL affiliate on a minor-league tryout contract. He needed to clear waivers to be signed to an NHL contract, and he did just that Friday.
The stat that really sticks out about the 29-year-old native of Ste. Anne, Manitoba, is his 584 penalty minutes in 408 NHL games with Atlanta and Toronto.
“Organizationally, he gives us another added defenseman,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
Painful times:
For the second straight game, Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook found himself sprawled out on the ice after taking a puck to the groin area.
“Today was a little more painful,” Seabrook admitted. “You try to do what you can to block them. Last night was a direct one and (Friday) it deflected off my stick.”
Down with that:
The Ducks unveiled their new black-and-orange alternate third jerseys for Friday's game.
The reaction from Anaheim players was positive, especially from Dan Sexton, who opened the scoring Friday with a power-play goal.
“I think they're great,” Sexton said. “It's awesome that I got to score the first goal in the new jerseys.”