Blackhawks looking forward to some home cooking
As difficult as the month of November has been for the Blackhawks from a travel standpoint, the schedule is about to turn back in their favor.
Now that the circus road trip is history following Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Kings at Staples Center, the Hawks can look forward to playing 10 of their 14 games at the United Center, where they are 7-1-2 this season.
The Hawks won’t have much of a chance to rest up from nearly two weeks on the road with Phoenix coming to town Tuesday.
Looking to ride the momentum of Friday’s stirring 6-5 come-from-behind win at Anaheim, the Hawks jumped on the Kings early when Andrew Brunette scored his fifth goal of the season at 3:08 of the first period.
Jonathan Toews scored what proved to be the winning goal late in the second period and goalie Corey Crawford took it from there.
Crawford was terrific, saving the day late when he stopped Anze Kopitar with several seconds to play in the third period.
The Hawks finished their six-game road trip at 3-3, showing a lot to rebound after last weekend’s bad losses at Calgary and Edmonton.
Brunette tucked in a shot from behind the net with Dave Bolland causing problems for goalie Jonathan Quick in the crease.
Marcus Kruger assisted on the goal as a left winger on a line with Bolland and Brunette.
Kruger’s improved play and growing confidence around the net was one of the highlights of the six-game road trip.
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville came right back with Crawford in goal with no significant travel involved from Anaheim to Los Angeles.
Crawford had to make some good stops early in the first period, although the Hawks outshot the Kings 10-6 over the opening 20 minutes.
Crawford probably would have liked a do-over on Jarret Stoll’s fluttering shot to the short side off his glove that tied it at 1-1 at 12:02 of the second period.
Duncan Keith tried a quick pass to Bolland under pressure in the left circle and Stoll picked it off and beat Crawford.
The Hawks got out of the second period with the lead 2-1 on Toews’ 13th goal at 16:38. Toews scored after winning a faceoff and getting the puck back to Keith, whose deflected shot went wide off the boards. The puck bounced back out to Toews, who had an open net to shoot at.
“Got an ugly one there,” Toews said. “Just won the draw, went straight to the net and got a lucky bounce off the wall. It doesn’t get any easier than that.”
Brent Seabrook was able to play back-to-back games after missing four with a leg injury.
Seabrook played a strong game in his return at Anaheim on Friday.
“It was good to get back out on the ice,” Seabrook said. “It was good to just be back in the room with the guys before the game. It was a good feeling to do something here and not feel I’ve just been on a vacation here the last two weeks.”
tsassone@dailyherald.com