Bruins beat Blackhawks in shootout
It was as close as it gets to a playoff game in November when the Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins tangled Wednesday night at the United Center.
And, like in most playoff games, it was all about goaltending and special teams, with the Bruins winning 2-1 in a shootout.
Goalies Nikolai Khabibulin and Tim Thomas stole the show, with Khabibulin turning in perhaps his best game in four seasons with the Hawks.
Khabibulin (38 saves) was brilliant in overtime, particularly on a Boston power play. His glove save on a Marc Savard rebound left Savard looking at the ceiling with his mouth open.
"I just put my arm there and he hit the glove," Khabibulin said. "Probably if he shot it a little higher, it probably would have gone in."
Moments after Khabibulin put up a wall in OT, Patrick Sharp was pulled down by Aaron Ward on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. Sharp tried to beat Thomas through the pads but was turned away, disappointing another huge crowd of 22,092.
"That's the way it goes sometimes," Khabibulin said. "We had a chance to win and didn't, so just get ready for the next game.
"I felt pretty good out there. I thought I played pretty well and the guys worked hard. That's all you can ask."
Patrick Kane scored in the shootout for the Hawks, but Jonathan Toews and Dave Bolland missed.
The Bruins got goals from Blake Wheeler and P.J. Axelsson, whose backhander over Khabibulin ended it.
"Khabibulin had a special night for us and gave us a chance," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
The Bruins improved to 9-3-3 with the win.
"That was two young teams with a lot of energy," Boston coach Claude Juliend said. "Both teams played well, so a shootout was probably a reflection of how the game should have ended."
At one point in the second period, the Hawks had a 24-9 bulge in shots but couldn't beat Thomas, who entered the night with the second-best goals-against average and best save percentage in the NHL.
The Bruins finally broke a scoreless tie in the final minute of the second period on a power play when Marco Sturm redirected a pass from Patrice Bergeron past Khabibulin.
The Hawks' power play had a tough night until the third period. It was 0-for-4 in the first period and 0-for-5 for the night when Toews scored on a redirection at 9:10 of the third period to make it 1-1.
Toews was camped in front of Thomas and made a perfect redirection of a Kane pass for his second goal in two games after going the first 12 of the season with none.
Less than two minutes later, it appeared the Bruins had gone back ahead, but a goal was wiped out when Wheeler was called for interfering with Khabibulin. Wheeler got behind Khabibulin in the crease and fell on the goalie as the shot was coming.
The Hawks (7-3-4) got a point for the ninth time in 10 games under Quenneville. They have at least 1 point in 11 of 12 games since opening the season with back-to-back losses in New York and Washington.
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