Hawks celebrate with fans

A special weekend for the Blackhawks was capped by a special night Sunday at the United Center.

A near sellout crowd first saw the Hawks gut out a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, then watched as the players returned to the ice from the dressing room to salute the 20,151 in attendance with their sticks raised.

"I think the fans deserved an applause there," Martin Lapointe said. "It was a full crowd tonight, and the guys really enjoyed playing in that type of situation."

Lapointe said it was Patrick Sharp's idea to go back on the ice.

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"He said it would be a good idea to go back and salute the crowd," Lapointe said. "I said let's get everybody together and let's do it."

Sharp had one of the Hawks' goals, his team-leading 18th of the season.

"It was something that Adam Burish and myself talked about early in the year," Sharp said. "I think it's just a thank you to our fans for showing up and supporting us. They certainly made a difference in the game tonight. It was fun to play out there."

Brent Seabrook scored the other 2 Hawks goals, including the game-winner 1:20 into the third period that snapped a 2-2 tie. It was a huge performance from the defenseman, who had 6 of the Hawks' 34 shots and was a physical force, particularly late.

"He played great," Hawks coach Denis Savard said. "He has stepped up big."

The Hawks had to kill a penalty for the game's final 1:59. The situation got even hairier when the Oilers pulled goalie Mathieu Garon.

It was a frenzied finish, with Hawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin making several terrific saves in the final minute.

Seabrook, Burish, Duncan Keith and Robert Lang were on the ice with Khabibulin for the frantic finish -- Burish even playing the final few seconds without a stick after breaking his.

"It was a gritty win again," Savard said. "But we have the personnel to win like that."

The win followed Saturday's stirring 4-3 overtime victory in Ottawa against the Eastern Conference leading Senators.

With a three-game winning streak the Hawks are 18-15-2. It's only the second time since the 1992-93 season that they've reached Christmas with as many as 18 wins.

Last season it took until Jan. 28 for them to register their 18th victory.

"I think we showed last night (at Ottawa) that we can play with any team in the league," Seabrook said.

Seabrook is earning more power-play time at the right point, and it was his power-play goal at 6:53 of the first period that opened the scoring.

After the Oilers went ahead 2-1, Sharp tied it at 17:44 of the second period off a feed from Patrick Kane, who made a pretty speed move around defenseman Dick Tarnstrom.

Seabrook's second goal came on a hard slap shot from the right side after he created a 3-on-2 by joining the rush.

"We've won three games in a row, but I think the hardest thing to do now is to stay at the same level and make sure we get better," Lapointe said. "If we do that we'll gain back the confidence of the fans, and that's what we want."