Hawks top Penguins in shootout
By now it pretty much goes without saying that every game in the Western Conference is of critical importance.
But if there are games more urgent than others, Sunday's meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins was one of them for the Blackhawks.
On a day when they could have fallen as many as 6 points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West, thanks in large part to Friday's disappointing home-ice loss to Columbus, the Hawks showed some resiliency by beating the Penguins 3-2 in a shootout.
Not only did the Hawks have to regroup after allowing the tying goal with 3:18 to play in regulation, they killed 53 seconds of a 4-on-3 Pittsburgh power play in overtime.
“There's definitely some more urgency in our locker room and it shows out there on the ice in critical situations,” said Patrick Sharp, who scored his 31st goal in the first period.
“You're out there fighting for every inch and every point,” Hawks assistant coach Mike Haviland said. “We're not happy with giving up one real late in the third, but it was a gutsy effort and the way we need to play.”
Patrick Kane, a surprise to go third in the shootout instead of being in his customary two hole, scored the only goal. Corey Crawford made two stops in the shootout and caught a break when Pascal Dupuis hit the post leading off for the Penguins.
Haviland, running the bench for the third game for the ailing Joel Quenneville, said he discussed the shootout order with assistant Mike Kitchen after overtime.
“Kitch and I talked about going left-right-left,” Haviland said, meaning the left-handed shooting Jonathan Toews, then the righty Sharp and the lefty Kane. “It was nice to see (Kane) make that shot on the third one there.”
Kane deked goalie Marc-Andre Fleury beautifully in tight.
“Kane is a very skilled player with a lot of great moves,” Fleury said. “It's hard to figure out what he's going to do.”
The Hawks are just 2 points out of a playoff spot with their 66 points but still with three teams to leapfrog.
It's got to the point for Toews that because the West is so crazy tight he doesn't continually check the standings.
“We can only worry about our game,” Toews said. “Every day you look at where you're at, but at the end of it all you can't be watching the scores too much because all that is out of your control. You have to prepare for the worst, I guess, and hope for the best.”
Sharp put the Hawks ahead at 10:07 of the first period, scoring off a nice setup by Toews and Niklas Hjalmarsson.
It stayed that way until 13:52 of the second period when the Penguins' Matt Cooke scored short-handed.
The Hawks struggled to get out of the second period tied as the momentum swung all the way over to Pittsburgh.
Bryan Bickell's fluky goal 1:09 into the third period put the Hawks back ahead. Bickell's long wrist shot from past the left circle near the boards hit a stick and floated over Fleury's glove.
“I got a lucky bounce,” Bickell said. “I was trying to shoot as hard as I can low and it hit the guy's stick and Fleury lost sight of it for a second. It was kind of lucky, but good things happen when you put it on the net.”