Stalberg rescues Blackhawks in third period
Viktor Stalberg’s quiet season got noisy Saturday night.
Boy, did it ever.
Stalberg scored 2 third-period goals and nearly had 2 more, waking up the Blackhawks from another sluggish performance.
Stalberg’s first goals of the season came 1:58 apart early in the third to snap a 2-2 tie and send the Hawks on their way to a 5-2 win over Columbus at the United Center.
Stalberg was the best player on the ice in the third period when the Hawks needed someone to be the guy to save the night.
“That was 2 big ones by (Stalberg),” Jonathan Toews said.
“I thought we were ordinary in the second period and we lost some momentum in the game,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said.
Stalberg has the tools such as great speed and a good shot to be a player who contributes more than once in a while, but the consistency in his game still goes up and down.
“I just think whether it’s quality of ice (time), but then again you’ve got to earn that and be comfortable in all situations,” Quenneville said. “Without the puck, knowing you’ve got to be predictable and dependable is something I think he’s learning to get better at. He definitely has some high-end speed and skill in that scoring type of an area. If his whole rounded part of his game keeps coming we could use him in more situations.”
Stalberg’s first goal came 4-on-4 after Nick Leddy made a nice play along the boards. Stalberg zipped into the slot for a snap shot past Blue Jackets goalie Allen York, who was a rebound machine most of the night.
Stalberg scored again on his next shift off a clever feed from Andrew Brunette.
“The biggest thing was taking the 2 points,” Stalberg said. “Not losing two in a row is something we’ve stressed.”
As dreadful as the Hawks were in Friday’s 3-0 loss at Carolina, the win Saturday was a step back in the right direction for a team that now is 6-2-2 after 10 games.
“(Friday) night’s game it was tough to figure out across the board how we played,” Quenneville said.
In addition to Stalberg’s 2 goals, Marcus Kruger scored the first goal of his career in what Quenneville called the rookie’s best game, and Dave Bolland tallied short-handed.
It was an 0-for-5 night for the power play, but the Hawks did put three pucks in the net with the man advantage only to have them disallowed; one when Patrick Kane’s stick was above the crossbar, the second by Patrick Sharp because of a Bryan Bickell high sticking penalty and the third when Bolland kicked in the puck.
“That’s usually a sign that things are trending and that things are going to turn around,” Quenneville said optimistically of the power play.
Backup goalie Ray Emery won his second start making 27 saves, including 13 in the third period.
“We got a great team effort in the third,” Emery said. “You’ve got back-to-back games and sometimes it’s tough. It’s your sixth period in a couple nights and it’s easy to come out flat, we but we stuck through some tough bounces and disallowed goals. I think it was the best period we played all weekend.”