Hawks keep historic streak alive with win over Detroit
In the past, you'd be asking for trouble if you gave the Detroit Red Wings 6 power-play chances.
But these are different times in the Motor City.
Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom, two long-time keys to the Detroit power play, have retired and they were missed big time Sunday night as the Blackhawks killed all 6 of those power-play opportunities in a 2-1 overtime win that ran their record to a perfect 6-0.
Nick Leddy's goal at 2:45 of OT was set up nicely by Viktor Stalberg's dash up the ice, giving the Hawks their best start ever.
“It's unbelievable. I heard that stat before the game and it's just unbelievable,” Leddy said.
“Everybody deserves credit,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “Commend the guys. Be it Johnny (Toews) skating those guys before (the season began), the guys playing overseas, the attitude, the approach — they're the guys doing it.”
The Hawks are so focused right now that Duncan Keith doesn't even know who the next game is against.
It's at Minnesota on Wednesday to start a six-game road trip.
“I don't think we're looking ahead,” Keith said. “I don't even know who we're playing next or when the next the game is. We're doing a good job staying in the moment and taking it game by game. This was a big win tonight in a back-to-back game. We'll enjoy it tonight and go from there.”
The penalty killing in front of goalie Corey Crawford was outstanding with forwards Michal Frolik and Marcus Kruger leading the way along with the defense.
Frolik was seemingly everywhere in the second period when the Hawks killed 4 power plays, including 43 seconds of a 5-on-3.
“I had him as having a special game,” Quenneville said. “He's had some nice games but that might have been his best.”
Keith opened the scoring on a power play at 2:24 of the first period with a rocket over Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard.
The Hawks rode that goal though the second period when Detroit dominated. Neither Quenneville nor Keith wanted to blame the fact the Red Wings couldn't score with the extra man — or men — on the absence of Lidstrom and Holmstrom.
“They still got guys who throw it around. They had some dangerous looks,” Quenneville said. “Their play recognition is still high end.”
“Obviously those two guys were a big part of their power play, but I don't want to discredit what our penalty killers have done,” Keith said. “I thought they had some chances and Crawford made some big saves.”
Crawford made 29 saves to run his record to 5-0.
“Our PK in the second period was really good,” Crawford said. “We had a lot of guys blocking shots.”
The Hawks absolutely dominated the first period but could only take a 1-0 lead out of it because of the play of Howard.
Keith's power-play goal was the seventh for the Hawks in their first six games.
The game stayed that way until the third period when Johan Franzen tied it.
“I would like our power play to score, for sure,” said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. “I thought it was slow and not confident. I thought their penalty killing was really good.”