Very special night for Blackhawks' Sharp
When Patrick Sharp scored a goal in the first period Tuesday night, he kissed his glove and pointed to the sky.
But it had nothing to do with the fact it was his 200th career goal.
This was for the girls back home — his wife, Abby, new daughter Sadie Ellen and her big sister Madelyn.
“I don't really care about the 200,” Sharp said. “I was more excited to score for my wife and our new daughter. Normally, I don't kiss my glove and put it to the sky like that either, but that was a special one and I'll always remember it.”
Sharp later made it a night to remember in a bigger way by scoring the only goal in the shootout as the Blackhawks beat Carolina 3-2.
Goalie Corey Crawford came up huge late in overtime when the Hawks killed a hooking penalty to Btyan Bickell. Crawford made 4 of his 32 saves in overtime and then stopped Nathan Gerbe, Alexander Semin and Jeff Skinner in the shootout.
Sharp beat Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward on a rare deke after Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews missed on their chances.
Sharp scored at 7:56 of the first period before Marian Hossa made it 2-0 at 10:18 on a backhander past Ward.
“It's nice to get the first one of the season,” Sharp said. “Shortly after, Marian scored, too, so hopefully our line can get going here 5-on-5 and fill the net.”
The Hawks outshot Carolina 15-5 in the first period, but the Hurricanes turned the tables in the third. Carolina got goals from Semin and Ron Hainsey with 7:27 to play to force overtime.
“I'll take a win on the road any day of the week,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville told reporters. “I thought we had a great first period and then they had their turn. We were hanging on at the end — that was a big kill in overtime.
“We did some good things, but we're still having problems around the net. Getting that third one, or getting the quantity of offense that we've seen in the past — we feel it's there, let's get it out.
“The third goal, we were all looking to get that. It might have made things more comfortable.”
The victory made the Hawks 4-1-1 after six games, even though they have scored 3 or more goals only three times.
“We're not complaining,” Quenneville said. “We could have points in every game. If we didn't have that 1 point we lost in St. Louis we'd be probably pretty happy and we wouldn't even be having this discussion. After six games it's where we're at.”
The Hawks left a point on the table at St. Louis last week when Alex Steen snapped a 2-2 tie with 21.1 seconds left in regulation.
It was the Hawks' first win at Carolina since 1998 and the 2,500th in franchise history.
“You're facing arguably the best team in the NHL and to come back and show some character is a big lift for this hockey team,” Ward said. “Give them credit on that penalty kill in overtime. They didn't give us much.”
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