The Chicago Blackhawks collapsed late in the game after dominating much of the Tampa Bay Lightning through 50 minutes. The Hawks were able to penetrate the blue line guarded closely by Sami Salo, who made an effort to get back in tonight’s game from an injury. Tampa bay only got 16 shots off the entire game but was able to make them count.
They were well-rested after having three days to rest since the home opener on Tuesday and it showed. Crawford got an extra 20 minutes worth of rest as the Hawks held Tampa Bay to no first period shots. The last time Chicago held an opponent to zero first period shots in the regular season came in 1946.
Patrick Kane opened the scoring early in the second period with a major credit to Niklas Hjalmarsson for charging to the net that allowed for Bickell to try a stuff attempt that Kane could finish off. It was a tough-angle goal and had some great movement and attack on the net to set it up.
Brandon Saad got the Hawks up by a pair of goals off a goal that didn’t take so much effort. Goaltender Ben Bishop anticipated the dump-in off the glass to wrap around the goal, but it took a funny hop and rolled right toward the goal for Saad to tap it in. Believe it or not, Crawford got an assist on the goal.
After running the show for two and a half periods and staying out of the penalty box all night, Jonathon Toews got himself called for a high stick that resulted in a power play goal from Martin St. Louis. A defensive breakdown in front of Crawford was the result of a slew of quick passes that the Hawks just couldn’t keep up with. The same scenario happened moments later on Teddy Purcell’s goal to tie the game with about 8 minutes remaining.
Chicago had one more power play chance before the third period expired but failed to capitalize, not for a lack of trying.
Overtime came and went with similar results: plenty of shots for Chicago that failed to mark the scoreboard. Tampa Bay spent the latter portion of the game working on mucking up Chicago rushes and did so with success. Hossa was able to muscle his way to the puck several times showing great hustle but failed nonetheless to make it count.
In the shootout, Valteri Filppula scored in the first round where Toews failed. Kane and Hossa failed to score in the following rounds to give Tampa Bay it’s first victory of the season.
Sharp, Hossa Tuned Up for Big Season
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