Blackhawks Find A Way To Win Against Wings

Added on Dec 18, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Despite being down a few of their top goal scorers, the Chicago Blackhawks managed to score enough to beat the Detroit Redwings 4-1. Tomas Kopecky found the twine twice in the Chicago win, and helped snapped a 3 game losing streak. Kopecky felt the Hawks were more focused during the game, he said “I think we competed a little more than they did. Our defense did a real good job after the first period. There were a couple of mistakes, but we covered up for each other. It was a great win and confidence boost for us.”

Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell managed to score as well for the Stanley Cup champs, and the Hawks improved to 9-9-0 at home. Thats actually one more loss at home than the Hawks had all last year. The Blackhawks went a phenomenal 29-8-4 at the United Center, and went on to win Lord Stanley.

Chicago rookie Corey Crawford made 29 saves in his eighth start in the last 10 games. He had to step up his game like everyone else since they are still playing without Patrick Kane and Marrian Hossa. They also managed to stay out of the penalty box for 60 minutes. Chicago defense man Brent Seabrook was impressed with the way they played, he said “Tonight was as close to a perfect game as you can get. We feel real confident we can play that game all the time.”

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville was happy to get the victory, and back on the win column. “I’m happy with our game tonight. All areas were strong. We had more pace, assertiveness. We were active.”

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock really felt that the outcome would be different with the injuries. He said “They played harder than we did for longer. We didn’t have enough guys on deck. Especially with their guys injured, they were more desperate and looked more desperate.” He agreed with reporters who said that the Wings looked flat, and were playing without emotion; He said “Shocked, actually, would be a good way to describe it. I thought we were going to be better and have more guys playing better.”

Patrick Kane missed his fifth game with an ankle injury, and the news didn’t stop there. He practiced on Thursday, and said he “Might have aggravated the area.” The Blackhawks honored Chicago native and former Norris Trophy winning defenseman Chris Chelios in a pregame ceremony. Chelios played nine seasons with the Blackhawks, but also spent 10 with Detroit and deflected boos from the crowd in his comments.

The Chicago Blackhawks (17-14-3, 37pts), who are now 3rd in Central Division, will face Los Angeles (17-11-1, 35pts) on Sunday. The Detroit Red Wings (20-8-3,43pts), who are 1st in Central Division, will face the Dallas Stars (18-10-3, 39pts) on Sunday night.