Blackhawks Get Needed First Win And Hjalmarsson Faces A Possible Suspension

Added on Oct 12, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

The Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks picked up their first win of the 2010-11 season versus the Buffalo Sabres Monday night. Hawks goalie Corey Crawford had a slow start, but really showed his mettle to come up his second win in the NHL.

The game wasn’t even 30 seconds old when Drew Stafford scored, and the Hawks found themselves down a goal. To make things worse for Crawford, less than 3 minutes later the Derrek Roy put another one in the back of the net. The game wasn’t even 4 minutes old, and the Sabres seemed to be well on there way to their second win of the season. Crawford stated after the game “A little panic sets into your head, but you have to try and brush that away, I just kept battling and stuck with it.” However, after a power play goal by forward Patrick Kane at around the 8 minute mark, and the Hawks were back in it.

The game took an unnerving turn with about 5 minutes to go in the first period. Sabres right wing Jason Pominville was carted off on a stretcher after being hit into the boards from behind by Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson. Pominville was skating towards a loose puck when the Hawks defenseman checked him, and he went for a ride face first into the glass. The hit left Pominville with a concussion, and 8 stitches above his eye. Hjalmarsson was given a 5 minute major for boarding, and a game misconduct. However, the Sabres were unable to take advantage of the power play.

It will be interesting to see how the NHL brass will react to the hit, because the tape is simply spine-chilling to watch. “I thought it was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. It’s good to know that he’s up and walking, and hopefully he’ll get back as soon as possible” said Hjalmarsson in his defense after the game. He also added “You never want to see someone laying on the ice like that.”

The Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was not as forgiving. He said he was interested to see how the league would react, but also stated “Hjalmarsson made a big mistake. He caught a player in a tough spot.” He was obviously bothered by the hit, and of course doesn’t like having a player like Pominville, who was playing as Buffalo’s active leader in consecutive games played with 335, taken off the ice by medical staff.

After the initial pressure from Buffalo in the first, the hawks went on to score 4 straight goals. The second period was all Chicago, and by the end of the period they would have a one goal lead after goals from Leddy and Hossa. By the 4 minute mark of the third frame Chicago had their insurance goal. Connolly was able to cut the lead down to one with his first goal of the season, but thats how the game ended.

“We really needed this win,” Hossa said in the press conference following the game. “The 5-minute kill helped us, and we tightened up defensively.” Another interesting part of the press conference was when Chicago coach Joe Quennville was asked if he had any thoughts about pulling Crawford, and putting in Marty Turco. “All those options go through your mind,” Quenneville said. “It was a tough start, but we persevered.”

The two teams play again this Saturday, and its the first time since the 2002-03 season where they met twice in one season. It is also worth mentioning that the Monday night game was Sabres Center, Jochen Hecht, 700th NHL game.