Toews Returns To Give The Hawks The Win Over The Kings

Added on Jan 04, 2011 by J Merrill in

NFL

The Blackhawks pick up their first win of 2011 by edging out a win over the Los Angeles Kings. Mistakes by the Hawks kept LA in the game, but it was Jonathan Toews who scored the hero goal that gave them the 4-3 win. The defending Stanley Cup champions swept the Kings in four games for the first time since 1981-82, when they went 3-0-0 against them. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said it was an important game for a few reasons, but all said and done was a “Necessary win, huge win for us.”

Patrick Sharp came up big for the hawks yet again, and put up two goals with an assist on another. Sharp said after the game that you have to expect a tough game when ever you play a team like the Kings. He said “Every time we play those guys, it’s a tough game and it goes back and forth, like it was tonight. I know we’ve gotten the better of them a few times, but they’re a team that’s certainly not going to go away. They’re going to be competitive all year long.” Sharp also admitted that they made mistakes, and part of the game didn’t go the way they wanted. He said “We stuck with it. It wasn’t the prettiest game on our part after 40 minutes. But our power play kept us in it along with our goaltender, and we kind of regrouped and raised our battle level. It was nice to see us go out there and score a couple of 5-on-5 goals.”

Toews thought the game was a little ugly as well, but he was happy to get back out there, and contribute to the win. “We knew it was going to be a tight game, so we just stuck it out. But we want to be better defensively than we were,. There were some lapses, especially on the penalty kill, that weren’t good for us. But we just found a way and that’s the main thing.”

Duncan Keith said you can definitely tell when a player like Toews doesn’t suit up and skate for your team, and they really missed him on the ice. He said “He brings a lot to the table. One of the biggest things is his grittiness and his ability to play in front of the net low and know where everyone is going to be. You can never have enough of that, and sure enough, he gets the game-winner being right in the paint and making a great play.”

Toews returned after missing two games because of a right shoulder injury, and returned to save the day. Toews’ goal happened when he scored in traffic after Jonathan Quick had already made one save. Los Angeles Kings Coach Terry Maury attributed to luck, and said sometimes those things go your way, but sometimes they don’t. He commented “That’s bad luck. It almost went off Quick’s head when it came off the crossbar. I guess when you’re the Stanley Cup champions, you get lucky breaks like that. We shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position.”

This was the fourth game in a row the Kings lost, and it matched their only other losing streak this season. Anze Kopitar said if they want to be competitive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs you have to find a way to beat a team like the Blackhawks. Kopitar said “We’re definitely close to the Blackhawks, but close isn’t good enough. We have to find a way to win. We can pull together a string of shifts where we can dominate any team in the league. But for some reason, we let up. Sometimes we try to do too much and don’t do the right things, and that burns us every time.”

The Chicago Blackhawks (21-17-3,43 pts), who are 2nd in the Central Division, will face the Dallas Stars (23-13-4, 50pts) Wednesday at home. The Los Angeles Kings (22-16-1,45pts), who are now 4th in Pacific Division, will face the Nashville Predators (19-13-6, 44pts) in LA.