Chicago Blackhawks Escape Carolina With 3-1 Victory

The Chicago Blackhawks were embarrassed on Saturday night so the question heading into Monday night’s game was, would the Blackhawks come out pissed off and focused or come out the way they did Saturday with no hustle or heart.  Here is how things went down in Raleigh, North Carolina on Monday.

FIRST PERIOD

The Carolina Hurricanes controlled much of the play in the first few minutes of the contest including an early powerplay that the Chicago Blackhawks easily killed off. The period swung in the Blackhawks favor when the Hurricanes in their own end let Andrew Shaw set up in the slot and Marcus Kruger found him from behind the Hurricanes net and just like that it was 1-0 Hawks.

The Hawks kept the pressure up with Marian Hossa with a very nifty pass to Patrick Sharp who didn’t miss to make it 2-0.  Two of the Hawks that really needed a spark where Sharp and Shaw and both of them were on the board in the first period. Carolina held the shot lead 10-9 after one period but Corey Crawford wasn’t tested that much in the first period.

SECOND PERIOD

Well, the good feelings the Blackhawks had after the first period was a vanishing thought in the second period.  In what appeared to be a replay of the Dallas Stars game the Chicago Blackhawks were on their heels for most of the period and were out shot by a ridiculous 19-6 amount.

The only goal of the period was created by Eric Staal who got behind Duncan Keith and Niklas Hjalmarsson and the rebound came off nicely to Victor Rask and just like that it was 2-1.  The Blackhawks have to be very lucky they still have the lead after 2 periods because Corey Crawford was able to stop everthing else the Hurricanes fired at him.

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After the very solid start by the Hawks this period was very discouraging, hopefully they can turn it around in the third period.

THIRD PERIOD

The Carolina Hurricanes didn’t stop bringing it and it appeared that the Blackhawks were just holding on for dear life in the third period. The shot chart looked like it had it all wrong with the Hurricanes just destroying the Hawks by 20 more shots but Corey Crawford stood tall all night long.  The Blackhawks didn’t put the game away for good until Andrew Shaw took a pass from Joakim Nordstrom and put it into an empty net after the Captain blocked the Hurricanes final shot.

It wasn’t pretty but it’s 2 points in the books and the Blackhawks are heading to Philadelphia on Wednesday with a victory and in the end that’s all that matters at this point

– Corey Crawford picked up his 3oth win of the season and was the #1 star

– Jonathan Toews picked up his 500th point on the final play

-Joel Quenneville notched his 750th victory, third highest all-time

HAWKS WIN!!!!!

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