The game on Friday night was supposed to be a homecoming for Patrick Kane, but the Hawks star as we all know is injured and out for the rest of the regular season so it was up to the Chicago Blackhawks to pick up 2 points in their quest for home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.
FIRST PERIOD
Right from the start, you could see that the Buffalo Sabres were pretty uninterested in playing out the string, and the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t give them any room to find some confidence in the first period. Very early into the period Duncan Keith fired a slap shot that easily beat the Sabres goalie.
The Blackhawks dominated possession and seemed to be in the Sabres zone most of the period, and towards the middle of the period, Patrick Sharp made a nice toe-drag move and the puck squeezed into the back of the net for a 2-0 Blackhawks lead.
The Sabres started throwing their bodies around, and it seemed to slow the game down a bit but they boarded Antione Vermette with less than a second left so the Hawks start the 2nd period on the powerplay up 12-11 on the shot chart and 2-0 on the scoreboard.
SECOND PERIOD
The second period was a real snoozer with the Chicago Blackhawks really sleepwalking through the period. The sleepwalking turned into a goal as a rebound was thrown past Scott Darling, only his 2nd goal given up in the last 10 periods.
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The Blackhawks offense was pretty dormant for most of the period and really dormant in the 2nd half of the period when the Chicago Blackhawks were out shot 12-1. The Blackhawks need the 2 points and a one goal lead is pretty sketchy heading into the third period..
THIRD PERIOD
The Chicago Blackhawks slow 2nd period didn’t disappear in the third period when the Chicago Blackhawks took an early penalty and a minute later a a deflection was behind Scott Darling for the game tying goal. To make matter worse the Sabres took the lead in the third period and it wasn’t looking good for the Chicago Blackhawks in the third period against the worst team in the NHL.
NEVER FEAR!! Jonathan Toews said enough was enough in the final 2 minutes. Toews won a draw and then put in the rebound to tie the game, and then he took a pass from Brandon Saad on a 2 on 1 and easily beat the Sabres goalie for the game winning goal!!
HAWKS WIN HAWK WIN!!!
-The Hawks played about 12 good minutes but it was enough.
– Scott Darling picked up his 9th victory of the season.
– The Blackhawks will be fighting St. Louis on Sunday night for 2nd place in the Central Division.
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