By Jon Fromi
The Chicago Blackhawks skated into Anaheim Friday afternoon and took advantage of post-Thanksgiving bargains against a depleted Ducks defense. Chicago dominated most of the action on the way to a 4-1 victory.
With the win, Chicago has won four out of the first five games of its annual November road jaunt. The Hawks were in control throughout the matinee despite a game effort by Anaheim goalie Frederick Andersen.
First Period-The Hawks got their first shot on goal via Brad Richards late in the fourth minute. That attempt, gloved by Frederick Andersen, was followed by some increased offensive pressure on Chicago’s part. Anaheim put together a nice shift in the Hawks zone in the eighth minute, though Chicago eventually cleared the puck and posted the first tally of the contest.
The play saw Richards take a long pass from Brent Seabrook at the red line. Richards headed into the Ducks zone with Kris Versteeg on his left. Richards didn’t have a lane to get Versteeg the puck but the veteran fired past Andersen’s glove at 7:58 of the period for a 1-0 Hawks lead.
Chicago kept the Ducks pinned in their own zone for most of the next few minutes following the goal. The Hawks fore check paid off in the 14th minute with another goal. The scoring play was sparked by a nice no-look pass by the likes of Daniel Carcillo. The pass found Duncan Keith in the slot, where he directed a slap-pass to Andrew Shaw near the right post. Shaw guided the biscuit into the basket to put the Hawks up 2-0 at the 13:30 mark.
Anaheim halved the lead late in the period after Niklas Hjalmarsson absolutely planted Ryan Kesler with a clean hit to separate him from the puck in the Chicago zone. The loose puck found the stick of Patrick Maroon, who sent a shot off Corey Crawford and over the net. The carom off the glass came back over the crossbar. Hampus Lindholm made an excellent play to knock the puck out of midair and into the Hawks net at 16:49.
The Hawks got a chance to grab momentum back when Seabrook was tripped by Matt Beleskey. The penalty was killed by the Ducks and Chicago had to settle for a 2-1 advantage at the intermission.
Second Period-The Ducks came out hard looking to tie the contest but some active Chicago sticks broke up a couple of potential opportunities. The Hawks received another shot at the power play when Beleskey was called for interference 6:02 in. Keith set up Marian Hossa for a real good look midway through the man advantage but the shot was off to the right. Once again, Chicago was turned away by the Ducks PK.
Midway through the period, Patrick Kane got himself in front of Andersen without being checked by either of the Anaheim defensemen. Richards kept the Ducks from gaining possession of a stray Seabrook shot and helped steer it behind the net. Versteeg made a tremendous backhanded pass to Kane for the finish at the 10:36 mark to restore the two-goal advantage.
Chicago bombarded Andersen over the next three or four minutes and spent a lot of time working the puck around the Anaheim zone. Rene Bourque was called for boarding Johnny Oduya in the 15th minute and the Blackhawks were again on the power play. Hossa had a sure goal taken away by a sliding save by Andersen as the two minutes was expiring.
Crawford made an outstanding stop of his own in the final minute on Devante Smith-Pelly. Oduya was boarded by Kyle Palmieri with nine seconds remaining, resulting in a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct on the Anaheim center. However, the officials chose to tack a bench minor on Chicago for too many men on the ice. The period ended with the teams playing 4-on-4 and the Hawks up 3-1.
Third Period-Anaheim had a couple of shots on Crawford to start the final period before the Hawks started a three-minute power play. Kane had an open net after hauling in a Versteeg rebound but couldn’t get the puck over Andersen’s left pad. Chicago got caught with too many men on the ice in the waning moments of the man advantage, ending a golden opportunity to put the game away.
The Hawks held firm on Anaheim’s first power play of the afternoon. Kane took Richards on a 2-on-1 that resulted in shots by both players, but Andersen prevented the puck from kissing cord. Keith struck the far post off a feed by Marcus Kruger at the midway point of the final frame. However, the puck failed to enter the goal and the Chicago advantage remained at two.
With 7:12 to go, Corey Perry assaulted Crawford at the left post and earned a two-minute penalty for goalie interference. Once again, Andersen and the Ducks PK prevented the Hawks from adding an insurance goal.
Jonathan Toews led an odd man rush in the 16th minute but Versteeg’s shot lacked the zip to challenge the Anaheim goalie. The Blackhawks withstood a long shift by the Ducks in the 18th minute and Andersen vacated the crease for the bench with two minutes left.
Hossa took the puck from Perry and got a crosscheck to the back for his trouble. No penalty was called, Hossa left for the locker room, and the teams headed for a neutral ice faceoff. Anaheim won the draw, bringing Andersen to the bench again. However, Shaw picked up a loose puck and found Versteeg. In turn, Versteeg passed for Kane, who lit the lamp from the blue line to effectively end the contest.
Three Stars-Richards (third), Andersen (second), Keith (first).
Thoughts
-David Rundblad committed a couple of turnovers later in the first period that amounted to nothing but frustrated me at the time. He wasn’t bad the rest of the game in his 10:55 of action but maybe Adam Clendening would have benefitted from getting those minutes. I’m still waiting to see the magic that prompted his acquisition.
-Hey! Coach Joel Quenneville spread the ice time around. Every player played double-digit minutes. Keith led the Hawks with just 24:55 played Friday.
-Perry got away with trying to take the net off its moorings after losing his stick late in the second period. Then he interfered with Crow and sat on his head. Then he delivered a cheap shot after his pocket was picked by Marian Hossa. Corey, the jerk store called…they’re running out of you.
-The Honda Center used “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” on at least two stoppages in the third period. Not sure where I’m going with this, but it just seemed strange to do with so many tunes to choose from. Plus it wasn’t Sunday.
-You gotta give a tip of the cap to Andersen, who really did everything he could to keep Anaheim in the contest. Crawford stopped 23 of 24 Ducks shots with the only blemish was a puck that was knocked in out of mid-air. Sure, Crow could have stopped it, but Pat Foley’s head may have exploded as a result.
-In that vein, Lindholm’s goal probably tempered a game-long love explosion from the broadcast booth concerning Hjalmarsson’s beautiful open-ice demolition of Kesler. But it was a beauty, eh?
-The Blackhawks travel to L.A. Saturday night for the finale of the road trip. Action in the Hall of the Kings gets underway at 9:00 p.m. our time.
Lines
Saad-Toews-Hossa
Versteeg-Richards-Kane
Bickell-Shaw-Carcillo
Nordstrom-Kruger-Smith
Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Rundblad-Rozsival
Crawford
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Jon Fromi
