Blackhawks nip’ Canes in Shootout

The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t lose a game they should have won on Wednesday night, though they sure came close.  They did allow the Carolina Hurricanes to even up a one goal game with less than a half minute remaining.  Although the Blackhawks would go on and prevail 3-2 in a shootout, they gave up a very important point to Carolina in the process.   For the Hurricanes part, although they saw their 4 game winning streak come to an end they have to be pleased that they didn’t leave the ‘Windy City’ empty handed.

The teams would trade goals in the first two periods, with Carolina getting on the board first just over 5 minutes into the game when Rod Brind'Amour beat Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet, assisted by Sergei Samsonov and Patrick Eaves.  The Blackhawks would draw even late in the second period, when Kris Versteeg scored from Duncan Keith to send the teams to the final 20 minutes of play tied 1-1.

Chicago would score what looked to be the game winning goal at the 4:51 mark of the final period, when Troy Brouwer tallied on the power play assisted by Patrick Kane and Cam Barker.  The Hurricanes, however, were relentless and with Carolina goalie Cam Ward off for an extra attacker Tuomo Ruutu scored assisted by Ray Whitney and Eric Staal to tie the game with just: 27 seconds remaining and send the contest to overtime.   After a scoreless 5 minute overtime period, the Blackhawks would get the better of things in the shootout.

Both goaltenders played exceptionally well, with the victorious Huet stopping 29 shots and his Carolina counterpart Ward stopping 39 Blackhawk scoring attempts.  The Blackhawks’ Chris Versteeg scored the decisive goal in the shootout, and attributed his team’s success to their experience with the shootout format earlier in the season:

"We had a ton of shootouts at the start of the season. You just go down there and do whatever you have in your head. You try not to think too much. If it works, it works. If not ... not."

The ‘canes Ward, meanwhile, suggested that the outcome of a shootout is more of a ‘crap shoot’ than anything else:

"It goes off to chance in the shootout. And they've got some good players who can shoot the puck."

Blackhawks’ coach Joel Quenneville focused instead on the competitive and exciting contest the precipitated the shootout:

"Pucks were going in all over the place. It was pretty exciting out there. The game was tight and that's what we're going to see until the end."

Carolina is tied for 7^th place in the NHL’s Eastern Conference with Pittsburgh, and both teams lead 8^th place Florida by one point and the 9^th place New York Rangers by two points.  The Hurricanes will play Thursday night at Dallas and Saturday night at Washington before returning home to face the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, March 18^th.