Blackhawks Week in Review

Four Blackhawk games have come and gone since we last talked about them. That's too long, but I'll be better for you. I have to be better. Anyway, as usual I think we'll skip over the embarrassing loss to the Blues. They played, they lost, fill in the blanks.

Sunday night was no treat either, as the Sharks scored two third period goals to win 6-5. The penalty kill was, well, the death of the Hawks on Sunday as the Sharks were 4 for 6 with the man advantage.

Then Chicago hit the road to start their own circus trip. So far, the Blackhawks have gone a different direction than the Bulls on their road trip with two straight wins. How strange is the circus trip though? Well, the Blackhawks won a shootout in their first game on the trip. That just does not happen in the real world.

This miracle shootout win happened on Tuesday night at Phoenix. After Huet started in loss against the Sharks when the Hawks gave up six goals, Khabibulin was back in net for the win. Kris Versteeg and Patrick Sharp scored in regulation for the Blackhawks, putting them out to a 2-0 lead. The Coyotes got a goal in the second and another in the third to tie the game. In the shootout, Sharp and Toews got the goals, while Khabibulin made two saves.

From Phoenix, the Hawks went to Dallas and faced the Stars Thursday night. Chicago started slow as the Stars jumped out to a 10-1 advantage in shots. Of course then the Stars were hammered drunk and proceeded to lose the game 6-3. Khabibulin, who seems to have established himself as the #1 goalie, stopped 31 shots and moved to 6-1-4 on the season. Kane had two goals, scoring the first goal for the Hawks in the last minute of the first period and putting home an empty netter at the end. Chicago scored a goal in the last minute of each of the three periods.

Looking Ahead:

There are four games left in the road trip, but obviously it couldn't have gotten off to a better start. The Hawks go to Toronto tomorrow night and then out west for San Jose, Anaheim, and L.A. to finish it up. One win out of those three isn't too much to ask for the Blackhawks to come out of this trip even, but look for them to steal a point in there too. I'll say a win against the Kings and at least a point tomorrow against Toronto.