Crawford, Blackhawks Beat Habs, Lose Anisimov
In a prime time matchup of Original Six foes, the Blackhawks and Canadiens featured a couple of the game’s elite netminders. Both were tested, but one stood taller.
The first period saw Montreal out-shoot Chicago 11-4 – and the Blackhawks had the only power play of the period with Andrew Shaw in the box.
Only one goal was scored in the opening 20 minutes, and it came from red-hot Patrick Kane.
Artem Anisimov picked up the primary assist on Kane’s 31st of the season, setting a new career-high with 45 points. Unfortunately, his night ended later in the first period when Alex Radulov collapsed into his lower left leg. Anisimov stayed down and was helped from the ice without putting weight on his left leg.
Anisimov did not return.
The Hawks came out with obviously needed line adjustments to start the second period. Nick Schmaltz moved to between Kane and Artemi Panarin and Ryan Hartman moved up to skating with Jonathan Toews and Richard Panik. Dennis Rasmussen, back in the lineup, moved into Hartman’s slot on the third line.
Chicago got out-shot again in the second, this time 14-11. The Hawks were short-handed twice in the second, but Corey Crawford was on point. Crawford took a Shea Weber shot clean to the face at one point and was understandably knocked on his ass, but recovered to keep the Habs off the board.
Corey Crawford faces the ultimate nightmare and lives to tell the tale. This Weber shot is the hardest I've seen hit a mask from that range. pic.twitter.com/Jt9zuR4UB5
— InGoal Magazine (@InGoalMedia) March 15, 2017
Meanwhile, the Hawks made their shots count again. Johnny Oduya unloaded a missile to extend the lead to 2-0.
Moments after the Oduya goal, Panik charged the net and had a great chance. He got Carey Price down but couldn’t elevate the puck. Hawks coach Joel Quenneville used his challenge on the play as the puck was trapped under Price’s leg and the net was knocked loose, but there wasn’t clear evidence that the puck crossed the line.
Montreal held a 25-15 shot advantage after 40 minutes, but trailed by two.
Only 47 seconds into the third, Schmaltz set up Panarin for a beauty.
The three-goal lead held up until Paul Byron ended Crawford’s shutout bid almost 12 minutes later.
Almost four minutes later, Weber cut the lead to 3-2 with 3:28 left in regulation.
Montreal pulled Price with 98 seconds left and the Hawks took advantage. Kane found Toews who flipped a backhand shot into the empty net to make the score 4-2.
And that’s where the score would end. Crawford made a couple more fantastic saves in the final seconds to hang on to the lead, and Chicago moved into first place in the division.
Chicago has won nine of their last ten road games and came out of Montreal with an impressive win against a top Eastern Conference opponent.
Crawford stayed undefeated against his home town team and was spectacular. He made 40 saves against 42 tough shots.
Kane led the offense with three points (one goal, two assists) while Toews won 13 of 23 faceoffs with two hits and his 18th goal of the season. Kane also had three hits.
Schmaltz struggled at the dot after replacing Anisimov, winning only two of 14. But he added an assist and blocked shot.
Brent Seabrook blocked seven shots to lead a strong defensive effort in front of Crawford. Chicago blocked 31 shots, including four each from Hartman and Hossa. Tanner Kero and Jordin Tootoo led Chicago with four hits. Kero was also credited with three blocked shots in 14:50.
Arty is ok, eh.
Q said AA is day to day and not as bad as they had feared and they’ll know more tomorrow. That is about as good news as we could have hoped for after seeing Radulov fall on AA’s leg. Hopefully he won’t be out too long.
But, Schmaltz looked good again between 72-88. He stinks at the dot but you can see he can play at the elite speed of Panarin and Kane – play recognition and speed of execution is very good. The one complaint in the 0-zone is to shoot when that is the best option rather than try to wait for a pass to open up and end up waiting too long to do anything.
Crawford again – WOW! He always plays well in his home town and he didn’t disappoint tonight.
Nice to move in to 1st place by a point although the Wild do have that game in hand. Kane moved into 1st place in the scoring race pending what McDavid does in his game tonight.
Good
Crow
Kane
Kero- the kid labelled a few guys… didn’t know he had it in him
22/16/88 line – was actually pretty good – albeit versus lower lines… in small sample
I thought Hartman and Hoss played well on D side… but both were fumbling the puck a lot on the O side of things
Assuming AA goes IR… Perhaps Hino is recalled… wonder if that means we get a
taste of Prospect camp line of Hino/Hayden/Hartman… would Love it!
Think 67 was going about his business and he got tripped up on 65 somehow near boards, leg. After that thats when Kero engaged. Loved the guy who tried to hit Hartman after Keros clean hit.
Nice win boys! Crow was superb- defensive brain farts still happenin’- this needs to be tightened up for playoffs and decide on bottom 6. TVR looks shakey still and needs head on the swivel more!
Amen, Ebony on Schmaltz needing to shoot. He squandered at least 2 grade A chances because he seemed to feel that while playing with the creative guys he could not just simply shoot…but that was the only play the Habs were allowing (they had good coverage) and he just held the puck and got no chance at all both times.
He needs to feel confident enough to shoot when it’s the right play regardless of his linemates.
Boy what a fun game to watch great energy……
Absolutely love what I am seeing from Campbell right now. His mobility and passing have been fantastic. The way he spins out of trouble and keeps possession of the puck in the defensive zone are a thing of beauty. He has bought into Q’s “active stick” theory on defense as well.
Great to see.
Nothing is better than sitting down to a Hawks game and getting reward with a strong game like tonight. Not a lot of negatives. This seems looks poised going into the Playoffs and frankly has looked MUCH better than I anticipated.
Gentlemen, the last two games have been great entertainment and the wins very welcome. BUT!! 40+ saved, I thought the Hawks have possibly 2 if not 5 of the best D-men. This not the PO’s yet. Also, when the opposition does score I see #’s 2, 4, 7, 27, 19, 72, & 88 out there. I this not the core? CC is stellar, he is also human. Has any other goalie faced that many shots in two consecutive games? This is not puck/game control.
Another question is this Hayden really that good? His team is done, yet about one third of the college teams are still playing for the NCAA Championship. There are a lot of first year men on the Hawks producing that had to put in time in Rockford, how is this going to set (chemistry of team)?
Kero lead his team from a 4-win season to a 29 wins and a NCAA berth.
Mott had his team in the NCAA at least three of the fours years. This year UM is out and below average.
Schmaltz lead UND to the NCAA Championship. This year UND is average.
They all spent time in Rockford.