Author Archives: Brad Gardner

Complete effort drives Hawks over Ducks 4-1

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment
photo: Yahoo! Sports

By Brad Gardner

Ray Emery earned another start in net with the Anaheim Ducks in town and helped the Blackhawks beat his former team by a score of 4-1. Emery’s shutout bid was spoiled by Teemu Selanne with less than two minutes to play in the game, but the veteran goalie turned in another strong start for Chicago in collecting his fourth consecutive win in as many starts.

Emery’s cause was aided by the effort of the skaters in front of him. For all the ink the ‘Hawks top players have earned so far this season, it was Jamal Mayers and the fourth line that opened the scoring for Chicago at the 6:37 mark of the first.

Andrew Brunette won the puck on the forecheck against Francois Beauchemin and passed it to an open Mayers behind the net. Jonas Hiller was slow to cover his post and Mayers was able to flip the puck off the goalie and into the net.

Chicago extended the lead quickly at the start of the second after pressure from Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp gave the ‘Hawks possession in the Duck zone. Sharp picked up a loose puck and fed Hossa driving in all alone on Hiller. Hossa powered the backhander through the legs of Hiller just over a minute into the second period to put the Blackhawks up by a pair of goals. Read more »

Share

Posted in Blackhawks, Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hawks tie Sharks late, Sharp wins it again in OT

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks salvaged two points from the reeling San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening at the United Center.

Starting goaltenders Ray Emery and Antti Niemi limited the scoring all night and it took a late push from Chicago to force the overtime. Patrick Sharp, skating in his first game since the birth of his first daughter on Friday, potted the overtime game-winner off a Niemi rebound to seal the comeback victory for the ‘Hawks.

Former Blackhawks’ netminder Niemi closed the door on a handful of high-quality chances from his former teammates in the opening period. Viktor Stalberg was robbed on the first shift of the game after he was set up by Jonathan Toews on the doorstep, but Niemi denied him with the pad. Not all of his saves were clean, but he extended his shut-out streak of the ‘Hawks to four periods going back to his November 23rd shutout.

At the other end of the rink, Ray Emery did his part in keeping his team in the game. Read more »

Share

Posted in Blackhawks, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Hossa strikes twice; Hawks hit right notes in St. Lou

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment
Hossa Face – photo: Yahoo! Sports

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks brought a better effort in the second half of the back-to-back, downing the division rival St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-2.

Ray Emery earned his fourth win of the season over the Blues’ Brian Elliott, who has been one of the league’s top goalies so far this season. The see-saw opening 30 minutes included the Blues relinquishing a pair of one-goal advantages to the ‘Hawks before Chicago’s special teams took over in the middle frame to capture and secure the lead for the visiting Blackhawks.

Blues forward David Perron returned to the line-up for his first game since November 4th, 2010, having missed 97 games while he was out with a concussion. In his second shift of the game, Perron continued his torment of the Blackhawks with the game’s opening goal.

Patrik Berglund’s centering pass deflected off a Chicago skate and rolled directly onto Perron’s stick in front of the Chicago goal. The winger had time and patiently played the puck to his forehand before roofing his shot over a downed Emery. Steve Montador was the closest ‘Hawk, but was unable to make the play with his stick as it was tangled up in Blues forward Matt D’Agostini. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Blackhawks skid hits 3; Niemi Says No

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Brad Gardner| 1 Comment

By Brad Gardner

Despite a better effort at both ends of the ice from the Blackhawks, it was still not enough to get past Antti Niemi and the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. Despite a pronounced lead in the shot count and possession time, the Blackhawks fell by a score of 1-0 for their third consecutive regulation loss.

San Jose was strong out of the gate, registering four shots on Corey Crawford in the first four and a half minutes. The Sharks’ offense was limited by a couple penalties as well as Chicago’s puck possession and managed only one shot through the last 15 minutes of the first.

The ‘Hawks finished the first with 10 shots on Niemi, including a pair of breakaways. Brent Burns whiffed on clear and Marian Hossa picked up the loose puck but shot high. Bryan Bickell broke in alone shortly after, but Niemi was able to square up and snuff out another chance.

Momentum went back and forth in the second period as the team’s traded penalties and prime scoring chances. Jamie McGinn rang a shot off the post just after a San Jose power play ended and then leveled Chicago defenseman Nick Leddy for good measure. Hossa had another great opportunity when he split between the San Jose defensive pairing of Douglas Murray and Dan Boyle but his backhand shot went off the outside of the net. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Boots to Asses: Oilers 9, Blackhawks 2

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment
photo credit: Yahoo! Sports

By Brad Gardner

The speed and skill of the Oilers put the Blackhawks on their heels early and the result was the worst whooping of the year for Chicago. Careless play with the puck and a parade to the penalty box in the second period sealed Chicago’s fate in their 9-2 shellacking at the hands of the young guns in Edmonton.

Ales Hemsky opened the scoring in the first minute by carrying the puck with speed into the zone and eluding a hip check by Steve Montador. The veteran winger had a clear lane to the net and beat Chicago’s starter Ray Emery over the glove.

Patrick Sharp knotted the game at one goal apiece just a couple minutes later. The first power play unit notched another goal after Sharp picked up a rebound off the post and beat Nikolai Khabibulin.

The speed of the Oilers started to wreak havoc for the Blackhawks, though, and the home team rattled off four unanswered goals through the rest of the first period. Ryan Jones scored a goal from a horrible angle against Emery and it was downhill from there for the ‘Hawks. Ryan Smyth’s team-leading 11th goal of the season came on a good set-up from Jordan Eberle, putting the Oilers up 3-1 just 7:32 into the first period. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Emery, Blackhawks stop Calgary 4-1

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment

By Brad Gardner

Ray Emery got the call in the Blackhawks return to the United Center Friday night against the Calgary Flames, turning in his best effort of the season in Chicago’s second straight win. Goals from Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook turned out to be enough as the ‘Hawks held on to a lead in the third period for a 4-1 victory.

Duncan Keith, playing in his 500th career NHL game, opened the scoring 12:09 into the first period. Patrick Sharp sent a shot on net and Miikka Kiprusoff kicked out a juicy rebound into the slot. The Flames goalie attempted to play a shot from the closest ‘Hawk, but Dan Carcillo was taken out of the play by defenseman Scott Hannan. The puck continued out to Keith, who ripped a slap shot past Kiprusoff as he was caught out of position.

Despite a pair of power play opportunities later in the first, Chicago took the one goal lead into the intermission. Ray Emery was a big part of the lead as well, keeping Calgary off the board with a number of saves against traffic in front of the net. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , ,

Lecavalier-St. Louis connection beat Hawks in OT; Stamkos nets hat trick

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Brad Gardner| 2 Comments

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks spent a majority of the first period in the offensive zone. Viktor Stalberg accounted for four of the Blackhawks’ 15 shots in the opening frame. He also missed the net four times, including an excellent set-up by Andrew Brunette coming out from behind the net.

Tampa was not without their chances in the first – the Lightning kept pace in terms of shots for much of the first half of the period. Ray Emery was strong on his post against a couple stuff attempts from Ryan Malone and he came up with a big save against Steven Stamkos on a breakaway as well. The second half of the period was all-Hawks as Tampa Bay did not register a shot over the final eight minutes of the period.

The scoreless first gave way to a couple quick strikes to start the second period. Stamkos notched his seventh goal of the season just 15 seconds into the middle frame, cashing in on a rebound from Emery after a shot from Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Patrick Sharp tied it less than a minute later, scoring the Hawks’ first power play goal since October, 22nd against Colorado. Jonathan Toews saucered a backhand pass across the crease to Sharp, who buried the puck in the wide open net. Chicago controlled the puck in the offensive zone for the full half minute that they spent on the power play, helped in part by Brent Seabrook making a nice play to keep the puck in the zone at the blue line. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Panthers tie late, Blackhawks prevail in shootout 3-2, in gorgeous FLA

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks survived their first game of the Florida road trip, squeaking past the Panthers by a score of 3-2 in a shootout. The win brought Chicago’s shootout record back up to 2-2 and extended the team’s current winning streak to three games.

Jonathan Toews put the Blackhawks up 1-0 just over four minutes into the first period. Defenseman Sean O’Donnell cleared his zone with a flip pass towards the offensive end. The puck was collected by Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who played to his defensive partner Mike Weaver. Toews descended on the unsuspecting Weaver and forced the turnover to Andrew Brunette. The winger returned it to Toews as he crashed the net and the Hawks captain tipped the puck past the rookie Markstrom for the first goal of the game.

The Panthers out-shot the Hawks 15-7 in the opening frame but were unable to solve Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford. Scottie Upshall led the Florida attack with five shots.

Despite the shot disparity, Chicago extended their lead at the 5:41 mark of the second period. Patrick Kane carried the puck into the zone on the rush as Andrew Brunette attacked the front of the net. Brunette drew Kulikov closer to the crease and gave Kane a lane to pass across the zone to an open Marian Hossa. He ripped a quick one-timer between the legs of Markstrom to put the Hawks up by two goals. Read more »

Share

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Hawks lay the goose in Carolina

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Brad Gardner| Leave a comment

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks opened flat and never recovered in Carolina, dropping just their second game of the season in regulation by a score of 3-0. Cam Ward and Corey Crawford dueled through the first two periods, but the Hurricanes were able to break through for a pair of goals in the third to put the Blackhawks away.

The Hawks got a great first shift from the Jonathan Toews line, but Carolina got on the board first just over three minutes into the first period. When the two fourth line centers squared off for a faceoff to Corey Crawford’s left, Tim Brent tied up Marcus Kruger‘s stick and passed back to Tim Gleason at the point. Gleason’s wrist shot was deflected in the slot by Brent, the puck jumping off his stick and into the back of the net.

Later in the period, Patrick Kane was called for a double minor high-sticking penalty at the 14:27 mark of the first. It was actually the stick of Dan Carcillo that clipped Eric Staal just after the faceoff, forcing the Carolina captain to immediately make his way to the dressing room. The Canes power play unit, having gone just 1-for-13 over their last three games, managed only three shots on Crawford during the four minutes of man advantage time. Read more »

Share

Posted in Blackhawks, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Avs tie game late, beat Hawks 5-4 in shootout

Posted on October 23, 2011 by Brad Gardner| 2 Comments

By Brad Gardner

The Blackhawks and Avalanche met for the second time in three nights as they took the ice for the back half of their home-and-home series. Corey Crawford and Semyon Varlamov again started between the pipes after an excellent duel Thursday night in Colorado, but neither would have such a strong showing in Saturday’s tilt.

After the Blackhawks carried play for a bulk of the first period, Colorado began to turn the tables in the  second half of the frame. The Avs eventually took the lead at the 16:09 mark of the first on a redirect in front of Corey Crawford. Paul Stastny beat everyone to a puck on forecheck and passed back to his blue line. Working his way across the slot, Stastny got his stick on a puck from Kyle Quincey and redirected it past Crawford to put Colorado on the board first.

The Avs took the one goal lead to the locker room, but it would not last long in the second. Michael Frolik brought the game even just 46 seconds into the middle period. Erik Johnson attempted an ill-advised pass up the center of the ice that was picked off by Frolik. He was wide open right in front of Varlamov’s net and buried the chance for his first goal of the season. Read more »

Share

Posted in Brad Gardner, Game recap

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,