How about the performance from the Blackhawks last night, especially Martin Havlat? Havlat scored 43 seconds into his first game back against the Lightning, and later scored just 12 seconds into the 2nd period, leading the way for the Hawks to grab a dominating 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay at the United Center. I’d have to give the SCH Hawks Player Of The Game award to him. Patrick Kane also had a great game, grabbing 3 assists, including an awesome no-look pass on the 4th goal of the game, which was buried by Patrick Sharp. Nice to see that they played well in front of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. Let’s hope they can keep the momentum from this game going into tomorrow night against Phoenix.
As has been the theme lately, the Hawks’ night wasn’t all great news, because they found out today that Jacob Dowell has a broken foot and will miss 2-4 weeks of action. Not a monumental loss, as Colin Fraser has been called up from Rockford and should be a capable replacement, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Dowell and hopefully it doesn’t take him too long to return back to the lineup.
Also, it hasn’t been confirmed yet online, but SportsNite on CSN reported that Jason Williams did not practice today due to groin problems again and may possibly be headed back to the injured reserve list. Tough break, as groin problems tend to linger for a while and you never know when a guy will be 100% recovered from them. James Wisniewski practiced today and is still having problems with the cut above his eye, and is unlikely to play in either of the games this weekend.