Chicago ended their three-game home losing streak and put up a solid overall effort against a good San Jose team tonight, beating the Sharks by a final score of 5-2.
The first period was a busy one, with both teams getting some chances. Chicago got on the board first with Trevor van Reimsdyk scoring his first NHL goal! Toews won a faceoff that went right to van Riemsdyk, who had already had a couple of good chances, and he blasted it from the point for a well-deserved goal. The ‘Hawks added another on a Seabrook blast from the blue line after a nice pass from Brad Richards. Niklas Hjalmarsson added his first goal of the season just 24 seconds later and the ‘Hawks had an impressive 3-0 lead. The Sharks made it 3-1 on a goal by Joe Pavelski. Shaw lost a faceoff; nobody was covering Justin Braun at the point and Pavelski tipped in his shot to make it 3-1.
San Jose cut the Chicago lead to 3-2, as Pavelski added his second goal of the night on the power play about 5 minutes into the second, after Andrew Shaw was called for high sticking Joe Thornton. Other than that goal, however, the second was pretty uneventful, with the Blackhawks only managing 6 shots on goal.
The third period remained uneventful until Bryan Bickell scored to make it 4-2. It was a great effort by Bickell, who was able to work behind the net, hold on to the puck and turn around to fire off a wrister that hit the post and went in. Toews added the empty netter to make it 5-2 and put this one away.
The goals came early and often, and after that first period, the game settled down a bit. Corey Crawford looked strong, especially in the second period, to keep the ‘Hawks with the lead. It was certainly nice to see the ‘Hawks putting up 5 goals, especially on a team like San Jose. Not too much else to say about this one, other than it was a nice win and hopefully Chicago can keep up the momentum.
The ‘Hawks will welcome Steven Stamkos and the Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning to the United Center on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.