Hey, Two Points Is Two Points

The game played between the Blackhawks and the Wild this evening will not go down in history as one of the more exciting games anyone has ever watched, but two points is two points so we will take it. The Wild came into this game with the majority of their normal roster ready to skate and needed Ilya Bryzgalova to get them a hugemongus big two points in the standings. The Blackhawks iced a roster of hockey players that included several that you would have a hard time trying to find a jersey for in the Blackhawks store.

The first goal given up by the BLackhawks was the very definition of puck luck. Niklas Hjalmarsson knelt to block a shot and it bounced up to the stick of Charlie Coyle and in. Spurgeon and Suter were awarded the assists on the goal. Hjalmarsson was so angry with himself that he threw his stick at the boards in frustration. The second period featured some lovely work by Ben Smith who scored to tie the game with assists from Brandon Saad and Nick Leddy. In the third period, Bryan Bickell, newly returned to the lineup after being injured throwing a hit a few games ago, scored on Bryzgalov to put the Blackhawks up 2-1. Jeremy Morin assisted on the goal. Of course, this game could not just end that way because who doesn’t love drama? With 1:54 left in the third period, Haula scored on a seemingly normal shot that Corey Crawford simply misjudged. Crawford was strong throughout the game with the exception of that shot.

Niklas Hjalmarsson had a very strong game for the Blackhawks, which was important given that Johnny Oduya was scratched just before the game started due to a lower body injury. This also shows just how useless a stat +/- is since despite his strong game, Hjalmarsson was a -2 on the night while leading the team in even strength ice time at 26:40. The lines were in the blender for most of the night but Bickell, Smith, Andrew Shaw and the usual suspects who were actually healthy enough to play in this game all put forth strong efforts.

A scary moment in the game came when Zach Parise was hit in what appeared in the replay to be the upper back by Brandon Bollig in open ice. Parise remained on the ice for a few moments and went back to the locker room. Fortunately, Parise did not seem to be too badly injured as he returned to the ice shortly thereafter.

Stars of the Game were 1) Bryan Bickell 2) Ben Smith and 3) Ryan Suter.

The advanced stats are here: Extra Skater

VISITOR 2 MINNESOTA WILD Game 77 Away Game 40 Event Summary Thursday, April 3, 2014 Attendance 21,791 at United Center Start 7:10 CDT; End 9:45 CDT Game 1148 Final HOME 3 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS Game 77 Home Game 39

SHOTS SUMMARY (Goals-Shots On Goal) EV PP SH TOT 2-25 0-2 2-27 5v5 5v4 5v3 4v5 4v4 4v3 3v5 3v4 3v3 2-23 0-2 0-2 EV PP SH TOT 2-26 2-26 5v5 5v4 5v3 4v5 4v4 4v3 3v5 3v4 3v3 2-23 0-3

FACE-OFF SUMMARY (Face-offs Won-Face-offs Total / Percentage) EV PP SH TOT 23-49/47% 1-3/33% 1-1/100% 25-53/47% EV PP SH TOT 26-49/53% 0-1/0% 2-3/67% 28-53/53%

TEAM SUMMARY

MINNESOTA WILD G A P +/- PN PIM TOI S A/B MS HT GV TK BS FW FL F% TOT SHF AVG PP SH EV 3 C COYLE, CHARLIE 1 1 +1 20:22 28 00:43 01:02 00:00 19:20 3 1 1 2 3 2 2 50 6 D SCANDELLA, MARCO +1 23:24 32 00:43 00:00 00:56 22:28 1 2 3 3 7 D BLUM, JONATHON 11:47 18 00:39 00:03 00:00 11:44 2 1 2 9 C KOIVU, MIKKO +1 22:38 30 00:45 00:58 00:00 21:40 3 2 1 6 13 32 11 L PARISE, ZACH +1 23:20 30 00:46 00:58 00:00 22:22 2 1 5 0 1 0 14 R FONTAINE, JUSTIN 1 1 14:12 21 00:40 01:02 00:00 13:10 2 1 1 15 L HEATLEY, DANY -1 08:49 11 00:48 01:02 00:00 07:47 1 2 18 C DOWELL, JAKE -1 07:09 10 00:42 00:00 00:58 06:11 1 1 3 2 2 50 19 L VEILLEUX, STEPHANE 06:26 10 00:38 00:00 00:58 05:28 1 20 D SUTER, RYAN 1 1 +1 33:11 38 00:52 01:05 01:27 30:39 3 1 2 1 21 C BRODZIAK, KYLE -2 17:17 26 00:39 00:00 01:02 16:15 2 1 1 2 1 7 5 58 24 L COOKE, MATT 15:43 23 00:41 00:00 01:02 14:41 2 2 3 25 D BRODIN, JONAS -1 22:00 29 00:45 00:55 00:29 20:36 2 2 1 1 26 L MOULSON, MATT 17:44 24 00:44 00:55 00:00 16:49 2 1 1 29 R POMINVILLE, JASON 19:45 25 00:47 00:58 00:00 18:47 1 2 1 2 0 100 39 D PROSSER, NATE -2 13:24 19 00:42 00:00 01:08 12:16 1 1 46 D SPURGEON, JARED 1 1 +1 25:19 35 00:43 01:02 00:00 24:17 1 1 3 2 56 L HAULA, ERIK 1 1 +1 1 2 15:30 25 00:37 00:00 00:00 15:30 5 1 1 1 6 5 55 30 G BRYZGALOV, ILYA 1 33 G CURRY, JOHN TEAM PENALTY 1 2 TEAM TOTALS 2 3 5 0 2 4 27 18 9 30 2 0 18 25 28 47 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS G A P +/- PN PIM TOI S A/B MS HT GV TK BS FW FL F% TOT SHF AVG PP SH EV 2 D KEITH, DUNCAN +1 26:46 33 00:48 00:54 01:05 24:47 1 1 1 2 1 4 D HJALMARSSON, NIKLAS -2 27:35 33 00:50 00:00 00:55 26:40 2 1 4 5 D RUNDBLAD, DAVID +1 09:21 13 00:43 00:00 00:00 09:21 1 2 5 1 3 7 D SEABROOK, BRENT 26:24 37 00:42 01:06 01:05 24:13 1 3 1 4 8 D LEDDY, NICK 1 1 +1 13:33 18 00:45 01:06 00:00 12:27 2 2 1 10 R SHARP, PATRICK -1 20:55 25 00:50 01:26 00:00 19:29 2 3 1 2 1 67 11 L MORIN, JEREMY 1 1 +1 1 2 08:56 14 00:38 00:00 00:00 08:56 1 2 12 C REGIN, PETER +1 09:35 14 00:41 00:00 00:00 09:35 1 1 1 3 3 50 16 C KRUGER, MARCUS -1 17:00 27 00:37 00:34 01:45 14:41 1 1 6 4 60 17 D BROOKBANK, SHELDON -1 25:27 31 00:49 00:00 00:55 24:32 1 2 1 2 1 20 L SAAD, BRANDON 1 1 +1 16:30 21 00:47 01:06 00:00 15:24 3 1 2 3 40 23 R VERSTEEG, KRIS +1 1 2 17:52 24 00:44 00:54 00:00 16:58 3 1 1 1 0 1 0 28 R SMITH, BEN 1 1 +1 18:08 24 00:45 00:52 01:41 15:35 1 1 3 7 4 64 29 L BICKELL, BRYAN 1 1 +1 09:56 14 00:42 00:00 00:00 09:56 4 1 1 42 C NORDSTROM, JOAKIM -1 13:39 24 00:34 00:00 00:19 13:20 2 1 2 1 1 50 52 L BOLLIG, BRANDON -1 12:48 22 00:34 00:00 00:00 12:48 1 2 5 65 C SHAW, ANDREW -1 22:08 23 00:57 00:54 00:00 21:14 1 6 7 8 47 81 R HOSSA, MARIAN -1 21:27 27 00:47 01:08 00:15 20:04 3 1 1 1 1 31 G RAANTA, ANTTI 50 G CRAWFORD, COREY TEAM TOTALS 2 3 5 0 2 4 26 18 8 26 7 5 18 28 25 53

G=Goals A=Assists P=Points +/-=Plus/Minus PN=Number of Penalties PIM=Penalty Minutes TOI=Time On Ice SHF=# of Shifts AVG=Average Time/Shift S=Shots on Goal A/B=Attempts Blocked MS=Missed Shots HT=Hits Given GV=Giveaways TK=Takeaways BS=Blocked Shots FW=Faceoffs Won FL=Faceoffs Lost F%=Faceoff Win Percentage PP=Power Play SH=Short Handed EV=Even Strength OT=Overtime TOT=Total

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