Recap : Hawks Lose To Penguins In A Shootout

I didn’t think there was anything more pointless than a shootout until I saw a shootout to end a preseason game. The Blackhawks started the scoring the same way they did on Tuesday versus the Red Wings, with a Patrick Sharp goal. Sharpie scored his second goal of the preseason with a wrist shot at 5:19 of the 1st period. Drew LeBlanc and Ben Smith picked up assists on the play. The Penguins tied the game up with a power play goal from Derrick Pouliot at 9:25 and took the lead at 16:53 on a Joe Vitale wrist shot.

Sidney Crosby gave the Pens a 3-1 lead just over 4 minutes into the 2nd period. Ben Smith scored an unassisted short handed goal at 12:17 to get the Hawks back into the game.

Brandon Bolling, of all people, tied the game up at 13:07 of the 3rd period. 2013 1st round pick Ryan Hartman got the puck over to Bollig during a scrum in front of the net. Sheldon Brookbank was credited with the secondary assist.

The game went into a shootout after a scoreless overtime period in which Pittsburgh outshot the Hawks 4-2. Beau Bennett, who sounds like a character out of one of those trashy romance paperbacks, was the only player to score in the shootout. Patrick Kane, Teuvo Teravainen and LeBlanc were all stopped by Tomas Vokoun.

The Blackhawks are right back at it tomorrow night in Washington DC versus the Capitals.

* Ben Smith has cemented a place on this team as he now has 2 goals and assist so far in the preseason. Scoring while shorthanded should also give him the first shot at Michael Frolik’s vacated spot on the penalty kill once the games start to count.

* I have to give some big time credit to Brandon Bollig. This kid gets that the days of the non skilled enforcer are over and he is trying to bring more to his game. He stayed in Chicago all summer to train and work on his conditioning and the hard work seems to be paying off. His skating has improved big time over the last year. He has a very underrated wrist shot that he never gets to showcase. I have given him a bunch of crap over the last couple of years, but I think his progression could be very intriguing to watch over the year.

* The Hawks were 0 for 6 on the power play for the second straight game. I know it is nothing to freak about yet but would it kill them to get a little bit of confidence by scoring a couple of PPGs in the preseason?

* Brandon Saad struggled at the dot again going just 5 for 15 on draws. Marcus Kruger was not very good either only winning 4 of his 12 faceoffs. The only Blackhawks to win over 50% of this faceoffs was Teuvo Teravainen who went 9 for 16.

* Even thought he didn’t rack up any points, Patrick Kane led the team with 7 shots on goal.

* Sheldon Brookbank most likely secured the 7th defenseman slot with play tonight. He had four shots on goal to go along with his assist. He also had 3 hits and finished a +2 on the night.

Talking Points