Corey Crawford had to withstand two 3rd period goals from the Red Wings to hold on for his second win over Detroit in six days. Tomas Tatar got the scoring starting at 7:29 of the 1st period to give the Wings a 1-0 lead. The Blackhawks got unassisted goals from Byron Froese (didn’t I have to read a bunch of poems by this guy in high school?) and Joakim Nordsrtom to take a 2-1 lead after the opening period.
Things got interesting in the 3rd period after a scoreless and rather boring 2nd period. Michigan native, and Saginaw Spirit star, gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead with another unassisted goal at 2:29 of the 3rd. Froese got his second goal of the game less than a minute later. Brent Seabrook and Michael Kostka picked up the assists on the play. Tatar cut the Hawks lead down to 4-2 with a power play goal at 12:58. Jonathan Ericsson got a slap shot past Crawford, with just 41 seconds left in the game, to make it a one goal game. Crow was able to stop two more shots in the final seconds of the game to hold on for the win.
The play their final road game of the preseason tonight in Pittsburgh versus the Penguins.
* The Brandon Saad at center experiment has ended as he was back to his familiar left wing yesterday. I had a feeling this would never see the light of day once the games counted for real and I am glad I was right.
* Good to Michael Kostka back on the ice, and contributing, after being boarded during the opening minutes of last Tuesday’s game.
* Yesterday had to be a huge thrill for Byron Froese. Not only did he score 2 goals but the second one came with Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwell on the ice. Not too shabby, kid!
* Brandon Bollig continues to have himself a heck of a preseason. Although his scoring streak ended at two, he still did a lot of the little things that will keep him in Chicago. The most notable play was a big blocked shot, after breaking his stick, while the Wings were on the power play.
* The Rockford IceHogs will losing a few of their players to the NHL this year, but they seem to have a good young crop to replace those moving on. Phillip Danault, Mark McNeill, Joakim Nordstrom and a few others could make things interesting in Rock Vegas this year. Hopefully they don’t get off to yet another piss poor start, which has been the norm of late.