Timely Goal from Bickell Gives Blackhawks Life

photo from blackhawkup.com

Another sloppy start for the Blackhawks left them with another 3-0 deficit to overcome, this time on Vezina-worthy Pekka Rinne, who before this game had a GAA of 1.81. No easy feat. Seven minutes and ten seconds later, it was tied at 3-3, before a badly timed Too Much Man call gave the Predators the go-ahead goal with about a minute and a half left in the second period. Bryan Bickell's tying goal in Game Six in Boston two years ago came with seventy six seconds left on the clock. This one? With seventy three.


Corey Crawford has had some outstandingly good saves since his return from injury last week, but what he's really been lacking in his game is a little consistency, a little knee-jerk reaction. He's been making point blank saves when he needs to, but he's been letting in soft goals, ones that he really should have had, like the 1-0 goal by Roman Josi. There was no screen, nothing distracting him, just a wrist shot from about fifteen feet away and it sailed right by him. It's a little disheartening, because we've seen him make that save dozens of times already this season, this one he just missed.

Not that he had any help from his defencemen this game, being outshot 18-12 in the first period, and it took them until the end of regulation to even the shots up at 37-37. Johnny Oduya in particular stood out as having a bad game, several giveaways and turnovers before the 3-0 goal bounced off his skate and in. He then took a penalty (that the Blackhawks managed to kill off successfully, although they did allow a power play goal later on, finally bringing them to double digits in PPGA. They still sit at the top of the league with a penalty kill percentage of 90.5%), and finished the night pointless and with a minus two rating. Luckily, Duncan Keith stepped up, collecting three assists in almost thirty three minutes of ice time and regaining his spot on top of Chicago's blue line for points. In a one goal game, he somehow managed to finish the night a plus three.

One good thing about last night's game? All the Chicago goal scorers were guys that haven't scored in a while, showing that when the team really needs them, they can pull a goal together. Brad Richards didn't have a point in his last seven, a goal in his last nine, Andrew Shaw hadn't scored in ten games, Marian Hossa's goal struggles have been well documented here and elsewhere, and this was Bryan Bickell's first goal in eight games, and only his fifth on the season. Three out of the four Blackhawks lines scored this game, and they got a rare power play goal. This game was a hard fought win, and I think either team deserved to win, but the goal scorers for Chicago is showing people that they have the kind of depth is takes to go all the way to the Conference Finals for the fourth time in six years.

My Three Stars of the Game

3. Bryan Bickell. Bickell gets a lot of criticism for being dead weight on a team as stacked as the Blackhawks, and I can't say that I disagree with that too often, but he does have a knack for big goals, like the tying one in this game. Now, if only he'd score four million dollars worth of big goals in a season...

2. Jonathan Toews. Toews has the sixth most career shootout goals in the NHL, with a success rate of 48.6% (second only to Frans Nielsen's 55.2% in the top ten skaters with the most goals). Safe to say, he's a guy that gets it done when he needs to, and if he has Corey Crawford shutting the door on the other side of the ice, then all he has to do is score. And we all know he's excellent at that.

1. Duncan Keith. Keith's been quiet for a few games, his partner Brent Seabrook picking up the slack and having a career season, but it's games like this that remind you who the top defenceman in the Chicago, possibly the NHL is.