Hawks stave off Habs, 3-2

The hawks got a late 3rd period goal from Patrick Sharp on a one-timer off a nice feed from Patrick Kane who had beaten a Hab to create an odd man rush for the hawks and they held off Montreal the rest of the way for the hawks 8th win on the year.

The hawks controlled most of the play in the 1st half of the game, aside from killing off an ineffective Montreal pp when Andrew Ladd drew a major/game misconduct penalty early in the 1st period for nailing D'Agostini with a high hit to the head, and a couple of back to back shifts midway in the 2nd where Montreal hemmed the hawks in their own zone, forcing an icing and a timeout call by Quenneville.  On the ensuing face-off, the hawks broke out of their own zone, beating a pinching Montreal Dman, creating on an odd man rush, drawing Montreal into a penalty, and scored on ensuring power play with Versteeg setting up Barker who had moved well in off the point for a one timer from the faceoff circle, beating Price with a slapper, to make it 2-0 Chicago.

Huet was sharp for the most part, making several point blank saves when Montreal was able to penetrate the zone or catch the hawks napping on line changes, with Price making long stretch passes to spring hab forwards into the hawk zone before the hawk Dmen coming off the bench had a chance to get in position, on a couple of occasions.    

But in a game that the hawks seemed to have well in hand late in the second period, Montreal took advantage of some shoddy play to tie it with two quick goals.  On the first, Bryan Campbell's clearing attempt of a blocked point shot went right to a wide open Cammalleri at the side of the net, with Huet still out at the top of his crease to cut down the angle on the point shot.  Cammalleri easily found the empty net to make it 2-1.  That seemed to give Montreal some life and in the dying seconds of the period, former Hawk Travis Moen, skated behind the net & banked a shot off Huet, who again was not on his post, and into the back of the net with 2 seconds left on the clock.  The goal was accompanied by a huge groan from the large crowd who obviously still had memories of Dallas's Stephane Robidas fluke goal fresh in their minds, which bounced off the corner boards towards Huet who misplayed it, leaving room between himself & the post, which it promptly found, blowing that game for the Hawks.

Fortunately for Chicago, they recovered enough in the 3rd period to regain their composure and preempt any Montreal momentum from the late 2nd period marker and thanks to some fine individual play by Kane & Sharp, were able to save Huet from further controversy and embarrassment, after he had otherwise put in a strong performance for the most part.   Hawks outshot Montreal 36-22 for the game, and won over 60% of the draws.

Brent Seabrook looked more comfortable & involved than he did his 1st game back from concussion, putting in almost 20 minutes on the night and coming away with a +2, while Keith & Campbell put in 25+ minutes, tho Campbell came away with a -2.   Hjalmarsson looked no worse for wear after going down in Nashville blocking a shot with his foot, and played over 21 solid minutes at +1.  Sopel was back at his normal 12 minutes along with his partner Barker, who finished with a goal & an assist, yet still managed a -1 on the evening.

The other notable repercussion from the game may turn out to be Andrew Ladd's illegal hit on D'Agostini - Ladd clearly left his feet during the hit - essentially exploding into D'Agostini who had his head down after eluding another hawk forechecker and if he saw Ladd, it was too late to evade the hit.  D'Agostini left the game needing to be helped off the ice & did not return & neither did Ladd, having been ejected for the hit.  While some might argue that the hit wasn't a blindside hit (like Richards hit on Booth) and was therefore clean, the fact that Ladd's feet clearly left the ice as he moved his body into the check (unlike Mitchell's clean hit on Toews) is the telling factor that he was intending to deliver a high hit with high force.

If Ladd had simply stood his ground like Mitchell, the play would still have resulted in a big hit but there would be no questions whether it was legal & he wouldn't be facing possible suspension as a result.  It represents more unnecessary & undisciplined play & penalties that the young hawk forwards need to learn to stay away from if they hope to be serious contenders this year.