Hawks subdue Havlat & Wild 3-1

Martin Havlat returned to the UC in a new uniform, and probably wished he was wearing the Indian head considering how Minnesota has struggled so far this season, particularly on the road, to score & to win. 

Unfortunately for Havlat, he was on the ice for two Hawk goals, giving him a -2 on the night against his x-teammates, as the hawks took control of the game in the 2nd, again taking advantage of a couple of rebounds as they did Saturday to beat Nashville.  It looked like a repeat performance until Brunette pounced on a loose puck after a scramble in front of Huet during the Wilds' 5th powerplay early in the 3rd. The hawks had a chance to clear, but failed to control the bouncing puck in front of Huet, which found its way to an open Brunette at the side of the net with Huet unable to recover.

Kane restored the hawks 2 goal lead a few minutes later, on a great individual effort, stripping the puck from a Wild defender in the right corner, going behind the Wild net & skating out to the left side of the goal, turning and firing all in one motion and somehow finding a 1" X 3" gap in the top corner short side - how he saw that opening & found it with his back to the net was an amazing display of skill -  the puck hit the bar at the back of the net & bounced out as if it had hit the crossbar, but there was no dispute or doubt - no video review was necessary to confirm the goal.

Toews & Seabrook sat out their second consecutive game & there remains doubt as to whether they will be ready for Thursday or Friday's games.  Nevertheless the hawks kept the pressure on the Wild throughout, outshooting them 35-21 on the evening, controlling much of the play despite being dominated in the faceoff circles.  The penalty kill was strong again, despite allowing the lone Minnesota goal, with Madden again leading the effort.  His veteran presence has been a key stabilizing influence on the young team so far, and he can still play at a high level. 

The power play used a tried & true formula - shot from the point with traffic in front - Brouwer was rewarded with a rebound from Keith's shot & beating a defender to the loose puck at the foot of  Backstrom's pads & tapping it in (before taking an elbow to the head) to make it 2-0, after Bolland drove to the net on Ladd's one-timer (off a Bolland feed) & fired the rebound past Backstrom to open the scoring on a nice give & go play.  Brouwer has been coming on offensively, getting his 3rd in 4 games while Bolland led the hawks forwards in ice time despite taking a costly cross-checking penalty early in the 3rd.

Huet put in another solid performance and was sharp all night - he couldn't be faulted on the lone goal having made the initial save.  It is a bit early to give the "all-clear" given that Nashville & Minnesota don't exactly provide the toughest offensive tests, but he did what he needed to win both without allowing a bad goal.  When the hawks have a healthy lineup, Huet simply needs to avoid allowing deflating soft goals to give his young team a chance, as their offense has plenty of firepower.

Sopel again played 20 minutes paired with Keith who logged 27+ minutes, with Campbell a +2 over 26 minutes.  Ebbett has shown good wheels when out there, however he is not always in synch with his linemates.  Dowell got into an early scrap, and only played 2+ minutes total in the entire game.

The only concern for the hawks on the night was in the face-off circle, where they clealry missed Toews, winning only 34% of the draws.  Madden went 5/14 & Bolland 5/17 while Koivu & Belanger won a combined 20 out of 27.

Hawks are off to Nashville again on Thursday, before facing Montreal at the UC on Friday.  Assuming Q will give Niemi a start in the back to back, it will be interesting to see which game he gets.  Given Huet's success vs. Nashville & the importance of the divisional games, I suspect Huet gets the call on the road, with Niemi getting the start at home vs. Montreal.