Hawks come back to beat Sharks in OT, 4-3

Brent "Sudden Death" Seabrook scored his second dramatic OT winner this young season to cap the hawks's second come from behind OT win as they overcame a 3-1 early 2nd period deficit to beat San Jose on Jeremy Roenick "Heritage" night.  (Seabrook also scored the dramatic OT winner vs. Calgary to cap that amazing comeback from a 5 goal deficit last month).

Jonathan Toews played a strong game for the hawks, despite winning only 44% of his draws.  He set up the game winner after some determined forechecking behind the San Jose net together with Troy Brouwer, who had almost scored moments earlier, deflecting Keith's point shot, but Nabakov kicked it off to the corner where Brouwer recovered & dumped behind the net where Toews eventually gained control of the puck & fed a nice backhand pass to Seabrook who was moving in from the right point & beat Nabakov, who was moving across his crease, with a low shot.

Toews also sparked the comeback by finding Patrick Kane at the left circle with a nice saucer pass and Kane beat Nabakov on the blocker side with a high shot off the left post to make it 3-2. Then late in the 2nd,  John Madden followed up Andrew Ladd's rebound chance in front of a sprawled Nabakov, as the Sharks' defenders were uncharacteristically flat footed,  providing Nabakov with no support, & the game was tied. That came shortly after a video review that ruled the puck had not crossed the hawk goal line - the 2nd time in as many games where the hawks benefitted from inconclusive video evidence after the opposition thought they had scored & the referees did not call a goal on the ice.   The puck had bounced in behind Huet from a scramble at the side of the net & dropped right on the goal line before Huet put his glove over top of it (thereby blocking any camera view on whether it had gone on to cross the line) & swiped it out of his crease.  Play was subsequently called by the referees without any indication of a goal.

Madden also had a strong game for the hawks, going 9 for 9 on face-offs, to help offset Toews atypical shortcomings in the circle this night.  In the final seconds of the 2nd period, the hawks got away with one as Seabrook's clearance/pass attempt from behind his own net was intercepted at the point by Marleau who had a clear shot on Huet.  The hawks goaltender sprawled to make the original save, but was well out of position as Ryan Clowe picked up the rebound & shot on goal, but fortunately for the hawks, it hit the skate of Duncan Keith, who had gone down in the crease to cover for Huet, otherwise, the sharks would have taken the lead into the 2nd intermission.

The hawks opened the scoring early in the first, getting a goal from an unlikely source - Brent Sopel blasting a one-timer from the point past Nabakov who was being bothered by Bryan Bickell in front.  Sopel took a pass from Jordan Hendry who was playing forward on the 4th line. The Sharks Dany Heatley tied it later in the period, after Jason Demers beat Troy Brouwer at the point, keeping Duncan Keith's clearance attempt in the zone - Thornton then fed Heatley in the slot as the hawks defenders scrambled to get back into position & he made no mistake.

The Sharks took advantage of an extra penalty assessed against Ben Eager as a result of his fight with Doug Murray early in the 2nd.  Keith again was involved on the play that led to the goal, as he was able to intercept a pass with his active stick, but redirected it right to Jason Demers, who was moving in from the point & he quickly fired it past a startled Huet, who was still deep in his net.   Less than a minute later, Patrick Marleau picked up his own rebound after having eluded Toews for a wide open initial shot from the slot, with Huet down after making the initial save, and Marleau made no mistake, putting SJ up by 2.  It looked like the hawks might unravel after Ladd took a boarding penalty a couple of minutes later, but they managed to kill it off without too much difficulty and seemed to gain some much needed momentum from that.  Shortly afterwards, Toews, Kane & Keith combined to cut the Sharks lead in half, with Bryan Bickell also contributing as an ongoing distraction to Nabakov in front of the sharks net on the play.

In the 3rd, the hawks drew another early,  undisciplined & unecessary interference penalty by Byfuglien but they managed to hold off the top rated pp in the league again, however were also unable to capitalize against SJ's top rated penalty killing team on their own pp minutes later when Malholtra went off for high sticking Barker. 

Overall, it was another solid effort & exciting finish to a very productive 4 game home stand as the hawks moved 3 points up on streaking Detroit, before heading out on their 6 game annual circus road trip.  Noteworthy again in the win was the play of Troy Brouwer who is coming into his own as an offensive player, which is especially important given that the hawks were missing not only Bolland but Versteeg as well (he took a couple of heavy checks into the boards vs. Toronto on Friday).  Bryan Bickell impressed and was rewarded with over 12 minutes of ice time & deserving of the +2.  Duncan Keith continued his offensive hot streak with 2 assists, and could have had a 3rd as he fired the point shot that eventually led to the winning play.  He now has 7 points in his last 5 games, including a couple of goals, while getting some extra pp time added to his 25+ minutes per game..

The pre-game tribute to JR was stirring, with video highlights of his Chicago days drawing cheers from the season high UC crowd of 21,130.  Next up for the hawks, a rematch with the Calgary, who are playing well (only 1 point back of Colorado with a couple of games in hand) & will be looking to avenge blowing that 5-0 lead in Chicago last month.  The hawks will have their work cut out for them against the Flames.