Chicago Blackhawks Face Vancouver Canucks

Written by: EricC on 22nd October 2009

This was the first match up between the Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks since the Blackhawks knocked them out of the playoffs later season. Unfortunately, the Canucks wanted revenge, and they came out strong in the second and third period, determined to win. Two of their three goals came off Power Plays. The Blackhawks record is now 5-3-1.

The Blackhawks looked great in the first period; Duncan Keith had the first goal of the game off a pass from Cam Barker. They even out shot Vancouver, 10-6. However, that ratio would flip as the game went on.

Vancouver came out early in the second period, tying the game up at one. However, right before the end of the period, Patrick Kane skated around one of the Canuck defenseman, passed it off to Keith. Keith smashed it towards Troy Bouwer, who was standing at the side of the net, and he easily deflected the pass in the net to give the Blackhawks the lead again.

The Canucks really came out tough in the third period, taking 13 shots on Niemi. Half way through the period, they managed to tie up the game again off a Power Play goal. With less than five minutes left in play, they intercepted a short pass from Brian Campbell to Patrick Kane, resulting in a quick goal. The Hawks were unable to come back in the short amount of time.

Antti Niemi, the Blackhawks 26 year old back up goalie, had his third start of the season. Despite the loss, Niemi did pretty well in the goal, saving 28 shots, many occurring during Canuck power plays. It is still unsure whether Coach Q will replace Cristobal Huet with Niemi for the Number 1 Goalie position, but it is obvious that Niemi is really fighting for the position.

The Blackhawks will try to regain their winning streak this Saturday when they take on the Nashville Predators. This will be the second match up between the two team this season; the previous game resulted in a Blackhawks win, so hopefully we can expect the same results.