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Blackhawks Continue to Knock Down Division Rivals

Written by: EricC on 27th December 2009

The Chicago Blackhawks now have a comfortable, three-game lead over the Nashville Predators, who hold the second place position in the Central Division. Chicago is 8-2 in their last ten games, grabbing four shut outs during that stretch. It is important to grab as many wins as they can now, before their eight game road trip at the end of January; however, if it goes anything like their last road trip, there won’t be any worries.

Dustin Byfuglien got his 11th goal of the season less than ten minutes into the game, off a Power Play. His long shot from the blue line was assisted by Jonathan Toews. During the seventh minute of the second period, the Predators tied up the game with a questionable goal. It looked like Cristobal Huet stopped the shot with his knee pads, but in a brief moment, the puck slowly slid out from underneath, into the goal. There was an issue of whether the puck was out of the refs sight long enough before it went in, but the ruling was overturned and a goal was added.

During the 12th minute of this period, Patrick Kane smashed in a goal to give the Hawks the lead again. A little over a minute later, Andrew Ladd made it a two goal lead with an assist from Tomas Kopecky. Then, in the final minute and a half of the period, Duncan Keith took a long shot, which was redirected by the stick of Kopecky, but hit the crossbar. Luckily, Patrick Sharp was standing close enough to pop it in before the goalie could turn around and grab it.

Huet nearly got another Shut Out, if it hadn’t been for that one, questionable goal. Regardless, he saved 25 shots, adding another win to his record, now at 17. Huet has only given up seven goals in his last six games.

The Blackhawks play again, Tonight, December 27, against the Nashville Predators. However, this time they’ll be back in Chicago. Another win will increase the gap in the division, even more. The puck drops at 6:00 P.M. CT.