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Blackhawks Clinch the Central Division

Written by: EricC on 5th April 2010

After a small rough patch towards the end of the season, the Chicago Blackhawks are trying to finish this Great Season with a bang! With only four games remaining in their regular season, the Blackhawks Clinched the Central Division on Sunday when they defeated the Calgary Flames; it has been 17 years since the Hawks were able to accomplish this. Not to mention, they are still contenders for the Western Conference Leaders, trailing the San Jose Sharks by only two points, with a game in hand.

Tomas Kopecky put a goal in early for the Hawks, giving him his tenth goal of the season, and Niklas Hjalmarsson his fifth assist. In the final minute of the opening period, Troy Brouwer made it a two goal lead for Chicago; Number 22 put in his 22nd goal of the season. During the final minutes of the second period, Patrick Kane made it a 3-0 game with an assist from Brent Seabrook. About a minute later, Calgary put in their first goal of the game,

The Flames tried to make a comeback with 11 shots in the third period, but they just couldn’t put anything in. Dustin Byfuglien put the game away with a last minute goal; Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews had an assist on the goal. Chicago has defeated Calgary in all four match-ups this season, one of which was the giant comeback game earlier in the season.

Antti Niemi pulled out his third win against the Flames, nearly shutting them out. With 25 saves, Niemi helped keep Chicago in the running for Conference Leader. With only a few games remaining, Niemi is rocking a 91.5% Save Percentage!

The Chicago Blackhawk’s next opponent will be the Dallas Stars, this Tuesday, April 6. A win in this game would not only split these two teams match-ups for the season, but it would tie Chicago with San Jose. The puck will drop at 7:30 P.M. CT.