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Hawks Returning to Former Selves

Written by: EricC on 7th April 2010

The Good News is that the Chicago Blackhawks took down the Dallas Stars with relative ease, playing very similar to how they did when they were at the peak of their season performance. The Unfortunate News is, the Calgary Flames fell to the San Jose Sharks by a single goal. The Hawks continue to trail the Sharks in the Western Conference by a mere two points, but they still maintain a game in hand. If Chicago can pull out three more wins, they will enter the Playoffs in the first seed position.

Another bright note on this win was the Hawks set some new records! This win gave them number 50 for the season, just beating the previous record of 49. According to the Blackhawks website, “the Blackhawks tied the franchise record for points in a season on Tuesday, hitting the 107-point mark. The win was also the team’s 22nd of the year on the road, also tying an organization record.” As far as Players go, Marian Hossa continued to increase his goals with the Blackhawks organization, while Patrick Kane hit a new high in his NHL career for goals.

You couldn’t have asked for a better starting to this game. Only 36 seconds into it, Hossa gave Chicago an early lead. Then, with about 30 seconds left in the first period, Colin Fraser made it a two goal lead off an assist from Brent Seabrook. Early in the second period, Jonathan Toews put in his first NHL Short Handed goal, giving him his 24th goal of the season.

Seven minutes into the second period, the Stars put in their first goal during a Power Play. However, it wasn’t enough to break the Hawks spirits. Two and a half minutes into the third period, Fraser had his second goal of the game, and his fourth of the season. Kane followed up a few minutes later with his 30th goal of the season, making it 5-1. Before the game could end, Dallas put in one more shot, but they trailed by too much to comeback.

While goal tending for the Hawks has been a roller coaster ride this season, Antti Niemi was looking very solid against the Stars. 26 saves for Niemi helped lift his team to their record breaking victory. With only three games left in the Regular Season, and the Playoffs ahead, Niemi needs to maintain this mode and he might be walking away as one of the youngest goalies to lead his team to a Stanley Cup Victory.

Chicago’s next game will be up against the St. Louis Blues. Hopefully, the Hawks can get over the trouble they had with the Blues a few games back and beat this team they know they can beat. The game will take place Tonight, April 7, at 7:30 P.M. CT.