Blackhawks start road trip with bang
CALGARY, Alberta – On a Thursday night when they scored a season-high seven goals, it was a Cristobal Huet save that got the Blackhawks rolling.
The Hawks hammered the Flames 7-1 at the Pengrowth Saddledome to kick off their six-game trip in style.
The victory was the Hawks’ fifth straight and continued their dominance over Calgary, which they knocked out of the Western Conference quarterfinals last season after sweeping the four-game regular season series.
It was also against the Flames whom the Hawks staged a miracle comeback from a five-goal deficit to win 6-5 in overtime Oct. 12 at the United Center.
They didn’t return the favor here.
Kris Versteeg had two goals and Patrick Kane added a goal and an assist on his 21st birthday to lead the offense, which exploded for four power-play goals.
“Great way to start the trip,” Kane said. “That’s a good team. We wanted to play a perfect road game and kind of play a defense-first mentality. We took it to them.”
Duncan Keith added three assists and Brian Campbell, Cam Barker and Patrick Sharp each had two. Troy Brouwer, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Ben Eager also scored to help Huet record the victory.
The Hawks ran their record to 13-5-2 overall and 3-3-1 on the road.
The offensive outburst was impressive, but the biggest play of the night was Huet’s save on Jay Bouwmeester in the second period.
With the Hawks leading 2-1, the goaltender dove through the crease and got a glove on Bouwmeester’s attempt at an open net that would have tied the score.
“That was definitely a nice response from the guys after a save like that,” said Huet, who made 27 saves to improve to 10-4-1. “It was a little bit lucky. I tried to put something in front and after that it seemed like the guys got on a nice flow and the power play got us some nice goals.”
After the save, the Hawks’ offense erupted for five goals.
“It was 2-1 in the second and [Huet] jumped across and made that big save on Bouwmeester,” Kane said. “If that goes in it could be a totally different game. After that we scored some big power-play goals.”
Leading 6-1 after two periods, the Hawks weren’t about to let off the gas in the third after the way they showed the Flames how to overcome a five-goal deficit.
“We wanted to definitely protect our net and limit the chances they were getting off,” Sharp said. “We were able to do that in the third period. You want to keep pressing the score.”
The Hawks are on a serious roll as they make the second stop on the trip Saturday night in Edmonton, followed by a game Sunday night in Vancouver. They then head to California, where they will take on San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles.
“Great game across the board,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “I was very happy with all aspects and areas of our game. Everybody contributed. It was a very solid team win. Good start.”
