The Blackhawks made their presence known on home ice at the United Center. Chicago dealt out six goals against the Detroit Red Wings to win 6-1 Sunday night. The victory concluded the early rivalry with Chicago picking up their second win at home. The Blackhawks goaltending unit stopped 17 of 18 with Corey Crawford playing flawless during his time on ice.
The Red Wings 6-3 win over Chicago on Monday saw their youthful contingency take care of a Blackhawks lineup that had none of its best playing. With the short series switching to the windy city, the Hawks no doubt bring their best to the ice and put up a much stronger competition for Detroit. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews have had plenty of time to relax since Toews and goaltender Crawford went on to win the World Cup. With the recent confidence, playing against an Original Six rival would be another thriller on both sides.
A shot from Duncan Keith became loose near the crease of Detroit’s Jimmy Howard six minutes into the first period. It was there that Chicago native Ryan Hartman got hold of the loose puck and put one through the five hole of Howard to give Chicago the lead. Things began to calm with the Red Wings trying to keep the pace with their old rivals maintaining a close run on shots to the net.
They allowed the Blackhawks a power play that they immediately killed off sending the game to 4 on 4. Detroit then gained the remainder of the play with their power play unit looking to even up the score. Chicago used their PK unit to knock out their opportunity and create further problems for the Detroit defense. They made it 2-0 on Detroit with a drive from Andrew Desjardins who scored it five-hole on Howard all while unassisted. They finished the first period outshooting the Red Wings 12-6 with their two power play chances.
They picked up a third just two and a half minutes into the second period where they put pressure on Detroit PK to stop some of Chicago’s best that were on the ice during the man advantage. They were outdone with 28 seconds left with Chicago working well in a three-man play giving Richard Panik his first of the preseason.
The 3-0 score took its toll on the Red Wings who began to show a lack of shooting on the net of Crawford who didn’t allow much. After 11 minutes of play, the Blackhawks shot six while holding Detroit to just a pair. Crawford came off to give teammate and second string goalie Scott Darling a shot at time on the ice. He saw a shot from the Red Wings as they had a 3 on 2 rush that ended with Louis-Marc Aubrey scoring the shot that ended the shutout for Chicago.
In the final minutes of the period, Chicago struck with a great two-man play where Keith set up teammate Nick Schmaltz with a shot that caught Howard for a third time on the five hole. When the horn sounded, it was 10-9 for the Blackhawks who nearly gave up a goal to Detroit but instead held their three-goal margin.
Chicago continued their strong momentum that took them into the third period with a heavy lead that they couldn’t see themselves losing. They kept the pace high against Detroit that consistently beat them on scoring chances. After six minutes, they scored their fifth of the night on Alexandre Fortin’s goal that gave him two so far. It was the last they would get on Howard for a lengthy part until there was little time left for Detroit to cover such a large spread.
Chicago notched their third unanswered for a second time in the page with Gustav Forsling taking a fake shot before passing the puck to Artem Anisimov who scored with 1:27 left.
After the final horn sounded to hand Chicago the official victory, they recorded 32 shots on Howard while holding Detroit to 18. The two continue on with their course to the end of the preseason with the Red Wings unable to get a break as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.
Photo by: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
Photo by: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
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