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After losing two in a row on the road (5–2 in Colorado and 4–1 in Nashville), the Blackhawks rebounded to defeat the Nashville Predators Sunday night by a score of 3–1. Nikolai Khabibulin continues to be undefeated in the United Center, improving his home record to 7-0-3. After the game, Khabibulin attributed much of his and the Hawks’ home success to the great Chicago fans as they played in front of yet another sold-out crowd over 21,000.
The energy from the third period in Nashville on Saturday night carried over into the first period Sunday. The Hawks hit the Predators hard every chance they were given. The Predators tried to do the same but kept finding themselves in the penalty box. Three first period penalties forced the Predators to play at a disadvantage for a good portion of the period. Dustin Byfuglien took the opportunity to give himself his ninth goal of the season while on the Hawks’ second power play.
Nashville’s Jordin Tootoo sat in the penalty box for hooking (7:46) as he watched Byfuglien fire a hard slapshot through the traffic in front of Predator goalie Dan Ellis (9:11). Legend has it that Byfuglien’s freshly grown mustache had much to do with the power of the shot.
The Hawks’ lead did not last long. Tootoo passed the puck out of the Predators zone to David Legwand, who carried it into the Hawks zone. Tootoo skated fast the length of the ice and alongside Legwand to take a pass, and then like a bolt of lightning passed it over to Martin Erat on Khabibulin’s opposite side and into the open net (11:03). This was Khabibulin’s one mistake.
Khabibulin stopped 26 shots, including a very important one that led to the Hawks’ second goal.
The Predators charged down the ice. Shea Weber one-timed it off of Tootoo’s pass. Khabibulin stopped it and then dove to block Tootoo’s shot off the rebound. The play continued on as Andrew Ladd carried the puck through the neutral zone and into the Predators’. He danced around the defense and shot it hard at Ellis. Ellis easily stopped the shot but gave up a rebound which Dave Bolland scooped up and delivered to the back of the net, giving the Hawks the lead (5:58).
Nashville is not a team that is satisfied with their fourth place position in the Central Division, so two in a row against the Hawks would have been a great morale boost, not to mention two more points to put them within sniffing distance of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Unfortunately for them, the Bhulin Wall stood in the way.
Early in the third, the Predators had control of the puck in the Hawks zone. Twice the Hawks failed to clear it. The Bhulin Wall stood solid. Everything the Predators threw at him bounced off. The Hawks finally managed to clear the puck, but the Predators came right back, challenging him every chance they were given in the third.
With Ellis on the bench and a sixth attacker in for Nashville, Martin Havlat put the game clincher in from center ice with ten seconds left in the game (19:50).
The Blackhawks continue to win at home, which is good, because out of their next six games, five are at home, with the Buffalo Sabres coming to town on Wednesday followed by the New York Rangers. They will need to capitalize on this home stint leading up to All-Star weekend January 24 and 25 in Montreal. After that they will be on an eight-game road trip similar to the Circus Trip in November, facing many difficult teams in many unfriendly buildings. With Detroit only building momentum, the Hawks risk falling too far behind to win the Central Division, something once thought to be nearly impossible considering the Hawks have not made a playoff appearance since 2001. But that is the future; one game at a time is how it is played, and one game at a time is how it must be viewed. The playoffs will come soon enough.
Today’s 3–1 win over the Nashville Predators was a good start.
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