By Jim Coffman
The Hawks finally broke through at home on Sunday, edging the Kings 2-1 (OK, OK it was 4-1 but empty-netters like the two the Hawks scored in the last minute-and-a-bit against L.A. should somehow be listed in a separate category). In so doing they moved back into the fourth playoff spot in the NHL’s Western Conference, by two points over Vancouver with 11 games left in the regular season. If the season ended today, the Hawks would play the first game of the first round of the playoffs at home . . . which is probably good news.
Then again, as my wife Julie put it as we turned on the game in the afternoon, “People keep talking about the race for home ice advantage . . . but the Blackhawks stink at home.” The squad was 4-7-2 in their last 13 on the West Side going into Sunday.
And now, without further delay, allow me to extend a hearty “Welcome Back!” to Patrick Sharp. The return of the team’s best scorer, who had been sidelined by a knee injury since Valentine’s Day, was remarkably restorative for the whole team. He scored the first goal in the first period and eventually banked a slick clearing effort off the side boards late in the third. It slid all the way down the ice, off one post, across the goal line and off the back of the other post and in for the game-clinching first empty-netter. Sharp also threaded a perfect pass to Martin Havlat to set up the eventual game-winner in the second period.
Khabi’s Call
Two days prior to Sunday, I had a chance to attend the Hawks’ loss to an Edmonton team they had dominated several times earlier in the season. Before the game, it seemed the stage was set for the home team to bust out of its recent malaise. Then again, it had been set before games against the Western Conference worst Avalanche and the almost league-worst New York Islanders the weekend and week before and the Blackhawks found ways to lose those games as well.
Friday’s bottom line was that if goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin had made even one unexpected big save he would have given his team the win. The Oilers had no more than five strong scoring chances and four went in. Khabibulin has looked like the Khabibuin of old of late. He has given up just enough goals to send games into overtime and he wasn’t close to making a big save during the shootout either on Friday.
As for the atmosphere, there was a little bit of booing, especially in the third period, but mostly there was a nervous murmur from the first Edmonton goal early in the first period until it became clear that despite Jonathan Toews’ failure to convert a third-period penalty shot, coach Joel Quenneville was still sending him out for the first attempt in the shootout. Toews didn’t even get a shot off, Patrick Kane didn’t do much better in the second round and when Edmonton’s second straight shooter converted, the game was over just like that.
One other note: there were many, many people in the stands crying out for more physical play. Of course, when the Hawks do try to get physical, they put themselves in position to spend more time in the penalty box. Still the ideal scenario is probably lots of physicality right off the bat and, if need be, at least a couple solid penalty kills.
The bottom line about Sunday’s breakthrough: The Hawks allowed only five shots against in the first period, five more in the second and five in the final 20 minutes. Khabibulin had only a few tough chances, one of which slipped through his pads. If he gets hot, the Hawks have a chance to storm through the last few weeks of the regular season. If not, it will be one (series) and done in the post-season.
Busting Brackets
How lame is it that the one non-top five seeded team left in the whole NCAA tournament is Arizona? Of course, the selection process is so rigged in favor of the major conferences it isn’t surprising that this year’s only Sweet 16 Cinderella is one of the most successful college basketball programs in the country, i.e. it has been to the ball, what, 20 times in a row before this year? Pathetic. Of course, this is what you get when you only let in the bare minimum mid-major teams (fewer and fewer George Masons and Cleveland States are qualifying year after year because fewer of those sorts of teams are even getting into the tournament. And even when the teams make it in, they are under-seeded. Perhaps a few more people would care to join me in anti-Big Dance-land this week?
On Fire
Welcome back Chicago Fire! The local soccer squad opened its season with a 3-1 victory over FC Dallas in Dallas Saturday. The home team scored the first goal on an amazing shot from beyond the field’s center line, but the Fire bounced back to take the lead on a Brian McBride penalty kick. The boys from Chicago benefited mightily from not one but two shots that found the woodwork (around the goal don’t you know, i.e. the posts and crossbar) in the last 10-15 minutes. And then Cuauhtemoc Blanco capped it off with a beautiful, curving direct kick goal in the final minute.
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday. Comments are welcome.
Posted on March 23, 2009