Now that both Detroit and Chicago are in different conferences, the two original six teams meet only twice a year.
The atmosphere in the United Center was as high as possible this season. The Blackhawks entered the game in a rough stretch of the season, playoff spots changing regularly, but got a gift in the return of Marian Hossa.
Detroit took the first meeting of the season at The Joe, 5-4 in a six round shootout. Things were a little different at the “Madhouse on Madison.”
The first period was spent reacquainting old foes to their style of play. Detroit got dominated in shots, only getting off five compared to Chicago’s 11.
Chicago opened up the scoring in the second period. Fresh off his injury, Marian Hossa found Nick Leddy wide open at the point who blasted a slap shot past Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, for his seventh goal of the season.
The Red Wings would answer on their own power play a few minutes later.
Gustav Nyquist tied the game at one, with a power play wrist shot that slipped by Blackhawks goalie, Corey Crawford.
That’s the only scoring Detroit would be able to get Sunday evening.
Ben Smith found the puck in traffic in front of Howard with the clock clicking down on the second period. Smith tapped it into the open net, to give Chicago a 2-1 edge going into the final frame.
Marian Hossa continued his return, adding a goal of his own in the third period. During a 4 on 4, Duncan Keith, found Hossa, streaking along the right side. That’s all it took as Hossa closed in, and sniped one past Howard’s blocker side.
“I thought tonight everybody played well,” Hossa said. “t was maybe a little shaky beginning, but I think we stuck with our system and [found] a way to win.”
Adding to the Blackhawks tally in the third, Jonathan Towes, scored his eighth goal in seven games.
With just over two minutes to in the game, and short handed, Hossa stole the puck at the point and found a streaking Towes. Towes closed in and absolutely destroyed Jimmy Howards, dangling the puck before burying it in the back of the net.
“I liked our game,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It was a tight game and that’s how it is against this team. We had some timely goals. I thought we played the right way and [had] way more intensity in the puck areas and found a way to come up with way more loose pucks than our prior two games.”
The unsung hero tonight for the Blackhawks was Duncan Keith. Setting up a couple of goals and commanding the defense to only 20 total shots by Detroit.
Jimmy Howard wasn’t too happy following the game. “There’s no room for error,” Howard said. “That’s the thing out there. It’s been such a grind to get goals out there, I think it’s been tough on all of us.”
Detroit has a rough stretch over it’s next four games, if they want to stay in the playoff hunt out east (TOR, @PIT, @MIN, MIN).
All in all Chicago should be fine down the stretch. Getting Hossa back was a key component to the previous losses. Chicago travels to Philly tomorrow, before returning home for a crucial four game homestand. Lets see if these Blackhawks could climb up a spot, to avoid a first round matchup with the Avalanche.
Photo Credit: Getty Images Gifs: barca-penguins