Follow JJ on Twitter @jaeckel!
This must be getting old for Western Conference teams and their fans.
Unlike earlier in the season, when the Blackhawks were struggling a bit to find their game, for the last several games they have fallen into a pattern of entering the third period of games tied or behind, then coming away with two points and a victory.
Same thing last night.
Down 1-0 to the Dallas Stars, the Hawks tied the game on a Patrick Sharp redirect, forcing overtime. Both goalies were phenomenal through regulation, overtime and a 19-shot shootout, finally won by the Hawks' Ben Smith.
As I mentioned, both goalies kept the score low and close. Corey Crawford was outstanding as he has been his last few outings. Sharp led a number of Hawk forwards who played well. Marcus Kruger was 5-3 in the face-off circle and is now approaching 55% for the season. This from a player who was stuck in the low 40's last season—kudos to his work ethic and/or the coaching of Faceoff Guru, Yannic Perreault.
So the Hawks now sit at 5-1 on the Circus Road Trip, heading in to Phoenix tonight.
Game time is 8 Eastern/7 Central. In light of Crawford's extra work last night, Antti Raanta could get the net tonight for the Coyotes' game.
Back tomorrow with more. Also check out HockeyBuzz CentralCast tomorrow at 11 Central time, look for the link on the main page.
JJ