Three Stars: Huet Shuts Out The Preds, Buff Parks It and Scores

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

The Chicago Blackhawks, who were riding a two game losing streak into their skate with the Predators on Saturday night, desperately needed a pick-me up after finding out that Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews wouldn’t be lacing them up. In fact, to borrow a couple of statements that were made in PIB’s preview of this game:

Tonight’s game will be a defining moment for the Frenchman (Cristobal Huet). It will show whether or not he has the tenacity and grit to overcome what will likely be an impatient crowd, and if he can step up his game when his team needs him to.

With Toews and Seabrook out, they will need Huet to stand on his head, and give this offense something to fall back on.

Well folks, Cristobal Huet did indeed step up to the plate in his defining moment this evening. He made 27 saves and shutout the Predators 2-0 at the United Center. He made some average saves, some pretty good ones, and a couple of absolutely outstanding ones in winning the game. He centered up pretty much every shot, and he didn’t allow foolish rebounds as he has in previous games.

The Hawks applied consistent pressure to the Preds as well, notching 34 shots on goal during the game, and reached double digits in the category every period.

Ironically enough, the teams came into the contest as the two least penalized teams in the league, and they each committed three minor penalties in the third period. The Hawks had power plays on two of them, and Dustin Byfuglien erased both with penalties of his own.

Other notable occurrences in the game included Duncan Keith racking up 28:34 of ice time in the game to lead the team by a full four minutes. While it’s not recommended to trot out your star defenseman for that much time during a game, especially with your other star D-man currently on the shelf with “concussion-like symptoms”.

Colin Fraser and Patrick Sharp also had good games, with Fraser getting five shots, as well as launching a couple of excellent rushes at Nashville goalie Dan Ellis, who also had a stunningly good game. Sharp also looked a lot, well, sharper in this game, skating well and putting three shots on net.

Finally, special mention should go to John Madden, who had almost 19 minutes of time on ice tonight, and he also had a great break-away opportunity as well.

Big Buff: Owner of a Big Keester and a Big Goal (photo property of Pam Rodriguez)

With the recap out of the way, let’s run down PIB’s Three Stars of the Game:

Third Star: Dave Bolland (19:53 TOI)

It’s not normal to give such glowing kudos to a guy who played nearly 20 minutes without contributing a point, but in Bolland’s case, PIB would like to make an exception.

Bolland not only played quite a bit tonight, but he also had an excellent hit, driving a Nashville player into the padded divide between the bench and the glass. All of this is being done while he is nursing a back injury that kept him out of a bunch of pre-season action.

Bolland is one of those guys who doesn’t always find his way onto the scoresheet, but he anchored the team’s top line last year (with Andrew Ladd and Marty Havlat) , and he has contributed in little ways to various wins this season. He is a valuable commodity, and seems like a good investment for the Hawks, who gave him a 5 year deal in the off-season.

Second Stars: Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd (One goal apiece)

Laddie and Buff both had goals in the game tonight, but it was how they got the goals that earns them second star honors tonight.

Both players did something that I believe was taught in Mr. Johnson’s Hockey 101 at William Howard Taft Elementary: park your keester in front of the net, and allow a teammate to shoot a puck in your direction, and go hard after the rebound.

Dustin and Andrew both did that to perfection, with Buff finding a shot from Patrick Kane and pounding it home, and Ladd putting a Cam Barker slapper into the back of the net. They were the only two goals scored in the game, but they were pretty ones to hockey purists.

Cristobal Huet, PIB's First Star

First Star: Cristobal Huet (27 saves, 1 great shutout)

So much for hometown hatred.

Cristobal Huet quieted the crowd at the United Center, then slowly wooed the faithful with his solid play in net tonight, stopping all 27 Nashville shots en route to his first shutout since Februrary 19th against Florida. The win was also crucial because it stopped the Hawks’ losing skid, which stood at two heartbreaking losses.

In the postgame interview, Huet talked about the “ups and downs” that the team has faced and will face, and acted in a very classy manner toward the fans that had booed his every movement a week earlier when he let in a couple of soft goals against Dallas.

I was honestly surprised to see Huet skate back to accept First Star honors from the press assembled in Chicago. I figured he would give them a little quick jaunt about a foot from the half-boards, then retreat quickly into the dressing room. Instead, he reveled in the cheers of the faithful, and did a solid interview on the bench afterwards.

This blog (okay, one half of the Ralph/Neveau tandem) was pretty rough on Huet after Saturday’s loss to the Stars, but we still want to give appropriate kudos to Huet’s play tonight. He deserved the First Star honors at the UC, and he certainly deserves them here.

Now, if his stellar play will continue is another story, but one thing is for certain: for night at least, Huet was the King of the Madhouse.

The Hawks next play on Monday night against the Wild at 7pm CDT in Chicago. The game will be televised on Versus (sorry DirectTV subscribers).

Tags: Andrew Ebbett, Andrew Ladd, Brent Seabrook, cam barker, Chicago Blackhawks, Cristobal Huet, Dave Bolland, Jake Dowell, John Madden, Jonathan Toews, Nashville Predators, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp