Friday’s Three Stars: Hawks Offense Comes Out Firing Early in Win

Jim Neveau, PIB Co-conspirator

Even with a two goal night from Phil Kessel, the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t solve Cristobal Huet, who stopped 29 shots in a 3-2 victory for the Blackhawks on Friday night at the United Center.

The Hawks built up a 3-0 lead after 25 minutes of play, and watched Kessel score a couple of goals to make the game interesting for the last fifteen minutes or so. The Hawks allowed 11 shots to the Leafs in the final frame, but Huet stopped all of them to preserve the victory.

Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Troy Brouwer scored in the victory for the Hawks, which was their sixth in a row on home ice. The streak is their longest home winning stretch since 2002, and couldn’t come at a better time, with the team set to play one more time before embarking on their six game road trip when the circus takes over the Madhouse.

“To get points at home before we go on the long road trip is crucial”, John Madden told the Chicago Tribune after the game.  “We want to play well on the road as well, but we know if we can play well here, the road will take care of itself.”

The Hawks were a perfect example of a bi-polar squad today. In the first 30 minutes or so of the game, they looked fantastic, peppering Vesa Toskala with shots and in general keeping up the pressure at full blast.

Then, as the game wore on, the Hawks seemed to be putting themselves more into cruise control, which they have shown a propensity to do lately. The two goals by Kessel were the only damage the Leafs could inflict, but it was enough to put a bit of a scare into the Hawks, who had been playing shut down defense in the third period in recent games, only to allow 11 shots in tonight’s third frame.

“We got a little complacent and lackadaisical out there, and they scored a couple,”  Brouwer told the Tribune. “All of a sudden we had to tighten up again. It’s tough to come back and play a good game once you’ve had a couple of quick goals on you.”

The Hawks may have the talent to get lackadaisical against weaker teams like Toronto, but if they try to pull that act against better squads, then they will surely be vanquished more often than not.

Before we get too gloom and doom, let’s get to PIB’s Three Stars of the Game.

Third Star: Cristobal Huet

Huet hasn’t looked stellar in recent games, but he also hasn’t looked terrible. He has settled into a rhythm however, and that was clearly evident as he was being peppered with shots in the third period tonight. Huet made save after save, and he kept the Hawks in the lead with his 29 saves.

For all of the early season controversy about Cristobal, he has certainly looked good in recent weeks, and has helped solidify a penalty killing unit that is amongst the best in the entire league. If Huet can continue to play this brand of solid, light on mistakes hockey, the Hawks will be just fine.

Second Star: Duncan Keith

If there is anybody who follows hockey that doesn’t think Keith should be ranked among the premiere defensemen in the league, they are out of their minds.

Keith had another stellar game tonight, scoring a goal, adding an assist, and leading the team in ice time, playing just over 26 minutes in the contest.

Only a guy of a high caliber like Duncan can play large amounts of minutes on both the power play and the penalty kill, and have a high degree of success doing both. If the Hawks don’t sign Keith to a contract after this season is over, consider them to once again be slipping into the dark ages of moronically letting go of their best players. He is that important.

First star: Troy Brouwer

Any time a guy can score the game winning goal in a hockey game, and also get into a pretty good scrape in the same period is A-OK in the PIB book.

Brouwer has continued his solid start to the season, notching his fifth goal of the campaign, and also logged 17:35 of ice time in the contest.

The Hawks’ next game will be on Sunday night against the San Jose Sharks at the United Center. The game will also serve as a Heritage Night celebration for Hawks legend Jeremy Roenick. The puck will drop at 6pm CST on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, and will be the last home game before the circus trip.