Blackhawks’ Toews Second Effort Enough To Beat Bolts

Brett Connolly scored in the first period and Joonas Kemppainen collected the tying goal in the second for the Bruins (3-3-1), who have won three of four overall. Much like the Tampa Bay Lightning did last night against the Winnipeg Jets, the Chicago Blackhawks would steal the win out from under the Lightning with a goal from captain Jonathan Toews just 17 seconds into the overtime period.

Winnipeg tied the game 1-1 when Ehlers tapped home his second of the season after the Jets entered the zone three wide, with Mathieu Perreault feeding Mark Scheifele, who shuffled the puck over to Ehlers 16:28 into the first.

Earning a point or managing a win in this game could well make the difference for Chicago reaching the playoffs, but probably means less for its guests.

Crawford still can be a polarizing figure among Hawks fans even though he has won two Stanley Cups, shared the Jennings Trophy last season with the Canadiens’ Carey Price and won his 150th game as a Hawk to become just the fourth goaltender in team history to win that many.

Having endured plenty of transition and adversity since defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Stanley Cup, the Chicago Blackhawks seem to be getting closer to regaining their championship form.

This will be Gudlevskis’s second National Hockey League start. The disconnect is apparent while comparing the rosters of the two finalists when the defending champions are visited by the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday, October 24. The United Center crowd of 21,000-plus was loud, and the Blackhawks were pressuring, but Gudlevskis held his ground. The team hasn’t gotten a goal from any of its top-tier forwards yet, with Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, and Ryan Kesler combining for just three assists in seven games so far this season. He routinely left Chicago shooters scratching their head, thinking, “Who is this kid?”

“I thought Gudlevskis was the best player on the ice for us tonight”, Cooper said. “You’ve got to commend the poor kid. He was fantastic out there”. One team was good in the first and the third, that was us.

Last season, Lightning center Tyler Johnson was second on the Bolts for goals with 29 during the regular season.

Not for a lack of chances, though. “They were real good in the second period”. “The second and third periods were better”. Johnson went through the same scoring drought at the beginning of last season too. Hedman was a little slow to get up on the play, but didn’t require any immediate attention.

Once the puck dropped, the Tampa Bay Lightning kicked things off by putting a decent amount of pressure on the Blackhawks defense. Garbutt had a game-high six shots on goal, including two short-handed attempts.

“We’re on a pretty tough road trip here going through the Central Division, and we’ve pointed in every game”, Cooper said following the 1-0 overtime loss in Chicago. “We’ll take that as a positive”. I for one am not at all anxious about Toews’ “slump”.