Playoff Round 1 - Game 3
Chicago @ New Jersey
Blackhawks Edge Ahead
Chicago 4 New Jersey 1
Nikolai Khabibulin made sixteen saves and the Blackhawks finally found some alternative scoring to overcome the Devils in New Jersey last night.
The top line of Martin Havlat, Tuomo Ruutu and Radim Vrbata was held without a point for the first time this series as the Devils John Madden and co successfully shackled the Hawks best players, but what they didn’t expect was fourth liners to record multi point games for the first time this season.
After a slow start, a partial line change saw second liner Bryan Smolinski hit a one time from the edge of the slot after Brodeur possibly cheated too much towards fourth liner Martin Lapointe streaking down the right circle after a good break out pass from rookie Cam Barker in defence at 13:34, and the Hawks doubled the advantage with a similar goal, this time Reed Low, a player more used to defending the likes of Havlat and co. sent a cross ice pass to a waiting Michael Holmqvist who managed to beat Brodeur despite the latter getting his pads to it at 18:22 of the first.
Brian Gionta pulled one back at 15:01 of the second with a pretty deked finish when he was positioned between the crease and left face-off circle after a good passing move between Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez and the Devils tried hard to level the game but Khabibulin stood strong.
Eleven and a half minutes later, Martin Lapointe fortunately registered his second point of the game when a battle along the boards behind the net resulted in a wraparound which went five hole and trickled in and Patrick Sharp rounded out the scoring when the Devils gave up their second short hander of the series. With Brent Seabrook in the box for tripping and the Devils crashing the net, Rene Borque somehow got the puck to Sharp at center ice, and he deked Brodeur at 13:28 of the third.
So another strong performance for the Hawks, and the series now travels back to Chicago where the Devils, who had some success last time in the Windy City, have to pull out a win to avoid a shock early exit.
Shots on Goal
Chicago 23
New Jersey 17
Three Stars
Michael Holmqvist (1+1)
Martin Lapointe (1+1)
Patrick Sharp (1+0)
Blackhawks Edge Ahead
Chicago 4 New Jersey 1
Nikolai Khabibulin made sixteen saves and the Blackhawks finally found some alternative scoring to overcome the Devils in New Jersey last night.
The top line of Martin Havlat, Tuomo Ruutu and Radim Vrbata was held without a point for the first time this series as the Devils John Madden and co successfully shackled the Hawks best players, but what they didn’t expect was fourth liners to record multi point games for the first time this season.
After a slow start, a partial line change saw second liner Bryan Smolinski hit a one time from the edge of the slot after Brodeur possibly cheated too much towards fourth liner Martin Lapointe streaking down the right circle after a good break out pass from rookie Cam Barker in defence at 13:34, and the Hawks doubled the advantage with a similar goal, this time Reed Low, a player more used to defending the likes of Havlat and co. sent a cross ice pass to a waiting Michael Holmqvist who managed to beat Brodeur despite the latter getting his pads to it at 18:22 of the first.
Brian Gionta pulled one back at 15:01 of the second with a pretty deked finish when he was positioned between the crease and left face-off circle after a good passing move between Patrik Elias and Scott Gomez and the Devils tried hard to level the game but Khabibulin stood strong.
Eleven and a half minutes later, Martin Lapointe fortunately registered his second point of the game when a battle along the boards behind the net resulted in a wraparound which went five hole and trickled in and Patrick Sharp rounded out the scoring when the Devils gave up their second short hander of the series. With Brent Seabrook in the box for tripping and the Devils crashing the net, Rene Borque somehow got the puck to Sharp at center ice, and he deked Brodeur at 13:28 of the third.
So another strong performance for the Hawks, and the series now travels back to Chicago where the Devils, who had some success last time in the Windy City, have to pull out a win to avoid a shock early exit.
Shots on Goal
Chicago 23
New Jersey 17
Three Stars
Michael Holmqvist (1+1)
Martin Lapointe (1+1)
Patrick Sharp (1+0)
posted by eeedowls at 4:24 AM
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