Blackhawks Game

I went to a Chicago Blackhawks game with my youngest son. It was his first Blackhawks game. Before the game I took his picture in front of the Michael Jordan statue. We walked around the United Center before the game started and I ran into a guy I use to work with 8 years ago. The Blackhawks played the Columbus Blue Jackets. We met the Ice Crew before the game and he got an autographed picture. Tommy Hawk, the mascot sat by us for the beginning of the game. The Blackhawks won 3 to 1. I received the tickets free from WCKG www.wckg.com as a birthday gift. We got home from the United Center at about 10:30 p.m.

Game Summary

The Blackhawks scored twice within 21 seconds in the opening period and Martin Havlat ended a 13-game goal scoring drought as Chicago snapped a six-game skid to beat Columbus 3-1 at the United Center Friday. Hawks defenseman Brent Seabrook assisted on all three goals, blocked 4 shots and dished out four checks to earn the game's #1 star.His defensive partner, Duncan Keith, also blocked four shots and led all skaters with 29+ minutes in addition to being awarded the first Chicago penalty shot in four years. The Hawks have not scored on a penalty shot at home for 20 years since Troy Murray turned the trick against Minnesota. Keith was pulled down on a breakaway by Fredrik Modin midway through the final period. His penalty shot was stopped by former Hawk goalie Brian Boucher with a leg save. The contest was scoreless through almost 15 minutes of the game with the Blue Jackets' Geoff Platt having the best chance at 7:30 when Patrick Lalime denied his 10-footer. Seabrook picked up his first assist on a 40-footer that was stopped by Boucher, but Patrick Sharp pounced on the rebound to jam in his 19th of the season at 14:55. Havlat made it 2-0 less than 30 seconds later with his 25th goal. Rene Bourque got a pass from Seabrook and fed Havlat up the slot. His 25-footer blew past Boucher for his first score since February 25. In the 2nd period on a Columbus power play at 11:12, the Hawks' Denis Arkhipov broke out of his own zone after another Seabrook pass on a 2 on 1. He got the puck across to Martin Lapointe and the Chicago veteran beat Boucher with a shot in the upper left corner for a 3-0 lead. It was Lapointe's 13th of the campaign and the Hawks 11th shorthanded tally of the year. The Blue Jackets got their lone goal of the night on a power play plus a delayed penalty 44 seconds later. Jason Chimera's 14th of the season came on a 15-foot drive up the slot. The goal gave the visitors renewed jump, but Lalime was sharp in stopping three scoring opportunities by Modin and another on a rebound by Rick Nash.
Columbus outshot the Hawks 32-25 and were 1 of 6 on the power play while the Hawks were 0-2. In the last power play attempt at 18:51 of the final period, Columbus pulled Boucher for an extra forward to give them a two-man advantage but failed to beat Lalime. Hawks coach Denis Savard felt his best players played a strong game and Lalime was good in the nets.

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