For the second consecutive night, the Blackhawks’ defensemen put their offensive hats on. Combining that with a strong performance from Ray Emery proved to be the right formula for the Blackhawks in their 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.
Having gone into Thursday’s game in Columbus with only Nick Leddy scoring a goal from the blue line, there was a moment of relief when Steve Montador netted his power play tally, even if it came from the forward spot.
On Friday, the Hawks added two more defensemen to that list, with both Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook scoring their first goals of the season. Keith scored on a rebound that made its way all the way past the left circle, with Keith slamming it home to give Chicago the 1-0 lead.
Seabrook’s goal put the Hawks up 2-0, slapping his home just seconds into a Hawks power play. Yes, you read that correctly, the Blackhawks scored power play goals in back-to-back games, having netted a pair in their dominating win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Olli Jokinen attempted to bring the Flames into it, midway through the third period, as his goal made it 2-1. However, Viktor Stalberg put a great feed from Marian Hossa in the back of the net to allow the Blackhawks to pull away late in the third period. Hossa had two assists on the night.
Patrick Kane went on to add the empty net goal, with Patrick Sharp picking up one of his three assists on the night on the goal that made it 4-1, and sealed the deal.
Even with the excitement over the defense getting on the stat sheet more often of late, the story of the night was Ray Emery. A guy that was anything but a lock to make the roster in camp, Emery has won three of his four starts, with the Hawks picking up points in all four of them.
On Friday, Emery was as good as we have seen him so far this season. He was strong throughout the night, making 24 saves, none of which was bigger than his stoning of Curtis Glencross on a breakaway in the second period, which would have made it 2-1 much earlier in the game.
The performance of Emery was solid, as it’s been for much of his four starts with the Hawks. But if the Blackhawks can get their defense going on the offensive side, as it has been recently, as well as converting on the power play, which they’ve done in the past two games, this is as good a team as you will find in the league.
They will set out to prove just that when they host a young, and surprising, Edmonton Oilers squad on Sunday. It will be their last game at home before the famous “Circus Trip” sends them out on the road for six games away from the United Center.
