NHL Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago Blackhawks Win Wild Season Opener

Fresh Videos

By @ChanceyPaul

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

What a way to start the season! The Chicago Blackhawks survived a wild opening game against the Dallas Stars, overcoming early sloppy play and a Stars onslaught to beat their Central Division rivals 3-2 on a shootout down in Dallas. First games are probably not indicative of how the season is going to go, but it was a wild and crazy first game that was in desperate need of some order, but the sure stick of Patrick Kane was enough.

The Hawks started out on their heels, as the Stars were aggressive in the early going. The Stars got more shots on goal than the Hawks did in the first period, but Corey Crawford was in midseason form to keep the Hawks in the game.

Duncan Keith scored at 19:16 to open the scoring. The Stars tied the game just seconds into a Niklas Hjalmarsson penalty, and scored by Trevor Daley. The Stars took the lead five minutes later on a Cody Eakin wrist shot. But Patrick Sharp tied the game just seconds into a Hawks power play 11:10 into the third. After a wild overtime, Patrick Kane scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Hawks the win.

If there are any doubts that Crawford is the Hawks’ star goalie, this may have put to rest much of that criticism. Crawford made 32 saves, a lot of which he had to stand on his head for. The defense was a little shaky at times, which put it to Crawford to bail them out. Speaking of defense, Trevor van Riemsdyk may have earned himself a permanent roster spot. Of course, the defense holding their own was a big part of this game.

The offense, however, sputtered. Of course, much of this can be credited to the Stars, but goalie Kari Lehtonen was shaky and looked uncomfortable in net. The inability of the Hawks to capitalize on this was disheartening and disappointing to watch. Luckily, Patrick Kane is still Patrick Kane and he came through in the shootout. It got to the point where Joel Quenneville was juggling his lines in the third period.

The Blackhawks are fortunate things went their way at the end. They didn’t play well for much of the first two periods, but got lucky thanks to a great third period, overtime and shootout. But even if it’s the first game, it’s not good to see. But, the Hawks do have all season to fix their flaws.

Paul Chancey is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ChanceyPaul and add him to your network at Google+.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on