Anaheim Ducks pile more misery on poor Chicago Blackhawks with 3-1 win - NHL Update
Anaheim Ducks continue to shock with another big win over a Chicago Blackhawks side that is struggling mightily once again. The Ducks defeated Chicago 3-1 on Sunday, February 26th, 2012 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The sinking feeling is returning to Chicago as they once again look to be moving towards a long losing run.
The Blackhawks lost their third game in a row to seemingly mediocre opposition.
The defeat sees Chicago drop down to sixth in the Western Conference with 73 points just five points above ninth.
It was another poor display by a side that just recently had ended a nine-game losing run and the Ducks looked hungrier throughout the game for the two points.
The Blackhawks could only manage 19 shots on goal against Anaheim’s 38 and forward Patrick Kane wants the team’s offence to perform to their ability.
"Offensively, we're not doing much right now. We need some contributions from everyone. You can always say you need your best players to be your best players. That's something that we need to get better at, too, including myself."
Anaheim on the other hand showed drive and ambition to upset Chicago. Even going down to Patrick Kane’s first period goal did not deflate them and they took advantage of a poor Blackhawks performance to get the win.
Ducks, coach Bruce Boudreau was rightfully proud of his team’s performance in the second and third period and lavished praise on the players.
Speaking to the media he said.
"We take every win we can get right now, (but) nobody seems to want to lose that is going for the playoffs in the West. We're going to have to try to do it ourselves. ... I thought we got our legs, and we were pretty good in the second and third."
Chicago started the game brightly and broke the deadlock in the first period.
Patrick Kane broke on the power play at 11:29 to send the puck past Jonas Hiller and give Chicago a well deserved 1-0 lead.
Anaheim though did not sit around and watch. The Ducks woke up from their stupor and peppered Ray Emery’s goal finally equalising when Nick Bonino played the puck to Andrew Cogliano at 19:40 with the centre making no mistake in putting the puck past Emery.
The equaliser seemed to knock all the wind out of Chicago’s sail as they could not mount a single meaningful offence for the rest of the game.
The Ducks meanwhile were surging and took the lead in the second period after outshooting the visitors 13-5. Sheldon Brookbank and Teemu Selanne combined brilliantly for the goal.
The third period saw Anaheim become even more dominant as they doubled their advantage. Selanne this time got himself on the score-sheet with a well taken power play goal early in the third period to make it 3-1 and put the game to bed.
The Ducks will look to continue their resurgence on Monday against Colorado Avalanche, while the Blackhawks will face Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
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