Chicago Blackhawks beat Detroit Red Wings, 4-2: NHL Recap
Brent Seabrook and Marian Hossa both hit the net and had an assist, as the Chicago Blackhawks exploded with a 4-2 victory against the Detroit Red Wings, at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night.
Ben Smith and Brian Campbell both also lit the lamp for Blackhawks, who are at seventh place with 97 points in the Western Conference.
Patrick Kane assisted twice and Corey Crawford turned away 26 shots to earn the victory.
Drew Miller and Tomas Holmstrom both found the back of the net for Detroit, which has already clinched the Central Division title and is at third place in the Western Conference. Jimmy
Howard was dented for all four goals on 29 shots in the loss.
"We still have one more game left to play. We can't just go out there and play like the way we did tonight," said the Red Wings defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom. "We have to come out and play
with a lot more determination than we showed tonight, because you don't want to be sloppy going into the playoffs."
The Blackhawks took command on the play in the beginning of the game, recording three goals in just nine minutes of the opening period.
Seabrook got the scoring started just 27 seconds into the game, when he took a pass from Patrick Sharp and ripped a one-time shot from the bottom of the right circle for his eighth goal
of the season.
Chicago notched a two-goal advantage, 2-0, nearly six minutes later. It happened so when Detroit controlled the puck in its own zone and set up an attack in the offensive end. However,
Kane tipped the puck away from the Red Wings’ Valtteri Filppula in the high slot area.
As most the of the Red Wings skaters had vacated the area, Ben Smith quickly grabbed the puck between the hash marks and unleashed a wrist shot past Howard for his first career goal in
his fifth game.
Campbell extended the lead to 3-0 in the ninth minute of the first period, as he skated in from the right circle, manoeuvred the puck around a sprawled Howard and buried it into the empty
net for his fifth goal of the season.
Chicago pushed the lead to 4-0 in the seventh minute of the middle period. During a power play, Seabrook slipped the puck from deep in the Blackhawks’ zone to the Red Wings’ blue line,
splitting two Detroit skaters with a pass that met Hossa, who rushed to the centre of the ice from the boards then drifted in alone and jammed the puck home with a wrist-shot. It was his 25th goal of the season.
Miller finally put the Detroit on the board with nearly 21 seconds left in the second period, as he took a pass from Johan Franzen pass and knocked it home for his ninth goal of the season.
Holmstrom accounted for the final scoring, 4-2, with his 17th goal of the season with a little more than a minute left in the game.
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