Chicago Blackhawks thrash New York Islanders 5-0
Marian Hossa ignited a four-goal second period, as the Chicago Blackhawks downed the New York Islanders 5-0, at the United Center on Sunday.
Hossa said after the game, “We haven’t played this type of game for a long time. We don’t have to worry about the score. We were dominating right from the beginning and I think we can build on this win.”
Hossa also had a pair of assists while Patrick Sharp, Niklas Hjalmarsso and Patrick Kane each scored a goal and had an assist for Chicago, who halted a six-game losing streak against New York. They had not beaten the Islanders since 10 December 2010. Dave
Bolland had another goal in the win.
Corey Crawford stopped 29 shots for Chicago to record his second career shutout. Nathan Lawson turned aside 40 shots for New York, who finished with a 3-2-0 mark on their road trip. None of the New York players was able to score for the Islanders, despite
having a number of good chances.
In the fifth minute of the opening period, Patrick Sharp put the Blackhawks on the board with his 25th goal of the season on a power-play. It came with Islanders’ Bruno Gervais serving a holding penalty. Kane made the pass to set up Sharp, who sent the puck
home for a 1-0 lead.
Chicago continued to dominate New York in the first period, but failed to extend their lead. The Blackhawks had 16 shots at the net, and had ten scoring opportunities.
The Blackhawks stepped up the pressure in the second period, with Hossa receiving a pass from Tomas Kopecky in the third minute of the period, and firing a wrist shot into the net to give Chicago a 2-0 lead. It was Hossa’s 10th goal of the season and his
second in eight contests.
“For the first time in a while, we got a couple goals there early in the game,” Sharp said. “It kind of sets the tone for what we want to do as a team.”
After five minutes, Kane gave Chicago a three-goal advantage with his 13th goal of the season, completing a 3-on-2 and blasting a one-timer into the net. Bolland then extended Chicago’s lead to 4-0 with three minutes left in second period. He beat Islanders
netminder with one-timer from the left circle.
Hjalmarsson rounded off the scoring with 56 seconds to play in second period. His wrist shot went off the post and into the net to seal a 5-0 win for the Blackhawks.
Jon Sim got a nice opportunity to score for the Islander when he went around Nick Leddy. Crawford though, made a huge stop by spreading himself on ice, and flashing his left glove to pull off the block as Sim closed in.
The Islanders were frustrated with the loss, as they could not score even a single goal and only made 29 shots at the net. John Tavares, Michael Grabner, Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau each got a solid chance, but were finally shutout by Crawford.
“I think we got away from our game plan,” Islanders forward Michael Grabner said. “I think we tried to do things one way but it doesn’t work obviously so we have to get back to work and do what our coaches tell us to do.”
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