Heading into Wednesday night's game vs. Western Conference foe Colorado, the Blackhawks were riding a two game win streak over NHL bottom feeders Ottawa and New York Islanders. Fans weren't sure if the Hawks were finally catching fire and playing like they should have been all year, or if they were just taking advantage of weaker talent. The game vs. Colorado surely settled that debate in some minds.
The Blackhawks came out strong and really put Colorado's back to the wall and held them there for pretty much the entire game. Troy Brouwer and Dave Bolland connected on back to back goals just :40 apart in the 7th minute, getting the Hawks the lead early and boosting their confidence. Pisani and Skille added tallies later, and Corey Crawford saved all 24 of the shots Colorado generated to secure the win. For Crawford, he has clearly won the starting goaltender spot, and as of late, his play has been excellent.
While all may seem great on paper, one aspect the Blackhawks continue to struggle with is their discipline. The Hawks committed another 4 penalties tonight, including Tomas Kopecky who seems to get more penalty minutes than playing minutes. While the penalties continue to occur, tremendous stress is out on the Hawks PK which has consistently shown to be ineffective at times. Thankfully, they decided to show up tonight and they killed off all 4 penalties.
The Blackhawks will now be off until Saturday when they take on division rival Nashville.
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