Blackhawks Lose 2nd Straight Home Game at United Center
Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 | Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, Sports
The Chicago Blackhawks are establishing a “new”, but “bad” trend at the United Center – losing. After losing to the Rangers 3-2 in overtime on Friday night at the United Center, the Blackhawks came out flat against the Minnesota Wild on Monday night and could never rally enough to mount a comeback. The Blackhawks are now 14-2-5 at the United Center this season. The Wild scored 2 goals in the 1st period and added a 3rd goal in the 2nd period on Marek Zidlicky’s 2nd goal of the night to increase their lead to 3-0. Martin Havlat’s 15th goal of the season cut the lead to 3-1 midway through the 2nd period (more on this later), but neither team scored again until Cal Clutterbuck’s empty netter with 34 seconds left in the game. The Wild won the game 4-1. Nikolai Khabibulin struggled in net – saving only 22 of 25 Wild shots on goal. The Blackhawks did tally 41 shots on goal, but Wild goalie Backstrom came up strong, saving all but one of the shots.
Defenseman Duncan Keith missed his 3rd straight game for the Blackhawks with a concussion.
The Blackhawks fell to 25-11-8, but still have a solid hold on the 4th seed in the Western Conference with 58 points (7-point leads over both the Anaheim Ducks and the Phoenix Coyotes). With the win, the Wild moved into a tie for the 8th seed in the Western Conference with 49 points.
There was one positive from the Blackhawks loss at the United Center. Martin Havlat’s lone Blackhawks goal came at the 10:00 mark of the 2nd period. Not a big deal, right? Think again – the Illinois has an ongoing promotion where they will give one lucky fan $1 million if the Blackhawks score a goal at precisely the 10:00 minute mark of the 2nd period. So the lucky season ticket holder in Section 326 won the $1 million and will be honored at the Hawks game against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night. He did already meet Martin Havlat after the game to celebrate the award.
