Glad I kept Watching that Game
I was overjoyed last night when I found out the Blackhawks-Flames game would be on Versus. Not so overjoyed when the Flames had built a five goal lead with just over eight minutes left in the FIRST period. In about five and a half minutes, the Flames went from scoreless, to up five; and they were shorthanded for two minutes! It was awful. The Flames were winning every battle, skating faster, playing harder. The fans in the United Center were not happy.
Still, when newcomer John Madden tallied late in the first period, there was this feeling that I knew the Blackhawks had the firepower to come back. The second period belonged to Chicago, with goals from Kane, Byfuglien, and Bolland in a span of seven minutes. Patrick Sharp tied the game about five minutes into the third on a great redirection that found the net.
With the United Center frenzied, the Hawks pressured but couldn’t end the game in regulation, but it only took 26 seconds of the extra period. Brent Seabrook found himself with the puck and snapped a low shot beat Kiprusoff and cap the amazing comeback.
It’s safe to say I’ve never seen a game like that before. To play so horribly in the first period and be able to completely turn that around to out-shoot the Flames by 19 and win is amazing. I cannot overstate how bad things were during the onslaught by the Flames. Duncan Keith even made a mistake! As bad as Huet looked, Niemi looked just as bad when he came in after three goals. It half expected to see Mark Grace come into goal.
For this young team to hang in and dominate the last two periods says so much. As for their make-up, you have to like that they didn’t quit and while they may not have believed they could win the whole time, it didn’t take much to find that confidence. While the veteran Madden got the first goal, Patrick Kane was electrifying last night. The kid had a goal and two assists and with two teams filled with stars, he was the best player on the ice.
The comeback marks the biggest comeback in franchise history and ties for the best in league history. That stat makes me think of when you’re watching a long field goal and the kicker hits a 58-yarder and they say “that would have been good from 65 or 70.” While the Hawks only matched the five goals in regulation, you got the feeling watching that if it was six or seven, they would have matched that too.
We thought this would be an exciting season, and it certainly looks like that will be the case.
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Comment from Ethan
Time October 13, 2009 at 12:26 pm
what a great game. for some reason i continued to watch, and it seems like almost everyone who started watching continued to watch, which is unusual when your team is down 5-0. i love mark grace