Quote:
After a 3-2 loss against the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night and a 3-2 loss against the Nashville Predators the Chicago Blackhawks will be looking to snap this 2 game funk that they are in. Posting a 3-4 record since the Olympic break the Chicago Blackhawks have had a Jekyll and Hyde style play. This team is capable of putting up the numbers and have done it often this season. However, far too many times this season the Chicago Blackhawks lose a game because they fell behind early, usually down 2-0 or down 2 goals in the third period and have to fight back just to tie it.
Next up for the Hawks are the Detroit Red Wings, who have problems of their own to worry about.
They’ll be at the United Center on Sunday, but they won’t have Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary, Joakim Andersson, Todd Bertuzzi, Stephen Weiss, Tomas Jurco or Darren Helm because of injuries. Those injuries are threatening to keep the Red Wings out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference for the first time in 22 years.
“We still believe in what we have in here,” Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said.
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Five minutes into the 1st period of the Blackhawks 2007-2008 home opener, #43 James Wisniewski for Chicago and #17 for Detroit, Dallas Drake square off. Having mostly taken my gf at the time to Penguins games, she's a bit taken aback and then invigorated by the sudden glove-dropping, gladiator show. Jagr would've rather skated circles and scored than drop gloves. The sparse crowd puts aside their differences with Bill Wirtz and cheer on James Wisniewski to an asskicking at the hands of the larger, more experienced Drake---before both fighters get shooed off for 5 for fighting. James Wisniewski would later exact a measure of revenge with a short-handed goal (assisted by Brent Sopel) to push the game to a Kane winning shootout.
The 2007-2008 Blackhawks home opener opened on a strangely somber/happy note: long-time owner Bill Wirtz passed away a week and a half prior.
Blackhawks fans stopped their "DETROIT SUCKS!" chant long-enough to boo the recently dead guy, Bill Wirtz, during the home-opener, pre-game tribute. As impartial observers, my gf and I were impressed with the Blackhawks players. Some of whom we were aware were newly minted to the NHL, defying their own home crowd and paying tribute to the recently deceased patriarch of the family who signed their paychecks. The players almost seemed to throw their respect/admiration, ok, at least appreciation of old man Wirtz back into the booing fans' teeth.
The mostly empty lower bowl of the United Center afforded each group of ticket holders their own row, we sat in section 120, 5 or 6 rows off the glass--with no one between us and the glass. The next grouping of fans in Section 120 sat in the row behind us, a couple seats off-set. A couple with their 5-7 year old daughter, who had been versed in "Detroit Sucks!" and kept the chant up all night long, backed by apologies from her parents--with "no need to apologize" from us.
Between periods, I seem to recall Mark DeRosa grounding into a late inning, rally-killing double-play in Game 3 vs the D-Backs. Go Cubbies!
Jonathan Toews was a scratch that night. But Patrick Sharp, Duncan Keith, Lapointe et al skated; along with a cocky 18 year old Patrick Kane. Kane would send the bully Red Wings to defeat with a shootout goal against one of his one of his childhood idols, Dominik Hasek.
The Red Wings would go on to play a key role in John McDonough's play to bring Cubs fans down from Clark and Addison to Damen and Madison, sorta. Wings squaring off vs the Blackhawks at the 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley. The Wings would also knock the Blackhawks out of the playoffs that year, in the Western Conference Finals; with Nicholas Kronwall "Kronwalling" Havlat and Franzen tearing Kaner's pacifier mouthpiece from his mouth and throwing it on the ice:
http://youtu.be/beQzsq3-TPQ The 2013 playoffs and Detroit's 3-1 advantage over the regular season superior Blackhawks had Danny Mac regretting a "hammer and nail" column and Blackhawks fans questioning Coach Q's ability to beat the punchable Mike Babcock. The Blackhawks would grind their way back into the series and force a game 7 and then overtime; before Brent Seabrook one-timed the game/series/epic winner past Jimmy Howard, and sent the bully Wings home Cup-less.
Monkey off the back.
http://youtu.be/mpsOcNti_KU
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