Blackhawks 5, Lightning 3
At St. Pete Times Forum
Tuesday Feb. 17, 2009
After a whirlwind first period in which the Blackhawks out-shot the Lightning 19-3, some players started getting ideas to name large tropical storms after themselves.
“The first part of this game basically pitted one man — the goalie — against a force of nature — us,” defenseman Duncan Keith said. “So I figure ‘Hurricane Dunk’ should be strong in the running for the next storm that comes through here.”
“Dunk thinks he’s it just because he scored,” said Adam Burish. “But I was recently voted ‘ladies man’ by my teammates, so I think that puts me ahead to name any thunderous winds.”
The talk was quickly smashed in the second period when Stephen Stamkos completed a lightning-fast hat trick, and the stunned Blackhawks continued their trend of struggling against non-playoff teams by falling behind 3-1. However the Hawks would surge back in a whirlwind fashion of their own, riding the entertaining stickhandling of Martin Havlat to take an exciting late lead.
This game showed what a good offensive team does: creates space by passing, skating and knocking down anybody standing in front of the goal. Dave Bolland did the latter, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane did the former, and the Hawks outshot the Lightning 49-22 to ice it.
Quote of the game
“He looks like Meadowlark Lemon!” Pat Foley describes Martin Havlat’s dancing around with the puck immediately before it lead to a goal
Up next for the Blackhawks
Continued storms in Florida, as the Hawks take on the Panthers Thursday at 6:30.
