HILLER HANDLES THE HEAT
Goaltender makes 49 saves to help Flames steal victory at UC
FLAMES GOALIE UNFAZED BY HAWKS’ BARRAGE OF SHOTS
As the shots kept piling up, and the power plays kept coming, and the ice kept tilting, but the puck kept staying out of the net, Marian Hossa’s mind briefly wandered back to an early February night in Calgary in 2013, when Ray Emery single- handedly kept the Blackhawks’ soon- to- be record point streak intact with a seemingly superhuman performance.
Only this time, the roles were reversed.
“To tell you the truth, it kind of went through my head, that game,” Hossa said. “We stole it. And now they stole it from us.”
Jonas Hiller was the perpetrator in this one, making 49 saves until Mikael Backlund’s goal with 24.8 seconds left in overtime gave the Calgary Flames a mind- bending 2- 1 victory at the United Center.
The Hawks fired 50 shots but got just one goal. They out- attempted the Flames 96- 32 but got just one point. Sometimes, a goaltender just takes over.
But unlike that night in 2013, coach Joel Quenneville wasn’t so sure Hiller stole this one. At the very least, he felt the Hawks abetted the crime with a staggering number of squandered chances and misguided passes. Despite peppering Hiller with 50 pucks, the Hawks passed up on some of their best chances. They got “too cute,” in Hossa’s words, “too pretty,” in Andrew Shaw’s.
They didn’t score until their seventh power play. Daniel Carcillo twice had yawning nets to shoot into but couldn’t get his stick on the puck. Bryan Bickell flubbed a tap- in. Patrick Kane’s shot sailed wide on a two- on- one with Brandon Saad. As Quenneville put it, “You can go on and on.”
“Our best shots never even got to the net,” he said. “Probably had six or seven A- plus chances that didn’t even get a shot on net. We were looking for a better play, missed a shot, [ had it] blocked, were in too tight or missed the net.”
Still, it was encouraging that the Hawks continued the utterly dominant pace they began in the third period of the season opener against Dallas and continued through the home opener against Buffalo. Through one period against Calgary, the Hawks were up 18- 2 in shots on goal. Midway through the second period, the total was a ridiculous 30- 3 in the Hawks’ favor.
The new- school analytics said the Hawks were dominating. The old- school eye test agreed. But it’s a small sample size, and hockey’s a funny game. So at 11: 55 of the second period, on just the Flames’ fifth shot on goal, Dennis Wideman scored on a shot from the point to give Calgary a 1- 0 lead. And even this shot on goal came off a Hawks stick — Wideman’s blast deflected off Trevor van Riemsdyk’s stick and beat Corey Crawford through the five- hole.
Shortly after that, Patrick Sharp ripped a one- timer off a Jonathan Toews feed, only to have it gobbled up by Hiller. Sharp slammed his stick on the boards in frustration.
“It’s always frustrating,” Shaw said. “We feel like we were all over him the whole game.”
Finally, with 5: 45 left in regulation, on that seventh power play ( Calgary had just one), Sharp’s shot from the point ticked off Shaw’s stick and past Hiller for the equalizer. What did the Hawks do differently on this power play than the other six? “Shoot,” Quenneville said succinctly. It allowed the Hawks to at least scrape out a point.
Crawford made two huge saves in overtime on Paul Byron, including a second breakaway by him, but couldn’t get Backlund’s laser upstairs to earn the second point.
Outshoot the opponent 50- 18 every night, and the Hawks will be just fine in the long run. But on this night, utterly dominant wasn’t good enough.
“[ Hiller] made a couple of nice plays, but we couldn’t finish,” Hossa said. “We played a lot of this game pretty good. We just couldn’t score goals.”