Chicago overcomes injuries, keeps streak alive
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This is starting to get ridiculous. As if it already wasn't.
With their 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night, secured when Danny Carcillo scored his first goal of the season with 49 seconds to play in regulation, the Chicago Blackhawks gained a point for the 24th straight game to open the 2013 season.
Dating to last season it's their 30th straight game with at least a point. They haven't lost a regular-season game in regulation in nearly a calendar year.
When you go that long without a loss in regulation you not only need a lot of skill -- which the Blackhawks obviously have -- you also need a little bit of good luck on your side as well. You have to think that, at some point, one of these bounces is going to work against them, and with so many games decided by one goal it's going to put them in the loss column.
It seemed for at least a little while like Wednesday might finally be that night.
They started the game with forwards Marian Hossa and Michael Frolik out due to injury. They lost forwards Andrew Shaw and Patrick Sharp during the game, which basically left them with nine forwards for much of the night.
They even opened the third period trailing, something that hasn't happened often this year.
And it still wasn't enough to put them in the loss column in regulation. And it was an unlikely hero scoring the game-winning goal, as Carcillo poked in a loose puck with less than a minute to play. That goal makes him the 16th different Blackhawk to score a goal this year, which helps to illustrate just how much depth this team has.
Still, despite the injuries some of the breaks were still falling Chicago's way on Wednesday.
Midway through the third period defenseman Michal Roszival was sent off for hooking Colorado's Matt Duchene on a breakaway, a sequence that resulted in Duchene ringing a shot off the post next to goaltender Ray Emery. The game at that point was a matter of inches away from being a 3-1 Colorado advantage. Instead, the Blackhawks responded on the ensuing Avalanche power play by getting this beauty of a shorthanded goal from captain Jonathan Toews to tie the game.
But watch it closely again as Dave Bolland, the other Chicago player involved in that rush, casually knocks the stick out of the hands of Avalanche forward Jamie McGinn, a play that if seen could have easily resulted in another penalty had it been seen by the referees.
That's simply the way it's going for Chicago right now.
Injuries. The fact they were playing their fifth game in seven nights. Trailing after two periods.
None of it mattered on Wednesday, and the streak rolls on for yet another night.
But it's not just the point streak right now. There are several other streaks going in within that streak that are worthy of attention. The Blackhawks as a team have won 11 straight games right now (they've lost three games in shootouts this year). Goaltender Ray Emery, Chicago's veteran backup, has started the season with 10 straight wins, something that no other goalie has done in NHL history.
Right now it's simply the Blackhawks' league, and everybody else is just along for the ride.
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