The New York Islanders have hit a bit of a dry spell here in mid March and are starting to losing some playoff position in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. But the Chicago Blackhawks are a team that can score early and often and that is exactly what they did on Monday night in Chicago.
Jonathan Toews was the man to watch in this contest as he did everything and impacted all four goals scored. In the opening period he put in two goals himself, giving the Blackhawks a 2 goal advantage after the first period. The goals were assisted by Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Johnny Oduya. Then in the remaining periods he assisted on both of Marian Hossa's goals, with Patrick Sharp getting another assist as well. Of course no offense is good without a goalie to back them up. Corey Crawford stood on his head in this contest, only allowing one goal to get by him on the evening, and that was after building a 4-0 lead. He saved 38 goals on 39 shots for a 97.4 save percentage. That is quite impressive for the former Stanley Cup Winner who is getting himself ready for the postseason.
The Islanders started Michal Neuvirth in goal instead of their regular goal Jaroslav Halak. Neuvirth might have been inserted into the lineup to give Halak some more rest, but he performed quite awful. He saved 26 of the 30 Chicago shots for a minor 86.7 save percentage. Nikolay Kulemin finally got the only goal of the night for the Islanders, when Tyler Kennedy and Frans Nielsen set him up midway through the third period.
Next up for the Chicago Blackhawks (42-21-6, 90 pts) is a game at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, March 18, against the New York Rangers (44-17-7, 95 pts). Next up for the New York Islanders (43-25-4, 90 pts) is a few days of rest before they take on the New Jersey Devils (30-29-11, 71 pts) at the Prudential Center on Saturday, March 21.