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NHL: BLACKHAWKS: Aucoin's Blast Powers Hawks Past Avs

/noticias.info/ Hawk Captain Adrian Aucoin returned to the lineup in dramatic fashion by scoring a power play goal midway through the 2nd period to give Chicago a 2-1 victory over Colorado at the United Center Sunday.

The win moved the team moved above the .500 mark for the first time since October 25.

Since Denis Savard took over as head coach, the Hawks are 7-3-1 and are only two points out of a playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Aucoin's goal came on a 50-foot blast at 12:58 of the 2nd period with the man advantage and was only his 2nd of the season and 1st since October 7 against Columbus. Aucoin had missed the last 11 games because of a groin injury and his winning shot broke a 1-all tie.

Hawk goalie Nikolai Khabibulin came up with another brilliant performance turning away 28 shots which included 17 in the final period.

Chicago took the lead at 14:48 of the opening period when Martin Havlat's pass went to Tuomo Ruutu and the Hawk winger fired a 20-footer from the slot past goalie Jose Theodore. It was Ruutu's 10th of the season and his 3rd in the last three games.

A minute before Ruutu's goal, Kahbibulin made a big stop on a 15-footer by Paul Stastny.

Early in the 2nd period, Jeff Hamilton, bidding for his 9th goal in the last 10 games, was stopped by Theodore on a 10-foot backhand shot.

The Avalanche tied the game at 6:13 when two former Hawks combined on a scoring play. Tyler Arnason's shot was tipped just outside the goal crease by Brett McLean for his 6th goal.

Four minutes later, Kahbibulin stopped a partial breakaway by Arnason to preserve the tie. Then with Patrice Brisebois in the penalty box for hooking, Aucoin connected just inside the blue line for what proved to be the game-winner.

In the final period, Khabibulin robbed Milan Hejduk on three different quality scoring chances and managed to stop a tip by Ian Laperriere just past the midway point.

Colorado's Andrew Brunette had 5 shots on goal in the period, including several close-in attempts when Theodore was pulled for an extra attacker in the final 80 seconds of the game.

Savard felt that players continued to work hard despite the fact that this was their 8th game in 12 nights, and that both goalies played well.

Hawk defensemen Duncan Keith and James Wisniewsski both led all skaters in ice time. Keith was named the #2 star of the game with Aucoin selected as #1. Keith is now 2nd on the team in assists (15); only one behind team point leader Bryan Smolinski.

The Hawk defenders blocked 19 shots in front of Khabibulin.

Chicago is now 8-6-1 at home and won back to back games while snapping Colorado's win streak at three.

The Hawks continue their homestand Wednesday against Central Division leader Nashville (7:30 pm) at the United Center and Friday (7:30 pm) against Toronto..

Avalanche Quotes


G Jose Theodore


"We came out hard in the 3rd period; I think it was a good period. I thought we were in the game for 60 minutes. Until the last second it was a tight game. It was nice to get in there after a couple of days off. We've been practicing hard, working hard. We were pretty good right off the bat. Since they changed coach they've been playing great hockey."


D Patrice Brisebois

"We tried to be a little bit too fancy. If you try to be too fancy, it's hard to have success against that kind of team. Put the puck on net, go for rebounds, screen the goalie; that's how we scored the first goal. It wasn't a very pretty goal but deflections, screen the goalie -- that's the way we score goals around here. We didn't score a lot of goals tonight and that's too bad. We've got a big game Tuesday and hopefully we're going to win." notas_de_prensa_archivo