"Maybe it was all those pregame ceremonies that were holding the Blackhawks back. After losing their first two games of the season following Stanley Cup celebrations — beginning in Colorado as the Avalanche saluted the 15th anniversary of a championship prior to Thursday night's season opener and then at the United Center with the raising of the Cup banner two nights later — the Hawks played a game Monday night without any pomp and circumstance before puck drop. The result was a hard-fought 4-3 victory over the Sabres in front of a crowd of 17,898 at HSBC Arena. Marian Hossa scored twice while hometown hero Patrick Kane and rookie Nick Leddy added goals to help Corey Crawford earn the win in goal. The Hawks improved to 1-1-1 after rallying from an early two-goal deficit. A key kill of a five-minute boarding penalty on Niklas Hjalmarsson late in the first period sparked the Hawks, who reeled off four consecutive goals after falling behind 2-0 in the first 2 minutes, 43 seconds of the game. The Hawks played the rest of the way without Hjalmarsson, who was ejected after he was assessed a game misconduct for the hit on Jason Pominville, who suffered a concussion. "We didn't have a good start again," said Hossa, who scored on a breakaway in the second period and with a well-placed shot past goalie Ryan Miller from in close in the third. "With the two losses, we really needed this win. "We showed if we play much better defensively we're going to create lots of offense because of the players we have. That's what happened. The big five minutes killed helped us and gave us more confidence, and after that we started playing like we did last year." Drew Stafford and Derek Roy staked the Sabres to the early lead and had the Hawks on their heels. Kane started the comeback with a power-play goal with a wrist shot from the high slot before Leddy tied things with his first NHL goal. It came on a long shot that deflected off the skate of Buffalo defenseman Shaone Morrisson and eluded Miller." Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...khawks-sabres-chicago20101011,0,6475071.story
