Mark Fitzpatrick will start for the Blackhawks Friday night whether Dino Ciccarelli likes it or not.
After the Panthers beat the Hawks 2-1 Wednesday night, Ciccarelli complained that Fitzpatrick intentionally kicked him twice after he scored the Panthers’ first goal. Panthers General Manager Bryan Murray said the same thing in an interview after the second period.
But the Panthers didn’t file a complaint, and since Fitzpatrick was not whistled for a penalty on the play, he likely would have gone unpunished by the NHL.
“He was just trying to draw a penalty,” Fitzpatrick said. “I was on my back. Next thing I knew, his hand was hiding his face or forehead or something. Obviously, it’s a 12-inch blade. If there was any kind of contact, it would have hurt him pretty bad.”
As Exhibit A in his own defense, Fitzpatrick presents: Cicarelli’s head, which, Fitzpatrick said, would have had visible wounds if it had been kicked. Exhibit B is the ice, which was not stained by blood.
Besides, these days it’s the Hawks who are being kicked when they’re down. They have lost four straight.
Fitzpatrick will start Friday for essentially the same reasons he started Wednesday: He is hotter than Jeff Hackett and is playing a former team. It will be Fitzpatrick’s fourth start in five games.
“It’s actually nice to play, but I would trade in a game for a win any time right now,” he said. “We need to win bad. Hopefully, it’s going to come against Tampa Bay.”
If Fitzpatrick plays as well as he did Wednesday, the Hawks have a good shot. Fitzpatrick stopped 30 of 32 shots in the game.
“He played very well,” coach Dirk Graham said. “There is no reason to go away from him.”
As for the Ciccarelli controversy, Graham claimed to know nothing of it.
“I haven’t heard anything about it,” he said. “I didn’t know there was anything there. . .I didn’t see anything.”
Trying to break out: The Hawks think their loss to the Panthers was a case of a team on a losing streak being unable to buy a break. Bill Lindsay’s winning goal came with Fitzpatrick looking in the other direction, and the Hawks had numerous chances that didn;t pan out.
“It was just one of those games,” Fitzpatrick said. “Sean Burke had a big night in goal for the Panthers. If it wasn’t for him, we could have easily won 4-2 or 5-2. It was like the game in Carolina.”
In that one Fitzpatrick was also outstanding but the Hawks lost 2-0 on a similar goal to Lindsay’s and an empty-netter. But unlike the game in Carolina, the Hawks played hard the entire way in Floirda, which encouraged Graham.
If the Hawks keep playing like they did Wednesday, the losing streak has to end at some point.
“If you continue to do things right, it gets to be where we didn’t play that well but we ended up winning the game,” Graham said.
Heads up: Doug Gilmour has a nasty cut above his left eye, the result of an errant puck hitting him during Wednesday night’s game. Six minutes and 12 stitches later, Gilmour returned. Even though he doesn’t look like he’s ready to do any fashion spreads, Gilmour will play Friday night.
“He’s fine,” Graham said. “Well, he isn’t fine, but that’s the type of guy he is. It isn’t going to affect him too much.”
