The Blackhawks scored a last-second 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues when Nolan Baumgartner rammed in a power-play rebound shot as the horn sounded to end Wednesday night’s exhibition game in the United Center.
Assisting were defenseman Steve Poapst, who dug the puck out of the corner, and Mark Bell, who took the initial shot rejected by St. Louis goalie Fred Brathwaite. The puck came to Baumgartner, and the defenseman flicked it into the net.
“I just knew there wasn’t much time left and I didn’t have to worry about getting back [to defend],” said Baumgartner. “I saw the puck. I took a swipe at it with my stick and it barely made it over the line.”
Power surge: After failing on all 13 of their power-play attempts in their first two exhibition games against Dallas, the Hawks converted three of their nine attempts against St. Louis.
The power-play goals that preceded Baumgartner’s game-winner were by Tony Amonte and Mike Peluso. Amonte opened the scoring at 14 minutes 59 seconds of the first period and Peluso gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead with his second goal of the game at 3:51 of the second period.
Stitch in time: Poapst was worse for the wear and tear of the Hawks’ first exhibition game Monday when he returned to the ice Wednesday.
In addition to getting two goals in Monday’s 3-1 victory over Dallas, Poapst received eight stitches under his left eye after being struck by the stick of the Stars’ Jamie Langenbrunner late in that game.
Icemen in motion: The Hawks (2-1) will hit the road for their next two games, playing Friday in Detroit and Sunday in Nashville.
Radulov leaves: Promising left wing Igor Radulov, the Hawks’ third-round selection in the 2000 draft, has been returned to his junior team, the Mississaugua Ice Dogs of the Ontario League.
Radulov failed to score in his only exhibition appearance Monday, but he impressed general manager Mike Smith and coach Brian Sutter during his week in training camp.
“We’ll possibly have two of the top five juniors this year–Radulov and [Mikhail] Yakubov,” said Sutter.
