Blackhawks defenseman Jassen Cullimore doesn’t know whether the NHL will review his game-misconduct penalty for kneeing Ales Hemsky in the third period of Saturday night’s 4-3 Hawks victory over Edmonton.
Cullimore said he tried to hit Hemsky with his shoulder and hip and that he had no intent to injure. Hemsky was shaken up but stayed in the game and played on the subsequent power play.
“I looked at the replay, and I caught him with my hip and shoulder,” Cullimore said Sunday. “He tried to get out of the way, and we hit knees. I didn’t stick my knee out and try to hurt him. It’s disappointing to get a call like that.”
The penalty came 12 seconds after Edmonton had cut the Hawks’ lead to 4-2, and the Hawks were staring at trying to kill a five-minute major. They killed three minutes of it before Edmonton’s Marc-Andre Bergeron bailed out the Hawks with a holding penalty.
“I thought there was more hip involved than knee,” coach Trent Yawney said. “Obviously [Hemsky] continued to play on the five-minute power play, so it couldn’t have been as bad as it appeared. I’m sure it will get reviewed and [the league] will make the decision accordingly.”
Growing pains
Pavel Vorobiev was scratched Saturday with a sore ankle that has been bothering him for a week. That could be a factor in his six-game scoreless streak. Vorobiev has one goal in his last 12 games.
“He has to learn how to play against people that recognize his skills,” Yawney said. “Earlier he flew under the radar. Now he doesn’t.”
Shawn Thornton saw his first action of the season on a line with Tyler Arnason and Mark Cullen. Defenseman Jim Vandermeer was scratched with a bruised ankle suffered Friday at Calgary. He’s day-to-day.
Getting greedy
With two victories to start a five-game trip, Yawney doesn’t think the Hawks will be satisfied.
“They know they have an opportunity here against some good teams,” he said. “I know they’re not real happy with the effort they put forth against Vancouver the last time we were there (a 6-2 loss), and now they’ll have an opportunity to do something about it.”
High praise
The Hawks have a fan in CBC analyst Don Cherry, who lauded Yawney on the “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast Saturday. Cherry admired the way Yawney persevered for five years coaching at Norfolk and said Yawney has the Hawks working as hard as an American Hockey League team–which is a compliment. It’s not the first time this season that the outspoken Cherry has praised Yawney.
Dump-ins
In the first two games of the trip, the Hawks have faced 20 power plays, allowing four goals. They’ve had seven power plays, scoring twice. . . . The last time the Hawks won in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver on the same trip was 1995, when they went 5-1 out west.
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rfoltman@tribune.com
