"I was kind of lucky on that one," said the ever-humble Axelsson, who remembers participating in a shootout only once before, against the Rangers. "The goalie [Nikolai Khabibulin] got a piece of it with his glove. We've been practicing that in practice a little bit, and I just wanted to get the shot up."
It was the end to an exciting, entertaining night in the Windy City, a town where hockey has been exhumed from the sports graveyard. The building pulsated, much like the long-gone Chicago Stadium, where heroes such as Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita once ruled the rink.
Despite a bad start, in which they gave up four power-play opportunities in the first period, the Bruins scored first, and held the lead until young Hawks captain Jonathan Toews directed in a power-play goal for a 1-1 tie with 10:50 remaining in regulation. It all came down to the shootout, with Wheeler the first to jump off the Boston bench after Toews failed on the Hawks' first shootout attempt.
Wheeler closed to the top of the crease, and when Khabibulin came toward him, the oversized rookie expanded his reach while falling and tucked the puck in the open right side.
"I could tell he was so far out," said Wheeler, "and when I got around him, I just slammed it. Being the first shooter can be a little nerve-racking, I guess, but we've been doing a lot of shooting in practice. If you're not scoring in the shootouts, it can cost you a point in the standings, and we wanted to get better. Luckily, he bit on my move and then, like I said, I just slammed it.
The Bruins connected for a 1-0 lead with 54 seconds remaining in the second period when Marco Sturm tipped in his fourth of the season. Cutting toward the right post with the Bruins skating with the man advantaage, the German-born winger put the shaft to a Zdeno Chara wrister from the right faceoff dot.
