Hawks continue their road rampage

The National staff

• Last Updated: November 23. 2009 8:11PM UAE / November 23. 2009 4:11PM GMT

The Chicago Blackhawks’ netminder Antti Niemi thwarts Vancouver’s Steve Bernier. Darryl Dyck / AP

The Chicago Blackhawks continued to beat up on western Canadian teams and chalked up their seventh successive win on Sunday when Bryan Bickell’s third-period goal was enough to overcome the Vancouver Canucks 1-0.

Bickell picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the season while the backup netminder Antti Niemi made 30 saves for his second shutout.

“We just tried to keep it simple,” said the Chicago defenceman Duncan Keith. “We didn’t want to get into an up-and-down kind of game, even though that is what we usually like.

“Antti hadn’t played in a while and he was just unbelievable. Defence was our first priority, and this was a great win for us.”

Chicago’s Brian Campbell helped set up the goal, skating in from the point and driving to the Vancouver (12-11-0) net. He lost the puck in front of goal but it trickled to Bickell, who tapped it behind a sprawling Robert Luongo. It was Bickell’s first NHL goal since April 2007.

Chicago (15-5-2) have had to make an extended road trip every November, as a circus sets up for an annual two-week stint at their home stadium.

The Blackhawks, who started the road trip with victories in Calgary and Edmonton, will travel to San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles before returning to home ice. They also beat the three Canadian teams during the “circus” road trip last year.

Luongo faced just 17 shots while Niemi repelled 30.

“We got 30 shots, which is pretty good,” said Alex Edler, the Vancouver defenceman. “We had a lot of chances and we should have scored, so it’s a tough loss.

“We played alright, but it’s very important to get on a roll and try and win some games because .500 is not going to cut it.”

The day’s other NFL game saw Steven Stamkos score in overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Stephane Veilleux, Ryan Malone and Kurtis Foster were also on target for Tampa, while Tobias Enstrom, Slavia Kozlov and Evander Kane netted for the beaten Thrashers, who had come from 3-1 down in the third quarter to take the game into overtime.

Stamkos said: “From a team perspective, I thought we played pretty solid and stuck to the game plan. We got lots of shots on net.”

* With agencies