The Morning After: Blackhawks, Bulls Pull Out Wins

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Feb 10, 2010 4:00PM

Blackhawks Out-Shine Stars
It took extra hockey, but the Blackhawks manage to wrangle a 4-3 shoot-out win over the Dallas Stars. The entire game was a back-and-forth affair. Dallas opened the scoring about midway through the first period with a power-play goal only to have Patrick Kane answer with his 23rd goal of the season. A few minutes later, Dallas scored again and, again, Patrick Kane answered as his 24th goal of the season tied the game at 2-2 after the first. A scoreless second period gave way to a Troy Brouwer goal early in the third period but Dallas would respond with a late goal to force overtime with the score tied at 3-3. Kris Versteeg scored the winning (and only) goal in the shoot-out, which went five rounds. Antti Niemi got 24 saves in goal for the 'Hawks, including five in OT and two in the shoot-out. The 'Hawks now take their two-game win streak into the final two games before the Olympic break, starting at home Saturday night against Atlanta (7:30 p.m., WGN).

Bulls Race Past Pacers
The Bulls are back at .500 (25-25) after out-dueling the Indiana Pacers 109-101. Luol Deng shook off a bum shoulder for 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Bulls while Derrick Rose chipped in 21 and John Salmons came off the bench to score 21 as well. The Bulls actually trailed by five going into the fourth period, but solid shooting by them coupled with poor shooting by the Pacers helped the Bulls as they used a 13-2 run to get past the Pacers. The Bulls now try to extend the winning streak to three games before this weekend's All-Star break when they face the Orlando Magic tonight (7 p.m., CSN).

College Basketball
Illinois pulled off their second-straight upset over a ranked opponent as they topped the No. 13 Wisconsin Badgers 63-56. Demetri McCamey had a big night, scoring 27 points, and Mike Tisdale added 19. The back-to-back upsets could help set Illinois up to earn one of the last at-large spots for the national tournament come March.