Lasts night’s Blackhawks game may have been the worst hockey I have seen played for a long, long time…at least for 54 minutes. Outside of Patrick Sharp’s powerplay goal late in the first period where Toews and Kane did some excellent work along the boards to get the puck to Sharp, there wasn’t really anything good to talk about for the Hawks. And for that matter, outside of Selanne’s powerplay goal in the second period for the Ducks, there wasn’t much good to talk about for them either. It was and all around sloppy and very boring game.
When I got back from the game last night, I checked the stat sheet again to notice the Hawks somehow got 41 shots on the Ducks netminder, Jonas Hiller. From watching inside the UC (which is sometimes a different perspective than on TV) it looked as though most of the Hawks shots were coming from outside the circles with little to no traffic in front. Although it appeared that Hiller made some really good saves, the shots from beyond the circles with no traffic in front are the kind of shots that NHL goaltenders are supposed to stop.
The Hawks had trouble all night gaining the Ducks zone and then keeping the pressure on. Their passing was poor last night and it really didn’t look like either team had a lot of interest in getting two points last night. For the Ducks, at least they had the excuse of playing their third game in four days on the road. The Hawks, however, had three full days to rest and were returning to the home crowd after a 2-week hiatus.
If it weren’t for Steeger’s fantastic move along the boards that led to the Hawks game tying second goal, they may very well have lost that game last night. After Havlat buried the second goal, I thought we were in for another OT game, as it seems the Hawks have the tendency to play not to lose if the game is tied late. But last night, they stayed hungry after the second goal and played aggressive, which ultimately led to Jonathan Toews game winner with just over a minute left in the game.
In the end, the Hawks got two points that they probably didn’t earn…but gaining two regulation points against a team that’s higher in the standings is always big. However, I’m certain if they come out and play like that on Saturday at Detroit, they’ll get run out of Joe Louis Arena.
Notes:
-Dave Bolland’s hooking penalty was exactly the type of penalty the Hawks need to avoid. It occurred 160 feet from Huet and the other four Hawks that were on the ice were in between the Ducks player and Huet
-Teemu Selanne now has 13 powerplay goals this year and 14 total goals. Next time the Hawks play the Ducks (or any other team for that matter) can they just put one guy on him and play 4 on 3? He’s scored 59% of their PPG (13/22)…not bad for a 38 year old.
-To the guy sitting behind me last night, go f yourself. Telling me to sit down during the Steve Larmer video and while he was out to drop the puck. If a guy wins the Calder Trophy and plays 884 straight games, he deserves a standing ovation.
-Last night’s crowd was dead. Yes, it was a Wednesday night, but it reminded me of the first game I attended last year in the fall. Granted, when the Hawks finally decided to wake up…the crowd joined in the final six minutes.
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