A few notes before I get to it. You'll notice everyone and their brother already posted a recap of this game before I. Due to work and well, laziness, it will be typical that I will not get game recaps up until the next day. Unless of course NBC screws us with some more of those glorious 11am starts come this winter (ughhh). I use the term "recap" loosely with this posts - these will not be traditional recaps in where I rehash all of the action in some glorious prose. Thusly, I will be linking to the official NHL box scores/highlights, seen above, if you really want all of the nitty-gritty. Rather, these recaps will primarily consist of some of my own personal thoughts/reactions in addition to the goofiness you will find at the conclusion.
So let's get on with it, shall we?
- Let's just get this out of the way - the Hawks are notoriously awful in the recent past with openers. 0-2-2 in the last four. So no jumping off cliffs like lemmings ok? Not unless you're going to give me your tickets to future games first.
- Whoever had Bryan Bickell as the first goal scorer of the 2010-11 campaign, please take your ticket to the window to claim the door prize.
- The big chatter following this game surrounded defenseman Nick Leddy. The kid is 19, and this is his first professional game of any kind. What exactly did you expect? Yes, he flailed like a fool on the Stewart goal, but Hjalmarsson played it just as badly and Turco was way too far out on that shot. He seemed to chill a bit as the game went on (perhaps he just needed his pants changed between the first and second periods) and I liked his puck movement overall. Let's give him a chance before we stamp his ticket to Rockford.
- This stat really says it all about this game: 41 SOG by the Avs. The highest SOG allowed last year was 38 in a game versus Detroit. This is indicative of how poorly the Hawks' D played last night. Even the usually dependable Duncs and Seabs looked awful at times - both had multiple turnovers in their own zone and some poor decisions with passes. Perhaps part of this stems from the fact that I'm sure both feel pressure to be close to perfect what with the issues with the other 2 D pairings.
- Another factor that I'm sure affected the defensive play - TOI. Keith had a staggering 33:39 minutes on the ice (7:39 on the PP), while Seabs followed with 28:22 and Toftbo logged 22:55. The third pairing of Hendry/Godzilla each had less than 7 minutes of ice time. I would rather we lean a bit more on the third pairing with Soupy out than we have a completely gassed Duncs/Seabs/Toftbo by the All Star Break. I'm curious to see the starting D tomorrow night - I'm willing to bet Boynton gets the start, but who will he replace - Hendry or Scott?
- Marty Turco: a heart attack in red pads. Love his puck play but sometimes I worry he's more focused on playing the puck than blocking the shots. It'll be quite fun with him in net - hopefully I'll make it through the season only going through one bottle of Rolaids.
- 2/7 on the power play is respectable, but the point situation with the man advantage is atrocious. I know it will get better when Campbell is back, but I've never been a fan of a forward on the point. I lost count of how many odd man rushes the Avs had shorthanded as a result of poor play from there. Hossa was particularly terrible back there - he needs to be in the slot. I don't know what the solution is - I'd rather see four D men there than what I witnessed.
- Speaking of the point - how many shots from there were they going to take? I'd bet less than half actually got through - it honestly looked like Brent Seabrook was aiming for people's legs.
- Craig Anderson was a rebound machine. Too bad there was rarely a Hawk in position to capitalize - if they had, we would have a crooked number in points right now.
- Props for the Blackhawks for coming back down 3-1 on the road. I would have preferred the comeback been complete (or at least made it to the shootout), but I'll take that point on the road.
And now...the fun part:
The Han Solo Award (Best Overall Performance)
Patrick Sharp
Sharpie had 1G, 1A, which included the tying goal halfway through the third period. He led the team with 7 SOG and generally looked very comfortable out there. Sharp edges out Hossa for this honor (who also had 1G, 1A) due to the mere fact he looked less terrible on the point during the power play than Hossa did. Besides, it is fitting the most handsome man on the team wins the first award named after the most handsome man in the Star Wars saga.
Marty Turco
Sure, we'd all like to see the goal in OT not trickle in and perhaps another one of the goals he gave up could have been stopped. But he made 37 of 41 saves in front of a defense that probably made him look at his jersey to make sure he wasn't still in Dallas. While his puck handling made me snort/scream/reach for my drink at times, he definitely adds an excitement to the game, especially on the power play. For all the folks screaming that Niemi would have done better - as much as I love Nemo, his rebound control is inferior to Turco's. Who knows how he would have done, as he never saw that many shots in a game last year - although I hope he's ready because he's sure to see a few games with 40+ with that shitstorm of a defense in SJ. Marty Turco is our goalie now - let's support him and enjoy the ride.
The Jar-Jar Binks Award (Most Annoying/Asinine Person Or Object
The Ice Surface at the Pepsi Center
Avs fans have sworn to the contrary, but in my eyes, the ice looked like shit last night. I have never seen the puck take so many bad bounces outside of a game in May or June. Maybe the Blackhawks were really out of sync? But to me they had to settle the puck down and whiffed way too many times for it to be all on them. An Honorable Mention for this award goes to Versus, for dicking around on their pregame coverage so the game didn't start until nearly 9:30 CST. I have get up at 5:30am on weekdays, thanks.
TOEWS-FACE OF THE GAME
In honor of Captain Serious and the goofy expressions he makes, I am excited to bring you only the best Toews-Face for every Blackhawks game. This one is not one of his best, but he still looks like he is about to breathe fire in this shot. Or perhaps belch.
I hope you enjoy the format of the recaps - please let me know if you have any ideas or comments. I will try to put up a post regarding tomorrow's game beforehand. It is a very special game for me, as I will be in attendance with my mom :)
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