Box Score
Highlights
Game 29: Chicago Blackhawks 4, Calgary Flames 2
Box Score
Highlights
Now that the Bulls have claimed the Saturday night slot at the UC (who decides that?), this is the end of the back-to-back games at home for the remainder of the season. Which is fine with me - I quite like the Friday night/Sunday evening home game combo. Coming off a heart attacking inducing win vs. the Blues on Wednesday, hopes were high that the Hawks would come out flying versus their #1 non-division rival, the Canucks. Um. not so much. But I will get into that....heeeerrrrreeeee:
The Good
- The Blackhawks outshot their opponents 32-18 & 32-26 on Friday and Sunday respectively. This is much better than earlier in the season and reminiscent of the way the Hawks dominated the shot sheet last season.
- The Hawks dominated long stretches of the game vs. the Canucks. That's all fine and dandy, unfortunately they had nothing on the board to show for it.
- Dave Bolland not only goaded a Sedin into a penalty on Friday (old habits die hard), he scored two on Friday and was 50% at the dot versus the Flames. Sure, one of the goals was a empty-netter, but BABY STEPS. I'll take what I can get at this point.
- Speaking of faceoffs, Captain Tazer was 29/45 (64%) at the dot in those two games. Solid, solid, SOLID.
- The Hawks were 4/9 on the power play versus the Flames. This included their first 5-on-3 goal of the season.
- While Turco didn't really get much help vs. the Canucks, he was just average, which isn't going to cut it when the opposition's goaltender is doing headstands. Crawford on the other hand, while a little shaky in the first vs. the Flames, stood tall in the third, stopping all 10 Calgary shots. His best sequence was backstopping those three straight Hawks penalties in the last frame. From all appearances Corey's going to get the start Wednesday versus Dallas.
The Bad
- While Mr. Luongo undoubtedly stood on his head versus the Hawks (I'll give him more credit when he can do that twice to us in the post season), it wasn't as if there weren't opportunities. Both Kane & Bolland IIRC had wide open nets that they just whiffed on, and I know there were several other excellent chances to put the puck behind Borat. On the flipside, the Canucks seemed to cash in on every opportunity afforded them. If you do that against a good team, you're going to lose 99 out of 100 times.
- Looks like the bad penalties at bad times bug have struck the Hawks again. Yay.
- John Scott's ice time TOTAL in these two games: 10:04. The fighting's a novelty, and I know we've been bit with the injury bug, but if Snuggles' isn't going to help take a little more of the load off our top players, he needs to sit. Plenty of kids in Rockford could give you some extra minutes for the same amount of a cap hit.
- On the flipside, Duncan Keith was back up to 29:39 against the Flames. DO NOT WANT.
The Ugly
- Our penalty kills sucks it right now. In two games we allowed the opponent to convert 3 of 13 opportunities (77% kill rate). Currently we're 25th in the league, only killing off 79% of our penalties - Montreal leads the league at 90.1% If we're going to continue to get penalized as we are wont to do as of late, this MUST improve. Yesterday, I actually cheered when the Hawks killed off their third penalty as they let the Flames convert on their first two opportunities.
- So Patrick Kane lasted all of 23 seconds versus Calgary before he was hit into the boards (it was clean) and his left leg twisted awkwardly. The reports are "it's not serious" but he'll be out "for a bit." In the land of Upper and Lower body injuries, who the fuck knows how long that will be. I'd hate to rush him, but Hossa needs to get healthy, stat. Sharpie and Toews are the only legitimate scoring threats we have on the ice right now, and at this point we can't let too many games slip away. I CRY.
- They're showing Sid vs. Ovi Winter Classic commercials on NBC already? I hope I'm too hungover on New Years Day to witness the mainstream media fellate those two.
TWO FOR TOEWS-FACES
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
I have to say, those are two of the best Toews-Faces of the season. Jebus.
So, tomorrow night I may be adventurous and go to a book signing attended by one Mr. Dave Bolland. If I do, I'll have PICTURES!
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