Pictures ARE worth 1000 words
Momma said there'd be days like this, there'd be days like this my Momma said. This was an ugly game from the outset, and quite frankly, I'm surprised the Hawks didn't lose worse. It could have easily been a 7-2 game with all the defensive zone tunrovers. Although there was action, the Hawks were clearly being physically manhandled. They can't win them all, and they were lucky to have a chance in this one. Some days you just don't have it, and no one in an indianhead sweater really had it.
The Good
Essentially, they had two powerplay goals. Sharpie unleashed a laser for the first one and Seabrook's wasn't officially a PPG, but it was scored the second the powerplay ended. Two out of three is nothing to sneeze at, but the third, and most important powerplay of the game, was a complete Las Vegas bust-a-thon. They couldn't even get the puck cleanly past the red line and ran around like a mite team. The forth line once again showed the energy and spunk they have been asked for, but when they are barely cracking 10 mins of playing time a game, you're not going to get much. Boss 81 didn't show up on the score sheet, but he continues to be dominant.
The Bad
The Amber Alert on Dave Bolland continues. It's been so long since Bolly has done something significant that I'm running out of clever sarcastic comments. Wherever Bolland has run off to, might be where Toews and Kane could start searching for their scoring touch because they are slowly disappearing into a pitiful slump.
The defensive turnovers where nothing short of painfully embarrassing, and frustrating. Each time a Hawks defenseman put the puck on the tape of a defender, I scared the hell out of my dog screaming at the TV. Jesus, take an icing if you're having that much of a problem. There could have been a dozen defensive zone turnovers in the first period alone. To make matters worse, the Blues pushed the Hawks around all night, like a bunch of ragdolls. There may have been 15 solid highlight hits against, and I couldn't recollect a single solid hit by the Hawks. Coach Moustachio must have been livid, and if he wasn't, it's because he's already dead, and being propped up like Weekend at Bernie's.
David Perron is absolutely killing the Hawks; plain and simple. Talk about a one trick pony. He has four goals all season, and all four against the Hawks. He made Nick Boynton a human turnstyle on his second goal. Boynton actually looked helpless and overmatched on both Perron goals. Not the kind of player that should be seeing damn near 27 minutes like he did the other night. Brian Campbell, please hurry back.
I'm not feeling Moustachio's second powerplay line of Bickell/Brouwer/Hossa with Bolland and Seabrook on the point. Even though Seabrook scored, I fully believe it was a fluke. Bolland has been ineffective (if not invisible), Bickell can't handle the puck for shit, and Brouwer hasn't really done much special without Kane and Sharp to point him the right direction. How about throwing Skille and/or Stalberg out there? Can it really hurt? At least they throw themselves around with reckless abandon, and their speed could prove crucial. There is NO way Bickell should step foot on a powerplay, and Brouwer is marginal, at best.
If someone can tell me where this physical play that John Scott was supposed to bring is, then speak up. He traipsed around, until his fight, trying as hard as he could to not to hit anyone on the other team. That fight was a joke, with Scott just beating the side of Winchester's helmet, which is always productive. It was a snoozefest. Jake Dowell is nothing close to an enforcer, and he didn't do any worse. Something needs to change, and John Scott is wasting too much valuable ice time and he is regressing.
The Ugly
Where do we start? The ugliest is obviously that calamity of a game winning goal. It may or may not have hit Cullimore, then it looked like it was going to be redirected in front by Backes and Turco just misplayed it. Shanghai fire drill, and bad luck all around.
The Hawks had a prime chance in the third with Boss 81 feeding Toews, who ended up wide open in the slot, with only Halak to beat. Toews pretty much just handed the puck to Halak without even getting a shot off. This is a prime chance to tie the game with the puck on your captain's stick and he muffed it.
Duncan Keith had the absolute worst game I've seen him play in years. Maybe all this heavy ice time is getting to him, because he was clearly not the reigning Norris Trophy winner, last night. He probably turned over the puck half a dozen times in his own zone, in the first period alone. Highly uncharacteristic of the usual steady and reliable, Keith. He's been turning the puck over quite a bit this season, but last night was simply WAY too much. Moustachio needs to find out a way to knock Keith out of this funk and shake things up, because it's going to give me an ulcer. Maybe another puck to the grill is in order, and we can get him some Kanye West diamond teeth.
