Well, that wasn't so hot. Imagine Luke Skywalker missing that shot that blew up the first death star. That's kind of what happened last night. After all the hoopla of the banner raising, the Evil Empire beat the Hawks in front of their own, delirious, full house. Maybe that banner is bad luck, and we need to take it down. I will fully admit that I sat there with an ear to ear grin watching that ceremony. It was something special, and the only thing better would have been if I was there, and of course, a STINKING WIN! The videos from the ceremony are on the Hawks site, and broken into roughly 5 different parts, so I'm not going to post them all here. That crap is over and done, so the team needs to focus on the current situations.
The Good
The forth line, or as I like to call them, SDS. Plain and simple, they were the Hawks strongest and most consistent players. So when your fourth line grinders are your best trio, things are deplorable. Stalberg showed some serious speed, but still can't get to the net, with the puck that is. Dowell has made everyone forget the name Colin Fraser, after only two games. He's has shown that he belongs in the NHL, and has had several very good scoring chances, along with throwing his body around like a maniac. Jack Skille has been a man on a mission, as well, with several very nice hits and the speed that made the Hawks select him in the first round the year before Toews. I honestly think Quenneville needs to play them more. They have earned it. It can't hurt at this point, because they've shown they aren't a liability. This isn't the Burish/Fraser/Eager line of years past, and that's a good thing.
Seabrook snuck in on the power play and put a nice feed from Hoss in the net to tie the game in the first. Seabs had a much better second game, that much is for sure. Chuck Norris is still wearing his Hossa pajamas, as he rolls out of bed this morning. Turco didn't have a terrible night, but that last goal was really awful and, obviously, costly. Brandon Pirri made his Hawks debut, with Sharpie out nursing the unspecific "upper body injury", and didn't completely suck, so that's promising. He might want to do something about those frightening eyebrows, though. YIKES! Bickell had his second goal in as many games, and I actually saw him look like a big boy and carry the puck. There is no way this sham lasts. It's like a Jesus, Santa Claus, or the Easter Bunny; a figment of our imaginations. Bickell is not leading this team in goals for much longer, and if he does, there is cause for extreme panic.
The Bad
Once again, Hjalmarsson was out there for all 3 Detoilet goals. The difference is that they had him out there with Nick Boynton. I'm certainly not blaming the goals on Hammer, but something isn't clicking. At the rate things are going, he's going to be personally chauffeuring Campbell to his rehab treatments. He's two games into the season, and already a -4. That's something to be concerned about. John Scott didn't exactly light the world on fire, either. He turned the puck over in his own zone a couple of time, and BADLY I might add. We all saw him trip over the blue line, like some "c league" bender, and allow Filppula around him, and eventually score the game winning goal. Of course, he was left to cover for the "phenom" Nick Leddy most of the night, but I just don't see why Scott is seeing so much time. Leddy was where he belonged last night, but he needs a solid partner. Not "dump in the pants" Scott. In Leddy's defense, Hammer was out there with Scott when the game winning goal was scored. I think Boynton would play well with Leddy, but that leaves no one for Hammer. This Campbell thing is really just fouling everything up, and is the basis for a good deal of this poor play. Bad chemistry. There isn't a solid #3 man to play to Hammer's #4. As a result, Hammer is having to play #3 to a bunch of #5's and #6's.
The Ugly
The powerplay. After that Hossa to Seabrook goal, the PP looked exactly like that; Pee Pee. It sucked! Jesus Christ on a cracker, I'm tired of this Dave Bolland experiment at the point on the PP. Can we please put it to rest? It's atrocious. Simply embarrassing. Since when is Dave Fucking Bolland the puck control artist extraordinaire? That's right, he's NOT! He's a 3rd line shut down center. Quit acting like he's some kind of worthy PP quarterback. I can understand replacing Bolland with Hossa, because he can control the puck. In fact, he's one of the leagues BEST at controlling he puck, but with Hoss at the point, who plays with Kane and Toews? I guess Kopecky or Bickell could just create havoc in front of the net, because someone has to. I really never saw Osgood struggling with traffic in front of the net. By the end of the game, Coach "Q" was throwing Boynton, Pisani, Brouwer, Dowell and a host of others out there on the powerplay. Talk about an act of desperation. When you feel that Nick Boynton or Fernando Pisani are the answers to your PP problem, you're really reaching the bottom of the barrel. I think "Q" actually pulled some drunken beer bellied slug out of the crowd, to try on the powerplay, because it couldn't have been much worse.
The second Detoilet goal wasn't exactly something to write home about. Purposely banked of the back boards and Mr. "Assault and Battery" Todd Bertuzzi somehow poked it through Turco. Davie Bolland almost kept it out of the net, but the damage was done.
The easiest of the ugly was the last goal. Soft, to say the least, and a complete culsterfuck from the blue line in. Scott falling, Hammer's desperation because of it, and Turco misplaying it. Horrible timing. You do realize that 2 goals by Filppula is almost 20% of his goal total for the ENTIRE last season, right? He looked like an allstar last night. Unfortunately, Turco had a bad night, but he's still better than the alternative of Huet and Niemi, no matter what kind of bullshit you try to feed me. I'll take an aggressive, confident goaltender over those two fragile rubberheads any day. You can watch the carnage below, because it's a buzzkill after that banner ceremony.
The Highlights.
