Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. I know that's the thought going through each fan's mind a minute into the game. The first shift of the game and near tragedy strikes, but more on that later. The first period was entertaining, that's for sure. Five powerplay goals had the Hawks up 3-2 at the end of 20 minutes. The second period was considerably more calm with no scoring. The only scoring in the third was the empty net goal. Hawks Win, Kane Loses.
- I was going to ramble on about how the second powerplay unit of Bolland, Bickell, and Morin was utterly atrocious and Bickell cashes with another laser of a wrist shot. The guy can rip off a wrist shot, I'll give him that, you just have to set him up in the right space with the puck on a platter.
- Jonny B Goode ran that powerplay to perfection setting up Bolland for a nice goal. Bolland would have gladly screwed it up if Toews hadn't set him up so perfectly. You can thank Pat Kane for going out injured, because without that, you'd still be stuck with one goal for the season.
- Jonny B Goode did some nice digging to get the 3rd powerplay goal of the night for the Hawks. Nothing flashy, but the result was another red flashing light. Four guys digging for a rebound. I like it!
- I was glad to see Skillington get some first line playing time when Kane went down. He really deserves it, but not under these circumstances. I can also see how Skillington could annoy other players with his aggressiveness and personality. He just has that annoying quality, but I find it endearing. I also noticed Sharpie fill in for Kaner throughout the night.
- Leave it up to Dave Bolland to suck it up all year and then hit a perfectly placed 110 footer, right in the center of the net, to ice the game. I guess they just have to make him shoot from his own end the rest of the season.
- I cant remember seeing much of Cullimore and Boynton in the second half of the game, and I'm happy for that. Cullimore finished with 7 minutes of time, which second behind Big Show's 6 minutes. Boynton only had 11 minutes. All of these I have no problem with, but Dowell and Morin were on;y at about the 11 minute mark as well. If Kane is out for a long period of time you can't have 3 forwards playing 11 minutes or less a game, with one playing 5 minutes.
- Brouwer, Toews, and Kopecky cannot end up our first powerplay line. In no alternate reality, will that ever be a decent powerplay. Poor Jon. One or the other is acceptable but you have to put someone else out there that can actually move the puck, not two guys that excel at standing in front of the net. They might as well hold hands.
- Crawford was at Iginla's will with that powerplay goal. Not a whole lot he could do with the screen going on in front of him, and one of the leagues best snipers firing at him. He might have shat his pants just a little, when he noticed who was shooting.
- The Penalty kill was starting to look pretty atrocious, in itself, with that Babchuk snipe. It was a pretty well placed shot, and Crawford didn't stand much of a chance on this one either. Its hard to pick up a laser beam like that when you're moving across in the opposite direction.
- Well, there is really only one ugly part about this game, and that was the first shift of the game where Pat Kane went down with an apparent leg injury. Everyone is speculating but it looked like a broken or severely sprained ankle to me. Quenneville was very elusive after the game, saying that he would "Miss some time", but it wasn't "that bad". With the latest trend of injury reports, that might be the most specific report we get. I fully expect to hear that the report is that he "Will miss a while with an injury in the lower body region".
