"You three, get comfortable, because you're going to be here a while"
The big news of the day was that Joel Quenneville was taken to the hospital with and undisclosed illness, NOT of the cardiac nature. This meant that Mikey Haviland had the keys to the very delicate late model family sedan last night. Will it start? Will it even turn over? Will it backfire? Joshing aside, I do hope all is well with Moustachio, and wish him a speedy recovery. He is in the very selective company of Da Coach, Phil Jackson, and even Ozzie Guillen, in this city. Last night was also the debut of the Boss-Bolly-Frolly line, which was rather ineffective as a whole, but as individuals Bolly and Hoss had good games. The Hawks first period started out VERY slow. The Wild dominated the first half of the period, but the Hawks were about to put a powerplay goal in and take some momentum away from Minny. The second period was scoreless, but not without chances, which left the Hawks only up by one going into the third. That hasn't been good news lately, either. The Hawks did their best to give up that one goal lead, but they also reeled it back in to net two in the third to win 3-1.
- Good news for the Blackhawks powerplay, with the second unit scoring the first goal of the game. Hoss hit Bolland, who hit Campbell wide open in the high slot, and was left with enough time to toast a bagel, and brew a pot of coffee. Campbell picked his spot and made it look easy.
- Patrick Kane certainly didn't look like he was coming off a major bout with the flu. He had several good chances early. He didn't have a great deal of ice time, but when he was out there, he was very effective.
- I really like the Bickell, Kopecky, and Brouwer line. You're looking at some big horses there. If I was going to draw up a checking line on this team, THAT would be it. They all have some scoring talent and grit, even though Kopecky can't win a faceoff to save his life. Last night he was five of nine on faceoffs, which is as good as you're going to get with him.
- Boss 81 finally had a moment of clarity, late in the second, as he went around 2 D-men and had a very good chance. Nice to see you could join us this February, Marian.
- The Hawks scored their second powerplay goal of the night just a few moments after the Wild goal. Brouwer banked it off the Wild D-man Zanon, and into the net. We'll take it, and no complaining about T-Brouw's effort, as of late.
- Bolly had assists on all of the Hawks goals. It's a really good time to get hot, so it would be nice if some of that could rub off.
- Havi had a tight leash last night. Stalberg only had 4:06 of ice time, Hendry had 6:52, Jake the Snake only had 8:22, and I'll mention Big Show later. Maybe he's onto something because this was as solid a game as the Hawks have played this season.
- The Hawks played the first period like THEY were the team coming off a late game the night before, not the team that had been off a few days. Halfway though the first and the Wild had 13 shots already.
- The Hawks had a prime chance in the second with a four minute powerplay, and couldn't manage to put it in the net. The best chance was Bolland's back door shot that was just deflected wide.
- Corey Crawford was having a real rough time gathering in rebounds all night. That's something he needs to work on controlling better.
- The Wild finally got on the scoreboard on a powerplay just about midway through the third period, as Cullen got in behind Deuce and Soupie, took a nice feed, and put it around Mr. Crawley. You'd like to see Crawford poke check that puck, but at least it didn't hurt.
- John Scott. 3:36 of bliss. What a waste.
- Really the only ugliness was the first half of the first period, where the Hawks yielded 13 shots. Can't complain about this win.
