This was a game of firsts for the Hawks and Jets. This was the first Hawks start for Razor Emery, the first game for Carbomb, the first time the Jets play the Hawks and visit the UC, and this is the game back in Chicago for former Hawks Ladd and Byfuglien. With 4 days preceding this game, the media had nothing to do but report on everything but what each player eats for breakfast. Thank god there was a game to be played, now lets get to it.
The first period started as we've seen quite a few games start for the Hawks. SLOW. The quickly went down 0-2 early in the first period. It's like they just weren't awake yet. After the second Jets goal, the Hawks woke the hell up and dominated the rest of the frame, scoring two, and just missing on a couple more. Maybe they need some better warmup drills. The second was a bit better than the first as the Hawks scored two pretty quick, but gave up one as well, to go into the second intermission up 4-3. The third was a stalemate, with both teams holding each other scoreless, and the Hawks taking the 4-3 win.
- Nice to see Stevie Montador go after Fluff, after he took a late whack at Razor. Don't let that fat lazy bastard rule the ice. Montador later laid a big hit on Evander Kane that led to a penalty, but that's why he's here. If we don't notice him too much, then he's doing his job.
- Andrew Brunette opened up the Hawks scoring on a powerplay, in what could become a very welcomed sight. Bruno took a Kaner rebound and put it past the Jets netminder, Pavelec. Looks like the Hawks actually gave a shit about the PP in this one. Considering the level of talent on this team, you don't see a lot of players grinding it out in front of the net, and that's EXACTLY what Bruno is bringing.
- First Dick Tidrow reference for Eddie O...Check
- Keith's high first period shot on Pavelec clearly hurt the Jets goalie. I can speak from experience, and shots to that area HURT like HELL. He's going to have a bruised collar bone for days to come, and will be very careful not to take high shots for a while. Kaner made sure to test that collarbone later in the second, as well.
- The new combo of Boss and Kaner tied up the game in the 1st. Carbomb started by doing some digging, and Boss took over, taking the puck into the zone and getting past a Jets defender. After getting past the defender, he lasered a pass over to a wide open Kaner, who one timed it past the helpless Jets goalie. It was a bang/bang play, but what some people won't realize is how HARD it is to time a shot like that, at the speed that pass is moving, and then hit the net where you want. I'm confident that Kaner is one of the only players on the team, and maybe the league, that could pull that one off. It might not make goals of the year, but hockey purists recognize the difficulty of that one.
- Hoss opened up the second period, 33 seconds in, with a long slapshot goal. You read that right, a long SLAPSHOT goal. This was a bad long one for Pavelec. You have to make that stop. Consequently, if Carbomb continues on this line, he's going to end up a plus 20 on the year just by association.
- Bolly made it 4-2 with another fairly soft goal that started with Frodo absolutely abusing the Jets Bogosian and getting a prime chance, feeding it to Bick for a one timer. Bickell then picked up the rebound behind the net and fed a streaking Bolland, who powered it through Pavelec. The shot wasn't anything special, and just seemed to squeak through. We'll take it, and the Bolly streak continues. This is a complete 180 from last year, when Bolly could hit the net to save his life for the first 50 games.
- Carbomb watch had him in Dr. Jeckyl mode last night. He drew a penalty and annoyed the hell out of the Jets all night long. For a fairly average sized guy, he is a huge pain in the ASS, and draws some SERIOUS attention. He was jawing with all of the Jets, the whole night, and seems fearless.
- For the third game in a row, Bickell laid a big hit on an opposing player. Toby Enstrom was the unlucky recipient on this particular one. As I said before, Brouwer's position on this team was EASILY replaceable, and Bickell is proving that. Brouwer led a team full of forwards that don't hit, in hits. Not hard to do, folks.
- The line of Carbomb-Kaner-Boss was the best line on the ice all night. The Bolly line wasn't far behind, but that Kaner line dominates every time it's on the ice. This Kane-to-center experiment is going to make Quenneville look like a brilliant scientist.
- All the Hawks centers were over 50% on faceoffs, except Kruger, with Kaner leading at 71%. Not quite out of position, I guess.
- Winnipeg drew first blood as Slater redirected an Oduya shot past Razor. Not something you'll see a lot of, but the Oduya chance was a direct result of a Captain Serious turnover. I'm not really sure what he thought was going to come of that, but he dumped it up the boards right to a waiting Oduya, who brought it right towards the net. He got a solid shot off, and Slater got inside position on Montador, who was probably thinking "oh shit" like the rest of us, and Slater tipped it down and between Razor's legs. Nothing you can do as a goalie but hope it hits you, because you never know where that tip is going to go. C'Mon Cap, you're better than that.
- Slater tipped another one in a few mins later in improbable fashion. Poor Razor has absolutely NO chance on this one either. The Jets Hainsey took a shot that was going to clearly go wide, and Slater reached behind himself to deflect it back between his own legs and into the net. Again, when you change the direction of the puck, 4 feet in front of the goalie, all he can hope is that it hits him, because that's simply not enough time for ANY goalie to adjust. A physical impossibility.
- Wellwood made up for his blue line fall scoring the Jets 3rd goal of the game, when the defense went into panic mode and left Wellwood wide open on the backdoor post. He struggled to control the bouncing rebound, but Razor was so out of position that he had time to turn around and shovel it between his legs and off Bolly's skate and then off Razor's equipment, and into the net. This is what you're going to see out of Razor. He tends to over pursue a bit when there is a flurry in the crease area. The real problem with this is that he's not as quick as he once was, and can't recover.
- Kyle Wellwood had a CLEAN break-a-way after coming out of the penalty box and tripped over, well, the blue line. How embarrassing. First time on skates, Welly?
- Just as Foley mentions that Bogosian was a negative one hundred twenty something last season, he cleanly turns it over in the neutral zone to Tazer and it led to a Toews/Sharp 2-on-1. Nice call, partner.
- I want to officially extend a nice big FUCK YOU to fat ass Dustin Flufflein. I watched him take 3 cheap shots on Razor over the course of the night. How about keeping it classy, kid? It's one thing to play clean and annoy your opponent, but Buff cheap shotted Emery twice after the whistle, and once while play was still going on. I'm SO over that fat lazy fuck. Eat shit!
