Just when all seems to be in a state of disarray, the lowly Islanders come to town. The Islanders have fallen on hard times...since 1985. As of late, they have had a bit of a goaltending "issue". They've been through 4 goaltenders in 22 games, and this is not from poor play as much as poor genetics. The Isles have a few young weapons in Tavares, Moulson, Grabner, and Blackhawk prospect for a second, P.A. Paretneau, but have not been able to get themselves on the winning side of anything for about 2 decades. In net, the Isles went with Chicago native Al Montoya. Easy game, right?
This game opened like so many others before, with the Hawks giving up an early lead, and then giving up another one after they had tied it up. They outshot the Isles 14-13, but that was far too many shots to be giving up to a bottom dwelling team, like the Isles. The Blackhawks must have felt the same way, because they came out in the second and out shot the Isles 15-2, and outscored them 2-0 to go into the third up 3-2. The progress they made in the second period all disappeared when the Isles scored an early PPG and another one later in the period. The Hawks were outshot 23-5 in he frame, and the game was headed to overtime. After a few chances in the OT, the Hawks won the game in a shootout. Good thing this was easy, eh?
- Of all the people to open up the scoring, the fourth line were the ones to dent the net, about half way through the first. Bruno took a nice pass from Lurch, who had taken a nice pass from Car Bomb. Bruno ended up with a wide open cage. 1-1 tie.
- Agent Smith tied up the game in the second, and I heard Jesse Rogers scream like a teenage girl who just scored Justin Bieber tickets. Smith took a fancy pants pass from Kaner and put it in the net on his second try. We might as well just nominate Smith for the Hall Of Fame right now, because the Ben Smith parade probably planned for Sunday. In all seriousness, he IS a much better option than Bickell. A mediocre Smith still has more pure talent and grit, which doesn't take much. 2-2 tie.
- El Capitan singlehandedly put the Blackhawks up after stealing the puck from Jurcina, shorthanded and beat Montoya before either player knew that happened. What more has to be said? Toews is a fucking beast. Shorthanded, 1-on-2, and managed to own them all. 4-3 Hawks.
- The Hawks second period was insanely good. The not only outshot the Isles 15-2, and outscored them 2-0, but they missed almost half a dozen open nets and serous scoring chances. Honestly, they could have scored 4 that period.
- Shooter used his lucky tape, and put the Hawks back up AGAIN, 4-3 with five minutes gone in the third, on the powerplay. 4-3 Hawks.
- All of the Hawks centers were either right at 50% or better than 60%. That works!
- The Isles opened up the scoring on the powerplay with a goal by Kyle Okposo. It was a fairly simple play in which the rebound of a point shot came right out to Okposo who was left wide open by Hjalmarsson, and he had a gaping net. Hammer couldn't looked any less interested, or motivated. 1-0 Isles
- The Hawks responded to the first Isles goal with another failed PP, that made the Isles PP look like world beaters. To top it all off Bolland took a great one timer chance, stopped it, tried to put it on a platter, and proceeded to let the Isles defender block it.
- Goal number two for the Isles was yet another simply WEAK goal. Moulson snapped a wrist shot right past Crawford fairly easily after finding a soft shot between the Hawks defenders. 2-1 Isles.
- The PK took their second hit of the night when P.A. Parenteau picked up a bouncing puck in the slot and ripped it past Crawford to tie the game. Too many Hawks players just standing around watching the puck. 3-3 Tie.
- The Hawks weren't the only ones with shorthanded chances. The Isles had at least 2 really solid 1-on-1 chances while shorthanded.
- Just as the Hawks killed off their 2nd of 4 powerplays against, Nino Niederreiter took a turnover in the Hawks neutral zone and was able to get a step on Deuce and Seabrook, finally ripping a shot past Crawford to tie up the game AGAIN. 4-4 tie.
- Car Bomb had 07:29 of playing time and I can't remember much more than :30 of it. That doghouse sure is cold and lonely.
- Getting outplayed the way they did in the first and third periods, to a team that's just not that good, was unacceptable.
- Just when the Hawks had all the momentum going into the third, the PK let them down again and took away all momentum. Not tight at all.
- Nielsen met Crawford's glove.
- Tazer beat Montoya. All business.
- Niederreiter was stopped, finally, by Crawford.
- Hossa shot it over the net.
- Moulson hit the post
