Dude, wait up, give me some of that ju-ju
I suppose a great way to follow up a heartbreaking loss of a game to a hated division rival, and the loss of an important player is to welcome one of the worst teams in the NHL to your rink. We've seen this team plenty, already, but they keep coming back for more. This time around the Hawks faced Curtis Sanford in net, and they brand new interim Head Coach Todd Richards. It seems like GM's wait for the portion of the schedule when they are about to face the Hawks, to fire their head coaches. The Hawks looks a little different as well, with Jimmy Hayes, Andrew Shaw and Ben Smith all playing and Sharpie NOT playing. This was game 1 of life without Sharpie, and maybe a glimpse into what the next month will look like.
Thanks to some shotty officiating the Hawks spent a good portion of the first period on the penalty kill, but they were able to kill them off. When all was said and done, the Hawks were out shot 9-5 going into the break, which could have been much worse. The second period had the same tone but there was some scoring to go along. The Hawks scored 2 goals, and the Blue Jackets scored one with both teams getting 13 shots on net. The third period was the Hawks period outscoring the Jackets 3-1 on only 7 shots. I guess that's why the Blue Jackets have such a horrible record.
- If the Hawks were going to have to take the lead it was going to have to be shorthanded. Of course, That's exactly what happened. Hoss and Invisibolly hooked up shortly after the MegaMayers instigation/fighting penalty, to take a 1-0 lead on pure hard work. Hossa put on a penalty kill clinic, and dragged Nikitin and Rootin Tyutin down the ice long enough for Bolland to join him. Hoss then fed Bolland, who put a little backhand/forehand move on Sanford to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. I love Bolland's celebration. "Nothing to see here, been there done that."
- Pick-to-Click Vik continued his hot play against the Jackets, scoring with about 5 minutes left in the second period. After El Capitan and HurriKaner did all the dirty work, Vik came fresh off the bench and straight up the gullet. You can hear Kane call for the pass from Toews, and Kane took it hard behind the net. Kane then hit Vik with a sweet dish, and he powered it through Sanford. 2-1 Hawks.
- Vik just kept a rollin in the third period, scoring his second of the game on a delayed penalty. The Deuce simply threw the puck at the net like the Hawks SHOULD on the PP, with two defensemen standing in front. Stalberg grabbed a fat rebound, curled and snapped it past Sanford for a 3-1 Hawks lead.
- Agent Smith followed up the Stalberg goal with one of his own, 27 seconds later. The defender played him well, pushing him to the outside on his backhand, and he just chipped a soft backhand towards the net. Sanford completely whiffed on the puck. and just gave further evidence as to why Columbus is so bad. Queue up the beat writer silliness, the hero has arrived. 4-1 Hawks.
- Vik Stalberg finished off the Hat Trick with an empty netter after badly outracing David Savard, and missing on a tough first chance. He stuck with the play and was able to finally cap the hatty. Atta boy, Vik!
- The preschoolers were fairly quiet, outside of Smith's goal, but they did nothing to hurt themselves or their cases to stick around. Hayes and Shaw never really looked overmatched and both used their bodies to create positive things for the Hawks.
- I think it's time MegaMayers sees more ice time. Granted he spent an eternity in the box for his fighting/instigation debacle, but he's been a firestarter all season. He has skill. Let him show some leadership and that fucking grit everyone has been talking about.
- Tazer was over 70% again on faceoffs. So money he doesn't even know it.
- The Jackets tied the game up as Leddy got manhandled in front of Crawford for a rebound, by RJ Umberger. Crawford couldn't coral the initial shot, and it ended up smack in the middle of a pile of shit in front of the crease. Keith was late getting back to help out the overmatched Leddy, and puck ended up in the net. 1-1
- Antoine Vermette grabbed the Jacket's second goal of the game when he was allowed to plant his ass in front of Crawford courtesy of Nick Leddy. Instead of tying up the defender, just drop to one knee, Nick. That one always works. Don't lift his stick or use some leverage to keep him from having his way.
- Just a few minutes into the game, the Hawks were buzzing around, but they couldn't muster a shot on net. Then a tense moment for all Chicago fans. Keith took a shot that went off a Jackets defender and hit El Capitan right smack in the fucking garbanzo. After looking dazed for a minute, he immediately headed back to the locker room. The entire Hawks fanbase held their breath for the next 5 minutes, until he appeared back on the bench.
- Ricky Bobby and Jared Boll locked horns, in retaliation to a Boll hit on Bruno, in which Ricky Bobby took a beating to the tune of 19 minutes in penalties. Of course he got nailed for the instigator call, but we've watched teams pull that bullshit for 3 weeks and not get a call. I'm calling shenanigans. Complete and utter poppycock. To make the call an even bigger load of dung, he got an automatic extra 2 minutes for instigating a fight with a visor. Ain't that bout a bitch?
- Boll got in his second scuffle of the night, after he hit Hammer high in the Hawks corner. MegaMayer took exception and ended up with an instigator of his very own. They don't call it all season FOR the Hawks, and they call it twice in two periods against. I don't often bitch about the officiating, but THIS was a truck load of bullshit.
- Thanks to Quenneville's stupid fetish with forwards at the point on the powerplay, Bolland turned it over and then got beat shorthanded. After getting away with a pretty blatant trip, the Jackets couldn't finish, but they had the Hawks by the balls.
- Whatever yips Kaner has, need to vacate the premises stat. He looks like he's actually afraid to shoot, and needs to shake this shit off.
- It's official, Bryan Bickell no longer has a spot on this team. Hayes is bigger, and more useful. Shaw hits more people and is more versatile. Now, Bick has this 4 day long drag move he's trying to use, because apparently the 3 day wrist shot wasn't enough in his tiny tool bag. We've beaten this horse as long as we can, time to go.
- The powerplay is worse than clown college, it's fucking clown preschool. For such world class players, they can't seem to make it compute. I've seen mens league team run much more efficient power plays. Just shoot the puck. Do they realize that a powerplay means they outnumber the opposing players? FOR FUCKS SAKES, BOYS!
