Welcome to 2012! The Hawks were back at the United Center to host the Edmonton Oilers, Monday evening. Yes, I'm speaking of the same Oilers that whipped the Hawks asses 9-2 about a month go. This was a very good chance for the Hawks to get a little revenge, but it was not going to be an easy task. This Oilers team is fast, and can obviously score at will. They are one of those teams that you can't hate, if only to admire their youth and skill. Even though he wasn't playing, the Oilers have one of my favorite ex-Hawks Nik Khabibulin. He was the Bryzgalov before Ilya was. I still hold spot in my goalie handbook for him. On to the festivities:
The first period was MUCH better than the last game in Edmonton, as both teams managed 10 shots, and the Hawks jumping on an Oilers turnover to lead 1-0 after 20 minutes, but it wasn't to last. Thanks to a bad Hawks major penalty the Oilers jumped into the game, scoring 2 powerplay goals on the ensuing powerplay, and another even strength goal. The Hawks were able to score one of their own, but still went into the locker room down 3-2. In the third period, the Hawks failure on the powerplay is what cost them a win, even though each team had a goal. They have no one to blame but themselves.
- El Capitan was the beneficiary of some LEGAL hard work by Car Bomb, and was able to take the Car Bomb pass and get a fairly weak goal on Dubnyk to put the Hawks up 1-0.
- Bruno tied the game back up for the Hawks just after the Carcillo major ended, when he tipped a Hammer shot past Dubnyk. With momentum in the Oilers favor at that point, this was a huge play by a veteran leader.
- Jimmy Hayes scored his first NHL goal with just under 4 minutes to go in the game, after the Hawks blew a 4 minute powerplay. Nice to see the kid step up and make something happen, just too bad it wasn't enough.
- Crawdaddy had a beautiful breakaway save late in the first to keep the Hawks up 1-0, but a couple of the goals he gave up were a little on the soft side.
- The Hawks out shot the Oilers 42-30 which is right where you would like to see the Hawks be.
- Of course 16 seconds into the 5 minute powerplay on Car Bomb, the Oilers pick up a rebound in the crease, and stuff it home. That's Karma, right there.
- The circus continued with a minute and a half left in the Carcillo major. Hammer took a stick to the face, which wasn't called. He then laid on the ice, but not long enough to draw a whistle. He then decided to toss his stick around the zone like like a puppy kicking a tennis ball around, instead of just getting into the play and tying a player up. Once he finally picked his stick up, he spun around like an idiot with his back to the player he should have covered, Taylor Hall, who put the puck past Crawford on a fairly weak shot at a weak angle. It was a play straight out of a Three Stooges flick.
- Andy Sutton put the Oilers back up 3-2 when Stalberg, Sharpie, and Pistol all let him skate right up the middle of the ice and receive a pass. Not a good combination when you have a guy that can't move and a rusty guy that hasn't moved in 4 fucking weeks out there together. Maybe you should have played Pistol more than once a fucking month JOEL.
- Former Hawk Ben Eager scored a bad goal, on a backhander, about halfway through the third period to ice the game. In what should have been an easy stop, Crawford didn't pick up the backhander and it beat him to the stick side. That makes for two bad ones out of four goals.
- I'd never wish injury on a Hawks player, but maybe this Carcillo injury will open the door for a player with some talent other than serving Shanaban suspensions.
- Pistol and Big Slow both played under 7 minutes each. Great job running your horses into the ground, Q. This will prove to be a very wise choice in April, I'm certain.
- Everyone but El Capitan (64%) got their dicks whipped at the dot. Belanger and Gagner laid the smacketh down, to the tune of 14-20 (70%).
- Apparently, Sam Gagner hasn't read his scouting reports, and doesn't know that Bryan Bickell is afraid of contact. Gagner was clearly terrified of Bick, almost running from a possible physical confrontation in the Oilers defensive zone.
- I'm convinced that Carcillo is Italian for "Circus". Car Bomb continued to be controversial in the second period, Monday. He dumped the puck into the Oilers zone so the Hawks could change, and tried to make an impact in the worst way; illegally. He put a big hit on Gilbert, throwing him into the boards awkwardly. Pick any assortment of calls on the play, but the Hawks were down for 5 minutes and Carcillo has a dinner date with Brendan Shanaban. To top it all off, Gilbert fell on Carcillo's leg and injured him.
- The bottom line on this one is that the Oilers scored 2 goals on their extended powerplay and the Hawks didn't score any on theirs. It is really as simple as that.
