The road trip carries on; This time to San Jose California. As this trip continues, the Hawks are playing worse, and the fans are getting restless. From top to bottom they just aren't getting the job done. Corey Crawford returned to net, after 2 starts by Razor Emery. Not only that, but Hammer and Montador were sent home with injuries. Dylan Olsen and Sami Lepisto were in the lineup last night, to replace them. The Sharks had to be licking their lips at this news, with a short losing streak of their own going on. I'm sure former Hawk Antti Niemi was.
The first period was pretty much what you'd expect from a team that is seriously struggling and in the middle of a long road trip. Two powerplay goals from the Sharks put the Hawks in an early hole. The Sharks out shot the the Hawks 12-7 in the period, and sent them into the intermission scratching their heads. The second period was ALL Blackhawks, as they outshot the Sharks 17-3 and out scored them 2-1, but the two first period goals still left them down, going into the third frame. The Hawks tied the game again in the third, but then, again, fell apart, giving up 2 third period goals. When all was said and done, the Hawks were sent to Phoenix winless in their last 7.
- Bryan Bickell seems to have found his set of balls. He laid a couple of nice nits and engaged in a little scuffle with Jamie McGinn. Of course, his wrist shot still takes half a decade to release, but there was some sign of life, but there has to be a silver lining, somewhere. Bickell made a few nice plays to set up his game tying goal, in the third period. He forechecked hard and kept the Hawks possession alive, and then kept moving to get himself open. On a side note, regarding the fight with McGinn, where was the instigator and extra penalty for the shield on THAT play, NHL REFS???? Could have been a huge swing.
- My current soft spot has to be for MegaMayers. The guy just knows his place, and embraces it. The way he hunted down Ryane Clowe, and took exception to the treatment given to Toews earlier was a great teammate play. He just "gets it". I'd love to see him back for another year.
- Hello, Dream Warrior, so nice of you to join us on this road trip. Kruger picked up a Nick Leddy shot off the post, and outworked Joe Pavelski to poke the loose puck into the net. Shooter set the whole play up, by floating into the zone and controlling the puck long enough for the rest of the troops to catch up. He dumped it off the Leddy, and you know the rest of the story.
- Kruger's second goal of the period tied the game back up for the Hawks exactly three minutes after the first goal. Nothing pretty, but certainly effective. He was screening Niemi and absorbed a Seabrook shot. The shot dropped in front of Kruger, and was was able to turn around and get a couple of whacks at it, the second of which resulted in the goal. Dream Warrior stepping up a little bit!
- Dylan Olsen looked promising in his 19 minutes of ice time. He played some PK, and nicely chased down Patrick Marleau, resulting in no shot on net. You can't fault him for the Thornton goal. Just an unfortunate play.
- Not even a minute into the game, and Frodo takes a trip to the box with a 4 minute high sticking infraction. That led to a 1-0 lead just a minute into the powerplay. Crawford got stuck out of his net with a rebound in front of him. Couture picked it up and took it around the net, feeding a pinching and wide open Justin Braun. Braun had a wide open net, and got a pretty easy goal. 1-0 Sharks.
- For the life of me, I could not understand what Stalberg did to deserve a demotion to the 4th line. He was one of the hottest Hawks previous, and Quenneville single handedly put him on ice, by demoting him to the bottom of the lineup. Good Job Dr. Lineblender. Thank god someone knocked a sliver of sense into Quenneville between the first and second periods, and he moved Stalberg back up. Seriously, though, why the wasted period? When all was said and done, Stalberg ended up with only eight minutes of ice time after his turnover led to the 3rd Sharks goal. He didn't see the ice again.
- Of course, the resulting powerplay of Joe Thornton's dickhead move yields a goal to put the Sharks up 2-0. Dan Boyle was the lucky recipient of a fat rebound and his OWN gaping net. Hey, Joe Thornton, do me a favor. When you win ANYTHING significant in your career, let me know. Otherwise get your head out of your ass. He got away with two rabbit punches to the face of Toews without much punishment. As you would expect, Ryane Clowe had to butt into the fracas as well. When all was sorted out, the Hawks were left shorthanded.
- The Sharks took the lead back late in the second when Stalberg threw a live grenade to Deuce, resulting in a turnover for Pavelski and Thornton. The puck ended up on the stick of Thornton who was trying to pass it out in front of the net, and it defected off Olsen's stick and past Crawford. Unfortunate is a word that's being used far too much this road trip.
- Just after the Bickell goal and fight, the Sharks took the lead again, for good. Benn Ferriero out muscled Leddy and was able to push the puck past Crawford. The play started with Frolik, who is not a great faceoff man, being kicked out of the draw. Kane came in to take it, and proceeded to lose the draw. The puck ended up in behind the net, and Crawford got caught out of his net for what seemed like the 10th time in the game. He was late recovering, which gave Ferriero the advantage. Leddy HAS to man up on that guy, and not allow him to get a stick on that pass.
- The Sharks put the Hawks to bed with a late powerplay goal, that really shouldn't have been a powerplay. While Shaw's penalty was a bad one, Douglas Murray got up and dropped his gloves. That's a penalty, folks, yet he wasn't given anything. That's twice in the third period that the Hawks were screwed out of San Jose penalties. Regardless, Jamie McGinn was left to sit in front of Crawford, all by himself, by Leddy and Seabrook. Crawford's move on the play didn't exactly look stellar either. He just laid the paddle down, and left the whole top half of the net open.
- All the Hawks centers, were at or below 50% at the faceoff dot.
- I'm getting really fucking tired of seeing opposing players beat the PISS out of Toews. He's constantly taking fists to the yap, and he looks like a rape victim after almost every whistle. This is your captain, fellas!
- 50% on the penalty kill isn't going to win you ANY games, in ANY league.
