Now that all the dust has settled, the Blackhawks had more important tasks at hand. They were within 2 points of the Preds and 3 points behind the Evil Empire coming into the action Sunday night. The task at hand was made quite a bit more difficult when Duncan Keith earned himself a 5 game suspension. Along with that, Kruger, Toews and Montador were still on the shelf nursing their injuries. While the Hawks were on a solid winning streak, the Preds were struggling a bit, going just 2-3-0 in their last 5. All that being said, the Preds were a tough team, with great defense and a world class goalie.
Not quite to plan for the Hawks in the 1st period. They out shot the Preds 11-8 but went into the break down 2-0 after a couple of sloppy goals. The second didn't go much better than the first, as the Hawks surrendered a powerplay goal, while tying the Preds with a boring 6 shots on net. Things just fell apart for good in the third period, with the Preds netting 3 goals. The Hawks were able to score one of their own, but it was a mere drop in the bucket. There wasn't much doubt of the results of this one, with the Hawks getting sent back to their locker room beaten, battered and 6-1 losers.
- Viktor Stalberg finally cracked the net for the Hawks, right after their 4th failed powerplay of the night. Even though it originally seemed like a powerplay goal, it was a second after the powerplay ended. The goal was simple enough, as Stalberg just curled around the circle and snapped a shot past Rinne. That was it as far as offense goes for the Hawks.
- Emery saved some Radulov threats in the third period; but he also gave up 2 goals. Had to find something positive in this mess. It's not easy to find positive things in a 6-1 loss.
- The Predators 4th line ended up out working the Hawks and took a 1-0 lead for Nashville. Gaustad and the rest of the 4th line grinders just held the puck deep and Tommy Gunn Morrison looked like a guy that deserved to be scratched. Matt Halischuk was left wide open in the slot and took a shot off Oduya and past Crawford. Lets hope this isn't a preview of the next 4 games without Keith.
- Andrei Kostitsyn gave the Preds a 2-0 lead, on a pretty innocent play, that ended up in the net behind Crawford. Kostitsyn skated up the right side and just snapped the puck past Crawford, but not before it went off the shaft of Seabrook's stick. Not a great way to honor Eddie Belfour.
- Shea Weber, Russian defector Radulov, and Patric Hornqvist hooked up on the powerplay six minutes into the second period to give the Preds a 3-0. The Weber shot went off the skate of Raduov, and then Hornqvist's skate and into the net. At this point, the Hawks were hurting for any sort of momentum.
- Francis Bouillon blew a shot past Crawford, to end Crawford's night, just 2 minutes into the third period. Tell me if you have heard this one before; The Hawks cant get the puck out of the zone after a scramble in the slot, the defense keeps it in the zone, and it ends up in the net.
- Brendan Morrison lost a deep faceoff to Mike Fisher and Shea Weber blazed it through Ray Emery just 36 seconds after the Stalberg goal. Good thing Bowman picked up that defensive faceoff guy, eh? I don't envy Razor facing that cannon of a shot any more than I envy Rinne facing it in practice every day. That shot is worthy of diaper filling.
- Mike Fisher put the exclamation point on this shitty game with the 6th goal of the night, for the Preds. The play was a 2-on-1, because Nick Leddy pinched on a play that really didn't matter in the first place. Fisher walked the puck in on Oduya and snapped a rocket over Emery's glove. I know it's 5-1 and you're looking for a little pride, but what's more important? The pride of not hanging your goalie out to dry, or scoring a second goal, and making it 5-2, when the game was over long before that?
- While Crawford didn't look great, it looks like the first three goals were redirects. Kind of hard to fault your goalie if that's the case. I'll admit that you have to come up with a big stop or two, because that Kostitsyn looked stoppable. If he was being slightly more aggressive, thee is no way that puck goes in. Just the mere angle, alone, would leave nothing to shoot at.
- Kaner got his ass tanned at the dot, AGAIN, going 4 of 15. This centering thing is clearly a temporary thing, because you can't have your #2 center going 27% nightly. He is a nice fill-in, but anyone who thinks he is the long term answer is sadly mistaken.
- Michael Frolik was on the ice last night. Seriously. Didn't know that, did ya? THAT is how noticeable he's been. His Blackhawks days may be numbered, because he's making far too much cabbage to be invisible on the fourth line
- Brandon Bollig labelled the hell out of Jordin Tootoo real good in their first period fight; which did absolutely nothing to inspire the Hawks. Step on the ice, locate cementhead, fight, repeat. There isn't much more to his game. I like fighting in the game, to a degree, but this is just asinine.
- Those of you who follow me on twitter know the amount of bitching I spouted about NBC Sports not broadcasting the Ed Belfour Heritage celebration. Most of the celebrations are cool, but this is the first one that I've really wanted to see. Instead we had to endure the end of the Caps and Wild game. A game NO ONE in Chicago cares about. Fuck you NBC Sports! Give me EDDIE! This is all we get, as fans:
- "Really quick young defenseman, Dylan Olsen"? Really Edzo? Are you fucking kidding me? When given room, he can be adequate, but under pressure, he's proven to wear cinder block skates.
- Stalberg fell awkwardly into the boards in the third period and limped off the ice. We shall learn soon if this is something that will leave the Hawks even more shorthanded.
- I'm glad Connolly is getting a chance in Calgary, but holy shit Tommy Gunn Morrison is just outright horrendous. The Hawks just really threw Connolly away, for nothing. At this point, they are better off bringing up Pirri. He was minus 3 on the night and might have well been minus 6. He was actually 6 of 11 on faceoffs, but lost a HUGE defensive zone one that directly led to the fifth Preds goal. During the first goal of the game, he got worked over in the corner, lost the puck and then looked like he had never covered an opposing player in his life.
- Los Meatballos stat of the night: The Hawks kept up in hits, only losing 24-26. How'd that work out for them? They played better when they were outhit 3 to 1 against Columbus.
- Just to show how HORRIBLE the Hawks are at getting shots to the net, the Preds blocked 25 shots, while the Hawks blocked 11. If the Blackhawks had 25 shots, and 25 were blocked, that's 50 total shots. If even half of those blocked shots get to the net, we might be talking a much closer outcome. what do I know though? I'm just a stupid blogger.
