Well, thank god that circus finally ended, right? Of course none of us wanted to see it end, but anyone with half a brain knew it was coming. Road game, hot team, not surprising that it ended that way. The Hawks were back home to face another fast team, but this time one that has had problems winning. Time to start a new streak, and the Oilers are the first victim. Live from the United Center in Chicago, it's the Blackhawks and the Erlers.
The first period was complete and absolute abortion. The Blackhawks gave up 4 goals and several other great chances, while getting out shot 12-5. There was nothing promising or even slightly encouraging about the period.
The second period was even more wild than the first. The Hawks scored FOUR goals on 20 shots, and the Oilers had 2 goals of their own on 9 shots. All defense had been thrown in the green Chicago river. Who know what was in store for the third period.
The third period was certainly full of action. Unfortunately, the comeback came one goal short, even though the Blackhawks out shot the Oilers 11-4. The 4 goal deficit proved to be too much and the Hawks lost their second regulation game in a row.
- Swedeberg started in place of Shooter, which I like, but the results weren't all that good.
- The Hawks finally did something would getting excited about about 5 minutes into the second period. An Oilers misfired pass was chased down by Crazy 8s in the Oiler's zone, who beat Dubnyk to the loose puck. For some reason, Dubnyk thought it was a good idea to come 40 feet out of his net to pick up a loose puck. Kane then skated to the net and made sure it ended up in the back. Smart play by Kane, when nothing was going their way.
- Hoss scored the second goal of the second period for the Hawks, on a great rush by El Capitan. He took the puck around the net and just as he cleared the far post, he hit a wide open Hoss for a one time goal. The crowd woke up with that goal.
- El Capitan and Hoss worked a beautiful 2-on-3, while shorthanded, just after the Hossa goal. They weaved in, Toews suckered 3 defenders towards him, and Hossa was left wide open. They nearly finished but couldn't stuff it past Dubnyk, who was injured on the play.
- Brookbank got his first goal as a Blackhawk, shorthanded, after Sam Gagner took a penalty on Hossa. Gagner interfered with Hossa, and then stopped to bitch at the ref about the call. Hossa kept playing, and even though neither him nor Toews could finish, Brookbank crashed the net and ended up chest bumping the puck into the net. That excitement lasted about 50 seconds.
- Seabrook followed the Hall powerplay goal with a goal of his own. He just blasted a long slapshot through Denis' 5-hole to bring the Hawks back within 2 goals, 6-4. At this point the game was up for grabs. Not a lick of defense was being played.
- Crazy 8s used a stupid Oilers penalty to get the Hawks within 1 goal, on a great cross ice feed from Bolland. I have no words for the craziness and lack of defense in this game. 6-5 Oilers with plenty of time to play. Too bad they weren't able to use that time to their advantage
- The Hawks centers pretty much clowned the Oilers at the dot, with Toews leading the boys in red at 76
%. Shaw was the only Hawks center under 50%.
- EVERY Blackhawks except Bickell, Shaw and Frolik was a minus one in the first period. FIFTEEN minus ones! FIFTEEN! IN THE FIRST PERIOD!
- The Oilers scored their second powerplay goal of the game following Dubnyk going out of the game, with 10 minutes gone in the period. Nugent-Hopkins used Horcoff to deflect a nice pass past Crawford for a 5-2 Oilers lead.
- Right after the Brookbank goal, Nugent-Hopkins used Taylor Hall the same way he did Horcoff earlier, to beat Crawford and negate the shorthanded Brookbank goal. One step forward and two steps back.
- When you give up goals on 3 of 4 penalties againt, you're not going to win many games.
- In the first three minutes, the Hawks managed to give up a terrible goal to Mike Brown, and a back door goal to Sam Gagner. The Hawks looked like a steaming platter of hot dog shit, and it didn't get any better in the fist frame. The first one was all on Emery, and the second was on the defense. The worst three minutes of hockey I've seen this team play in a long long time.
- Ryan Whitney put the Oilers up 3-0 after the Hawks fell, or STAYED, asleep in their own zone. The Hawks won the faceoff and Taylor Hall turned it onto a feed to a straking Whitney for another
- Sam Gagner split the Hawks defense (Oduya/Kruger), on the powerplay, to put the Oilers up 4-0, with 7 minutes still to play IN THE FIRST PERIOD! The powerplay was as a result of Mayers trying to start a fight, and Mike Brown laughing in his face. Funny how the Hawks opponents know not to engage in a fight when they have momentum, but Dullig will run out there and start a fight no matter what else is going on. This time it was MegaMayers looking like a fucking tool. Nothing more pathetic than getting turned down by another meathead for a fight.