The Minnesota Wild laugh at us, Chicago. Coming from the snowy wasteland of Minneapolis/St.Paul, the Wild must have been rolling on the floor with the attention this city was giving to the snow storm that local media was fawning over. Not only that, but the Hawks honored Marian Hossa for his 1000th game with a painting and pretty slick silver stick. With all the snowy shenanigans and Hossa-brations going on, there was actually a game to be played, Tuesday night. The Wild and their big names were in town to face the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks returned Dave Bolland to the lineup, and just in time because Frolik was out sick. Depth never hurt anyone, and the Hawks will gladly shoulder that problem all day long. Live from the United Center in snowy Chicago Illinois, it's the Blackhawks and Wild...
There might have been some worries about the Hawks coming out too cold, after the Hossa ceremony, with the Wild scoring the opening goal, but they scored 4 straight goals after that. The Hawks clearly out shot the Wild 17-6. Adversity was no problem for this Hawks team.
There weren't fireworks, like the first period, but the Hawks still controlled most of the chances in the second and again out shot the Wild 11-4. Even though there were considerably less chances, the closer checking play still favored the Blackhawks.
The Wild finally came to life in the third period with 13 shots and a couple of goals, but the Hawks had a goal of their own to put the game away. The streak was alive and well, and the next victim is the Avalanche Wednesday night.
- Just a couple of minutes into the game the Hawks were killing a penalty and El Capitan lost his stick. As he went to the bench to get a new stick the Hawks took possession, and Hossa hit him with a pass right on the tape of that brand new stick. He had snuck in behind Suter, and was in on a breakaway. Unfortunately for Toews, he mishandled the puck, but the chance was excellent.
- General Saad put the Hawks on the board with a rebound goal, about 13 minutes into the game. Hjalmarsson let a long point shot go, that dropped in front of Backstrom. Saad got two whacks at the puck and didn't miss on the second one. All tied up at 1-1.
- One Trick Bick followed the Saad goal with one of his own, 42 seconds later. He picked up a Stalberg rebound and beat a late reacting Backstrom for a 2-1 Hawks lead. Just when you think the Wild might have the momentum, the Hawks put two goals on the board in less than a minute.
- Bick struck again, with 2:45 left in the first as the first goal scorer, Saad, set him up for another goal. Saad picked up the puck along the left wall, took a stride or two, dished to Bickell, and Bick snapped a wrist shot over Backstrom's left should. 3-1 Hawks.
- A few minutes after the second Bickell goal, General Saad picked up a loose puck in the slot and dished to Mr. Silver Stick, Hoss, and he ripped one past Backstrom, aka Swiss Cheese. 4-1 Hawks before 20 minutes had even been played.
- The Saadfather put up 3 points in the first 20 minutes, alone. Yes sir, we will take THAT!
- Even with the rare chances in the second period, Sharp got a late period breakaway on a feed from El Capitan. Kuemper made the save, but the chance deserves accolades.
- Crawford's lateral movement continues to show improvement. There were a couple of opportunities that he would have been way out of position for last year, and was able to easily extinguish last night.
- You HAVE to love seeing Kruger and Saad killing penalties late in the game.
- Shortly after the Brodziak goal, Shooter took a feed from Bolland after a Wild turnover and threw a shot at Kuemper. The rebound ended up in the slot and on Kane's stick. Top cheddar snipe, and it was 5-3 Hawks.
- Amazing what happens when you let Saad play where he belongs for 60 minutes, wouldn't you say Mr. Mustache?
- El Capitan, Shock-N-Shaw, and Kruger were all over 50% at the dots. Bolland took the shitshow collar of the night, going 8 for 18.
- Andrew Shaw turned the puck over in a terrible area led to the Wild taking a 1-0 lead. The Wild picked up the turnover and Crawford made the original save, but the rebound lay in the crease for Setoguchi to tap into the net. There went the shutout.
- The Granlund/Heatley/Bouchard line was a hearty -6 total in the first period, and -9 total in the game. OOOFA! Clutch, Gents.
- The Hawks gave up a powerplay goal to Suter about 4 minutes into the third period. The play was pretty cut and dried, as the puck was sent out to Suter and he just blew it by Crawford's blocker.
- Kyle Brodziak beat Brandon Dull-ig to a loose puck just outside the Hawks crease, and chipped it into the net to put the game within one goal at 4-3, but it wouldn't last long.
- Niklas Backstrom, who normally plays great against the Hawks, was chased from the game after only 20 minutes and 4 goals against. Darcy Kuemper started the second period, but the 4 first period goals were not all Backstrom's fault. The Wild D was pretty pathetic around him.
- Rumor has it that Zach Parise plays for Minny-Haha. I can neither confirm nor deny his employment after watching last night's game.
- I have to give props to HockeeNight.com and their new nickname for Dan Carcillo, which I am going to use as well, Gorilla Salad. Genius. Speaking of Gorilla Salad, him and Dullig were the only Hawks with minuses on the night and didn't see the ice after the last Wild goal. No coincidence there, Folks.