The last game of the regular season, and no one would have guessed the Blackhawks would have the luxury of sitting Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, and Keith with no consequences, yet here they sat. The Hawks took the trip down I-55 to always disgustingly smelly St. Louis to face the assclown Blues. The Hawks, if you can actually call them the Hawks, sat a majority of their star players and dressed half of the Rockford Icehogs in their place. One would expect the Blues to feast on this lineup, but one never does know. Live from St. Louis, it's the Blackhawks and Blues.
The opening period was pretty much what you'd expect from a team mostly composed of Rockford players. The Blackhogs were only out shot 9-6, but the talent level was clearly not what you'd expect from the guys sitting at home. They certainly weren't out of the game, but it would be a tall task to come back in this one.
The second period was more of the same for the BlackHogs. The Blues out shot the Hogs once again, 12-10, and scored the only goal of the period. A 3-0 hole for this team would prove to be just too much.
The third period was a little more even, but the BlackHogs just couldn't muster up enough offense to mount a serious comeback. They could only manage to break the shutout, which should be considered a win for this squad. During the game it was announced that the Hawks would be playing the Minnesota Wild in the first round this week.
- In the first period there was a glimmer of hope, when the young lines kept the pressure on in the Blues zone, for a two full shifts. Of course none of that malarkey resulted in a goal, but it was something to build on.
- Brandon Pirri had a great breakaway chance late in the second period, but couldn't beat Elliott. It was a nice chance nonetheless.
- Halfway through the third period Ben Smith took a Jeremy Morin set up from the left corner and snapped a wrist shot over Elliott's shoulder to break the shutout foe the Blues. If a line was going to score, it was probably going to be that one, even though it was Hayes, not Pirri, out there with them.
- The Blues grabbed an early lead on a delayed penalty, about 5 minutes into the game. The Hawks/Ice Hogs got caught running around and shot from the right circle was kicked out right to the stick of Berglund, who was left open by Oduya and Bollig. Happy 1st goal against, Hutts.
- Jaden Schwartz scored the second Blues goal, with about 2 minutes remaining in the first period. A long shot from Russell was saved by Hutton, but he over slid his position. Once he over slid, Schwartz had a wide open net to shovel the puck into.
- Jaden Schwartz scored his second of the night on a 1-on-2 break. It looked simple enough as the defense pushed him to Hutton's left. Schwartz let a soft backhand go which Hutton didn't expect, and it squirted through his legs. Weak goal.
- The Hawks struggled at the dots, as you might expect. Drew LeBlaaah(60%), Frolik(67%) and Hayes(100%) were the only Hawks to win more than they lost. Overall, they were at 44%.
- They Hawks actually out hit the Blues, 16-12. Apparently that got them very far.
- The fact that the Blues didn't annihilate this team is ugly. This was basically the team that couldn't qualify for the AHL playoffs.
- Minus two's for LeBlaaah, Dullig, Oduya, and Rozy.
Bickell-Shaw-Hayes
Smith-Pirri-Morin
Carcillo-Mayers-Lalonde
Bollig-Leblanc-Frolik
Seabrook-Leddy
Roszival-Oduya
Brookbank-Stanton