I have really grown to like the Blackhawks games against the smelly and putrid St. Louis Blues. Not because the Blackhawks generally have good fortunes against them, but the resulting Slaky hatecaps at HockeeNight. I could never do them justice, so I'll stick to what I know best. Wednesday night rivalries in St. Louis with the Blackhawks and Blues....
The first period was pretty much what you'd expect from a Blues/Hawks game. There were chances, hits, odd man breaks and a couple of goals. Each team got opening period goals, and thanks to a late flurry, the Blues led in shots 13-12.
The second period was much like the first period. The Blues controlled a majority of the play as shown by their 14-9 shot edge. Despite the edge, they only managed one goal, which was later matched by the a Hawks goal.
The third period was just more of the same. Each team managed 7 shots and it looked like things were going to overtime. St. Louis took advantage of a costly Hawks pinch and won the game with under a minute to go in regulation. Overall, it was a great game and the remaining 4 games should be war.
- Shockingly enough, the Hawks had two 2-on-1's in the first 10 minutes. Of course they didn't cash in, but the chances were there.
- Six seconds into the first Blackhawks Powerplay, and Crazy 8s picked up a dribbling puck from a blocked Shooter one timer, just to Halak's right, and jammed it onto the net to the tie game up for the Hawks. The Hawks were on the powerplay because Lapierre couldn't resist being a dick bag, boarding Shaw from behind.
- The Hawks came right back after the Blue powerplay goal, and scored one of their own. Toews worked the play below the goal line, and a rebound on a long Sharp shot was first picked up by Crazy 8s and then finally jammed in the net by El Capitan. Nice to see the powerplay looking dangerous.
- Two powerplay goals in one game is amazing to see from this team.
- Early in the second period, a great iso shot showed the big dope Ryan Reeves ask Brandon Bollig, "You wanna go?" and Bollig shook him off.
- It only took about 2 minutes for Brookbank to drop the gloves with Stewart. Man hugs and that's about it.
- The Blues took advantage of a Duncan Keith pinch and a Hossa neutral zone turnover which turned into a 2-on-1. Unlike the Hawks early odd man breaks, Tarasenko held onto the puck and surgically picked apart Crawford's stick side.
- David Back-ass put the Blue back up by a goal, after a shorthanded Marcus Kruger lost faceoff. The play went back to Pietrangelo wno let a long shot go, that was tipped by Back-ass past Crawford. God damn penalty kill!
- Hossa is clearly hurt. He is a shadow of his usual self. At some point they might want to let him heal because he's not helping much on the ice.
- The Hawks were back to getting owned at the dots. Kruger is just awful and most of the regular centers followed suit last night.
- With 21 seconds to go the Hawks got caught deep in the Blues zone and the Blues turned around with a 3-on-1. Seabrook was the Hawks defender that got caught, and Steen drove right up the ice, blowing a laser through Crawford virtually winning the game.
Kane-Toews-Bickell
Sharp-Handzus-hossa
Saad-Shaw-Hayes
Bollig-Kruger-Nordstrom
Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Brookbank-Leddy