11/23 - Blackhawks at Vancouver - 2-1 Win
- Talk about a boring game. Other than the Kesler goal, there wasn't anything to stay awake for until late in the third.
- Speaking of Kesler's goal. Crawford did just about everything, but destroy his groin, to save that shot. Sometimes they just find that one small hole. It was a 5-on-3, for christ sakes. Aside from that, Crawford had an excellent night. 36 saves; one goal; in a hostile environment.
- The Shaw goal was vintage Shaw. He was in the right place at the right time, and made a play. He might be one of the dirtiest diggers in the league, but you have to love him. Kane tried to make, what seemed to be a stupid blind backhand pass across the slot to El Capitan, but Shaw stepped in front of the pass and redirected it past Sweaty Lu. Can't fault him in that play. Shaw just made a great play.
- How great is it that the Hawks player that Vancouver poached off waivers ends up being the person responsible for the bad pinch that led to the game winning 2-on-1? NINE SECONDS after the tying goal. I'm slyly looking in your direction, Ryan Stanton. I hope one of your old boys slipped you a couple hundies after the game. You made it look believable, kid. Somewhere Chelsea Daggar was ringing in heads of every Canuck.
- As shocking as this has become, the Hawks were above 50% at the dots again. It has gotten to a point that you should be surprised when they aren't. Shaw was the only Hawks center under 50%, but we'll let him slide thanks to his other contributions. He only took 5 faceoffs.
- In what might be one of the more surprising stats of the night, the Canucks were only credited with 16 hits. Usually they are throwing their bodies, in stupid fashion, at the Hawks players.
- After discovering a certain greasy haired goalie's twitter account what seems like a decade ago, I cannot hate the guy. If he was anywhere but Vancouver, he might be one of my favorite players.
Here are the video highlights:11/25 - Blackhawks at Edmonton - 5-1 Win - El Capitan's single handed shorthanded goal set the tone for the night. He realized that the Erlers had a forward at the point and pressured him to cough up the puck. After that, it was vintage Jonny Serious. All business.
- After the Toews goal, it was time for Kane to tally on the powerplay. Nothing pretty, just found a loose puck in front and dunked it.
- Oduya was the fortunate recipient of some Erler shenanigans, when they put the rebound of Oduya's long shot into their own net.
- Jeremy Morin made a nice play to set up Andrew Shaw for another slam dunk not even half way through the second period, to end Dubnyk's night. Not that the goals were his fault. In comes the Russian Cosmonaut. Raise your hand if you had any idea Bryzgalov was on the Erlers.
- The Justin Schultz goal was a really nice one timer from the Hawks left dot and surprised Crawford. Meh!
- The Hawks only had 27 shots on net and scored on 5. Tell me again how bad Corey Crawford is, meatballs?
- The Hawks won their, now usual, 50% plus at the dots. Shaw was woofed, going only 1 of 8, but the rest picked up the slack. Hell he had 2 goals and an assist. I'll lay off his ass for the faceoffs.
- The only players to play less than Kris Versteeg were J-Mo and Bollig. Coach not happy already eh? Maybe all those with the happy pants should have watched his play in 2010, and not just his terrible rapping skills.
Here are the video highlights: 11/27 - Blackhawks at Calgary - 3-2 Win - The Hawks were down 2-0 and looking like there was no life, halfway through the third period, and the Patricks decided to take over. Back to back Sharp and Kane goals, fifty six seconds apart, erased the Flames lead, and a Kane goal with eighteen seconds left won it for the Hawks. None of the three goals were stellar shots, but they all count.
- The second goal, by Sharp, was a herculean effort by Hossa, which left room for Sharp to find a soft spot and redirect it on net. Of course Edzo and Pat completely ignored the set up.
- For the first time in quite a while, the Hawks lost the faceoff battle, which still left them as the 8th best team in the league at the end of the night.
- Antti Raanta looks really composed in his first NHL start. He only had to make 20 saves and certainly didn't look out of place.
- Even though he's unconventional, and kind of overly aggressive, I like this Reto Berra kid. He's exciting.
Here are the video highlights: 11/22 - Blackhawks at Dallas - 2-1 Shootout Win - Crawford made nice enough effort on the Alex Chiasson penalty shot was enough to force him to shoot off the far post.
- The only Dallas goal was a complete and utter shitshow. Crawford tried to play the puck but was too close to the ridiculous trapezoid and he coughed the puck up. It finally ended up on the stick of Peverley, who had a gaping net.
- Once again, Shooter to the rescue. He redirected a long Keith shot, that the Stars couldn't get out of the zone, and tied the game, which ultimately led to overtime and the shootout.
- For the second game in a row, the Hawks were beaten at the dots. Pirri was dicked at the dots for the second game in a row.
- The ELEVENTH shooter for the Blackhawks, Ben Smith, took the extra point for the Blackhawks. Sharpie was the only other Blackhawks player to score in the shootout, and Crawford only gave up one.
- Stars Jamie Benn had SEVEN shots and none beat Crawford.
- Yes, the Stars goal was ugly, but Crawford is the reason that the Hawks won. One goal, and 10 of 11 saved in the shootout.
Here are the video highlights:
