3-1 Loss
- The only Blackhawks goal was a terrible misplay by Al Montoya just a minute and a half into the game. The worst part is that it was Bollig who threw the bad angle shot at the net. This goal along with the one against Rask last week are going to reinforce him taking shitty shots from bad angles. Just perfect.
- The big story was the Blackhawks $4 million power forward sitting in the cheap seats, wearing a suit. Bickell sat in favor of Michael Kostka, which is not something any of us expected to hear when this season began. This just reinforces that he's in Q's chateau bow wow. Milkbone underwear for you, Dog Boy. Kostka was credited with 4 hits in just over 7 minutes of time. The official scorer must have been tripping balls!
- Maybe Quenneville has finally realized that his 6'5", 400 year old security blanket just drags his team down. Handzus play a second lowest TOI total of 8:14.
- The third piece of the "Fourth Line Puzzle", Kris Versteeg not only missed a wide open net that would have put tied the game for the Blackhawks, but he turned the puck over at the Hawks blue line twice in one shift. I wasn't really excited to have him back, and I'm even less excited now. Jimmy Hayes wouldn't have hurt playing the same minutes, and would have been cheaper.
- It is just plain pitiful that the only Blackhawks player that could generate offense was Brandon Bollig. Kudos to him for making it happen but with the talent on this team, someone else needs to produce.
- Not Crawford's best game, but he played well enough to win. Wheeler's goal was a fat rebound off a leg in front of the net with the fourth line on the ice, and Ladd's goal was a terrible turnover by Hossa that was redirected by Keith's leg. The easy meatball reaction is to blame the goalie.
- Well, this was a fun game, wasn't it? The Blackhawks went down 1-0 just 1:13 in, and never held a lead. Both teams has shorthanded goals, and both starting goalies were eventually pulled. Poppycock. Even the box score of this game makes you think, "meh".
- Corey Crawford only gave up one goal on 14 shots, but the meatball nation will blame him for this loss. That couldn't be further from the truth. Raanta was slightly below average at best, and the defense looked tired.
- The fact that the Hawks went down 4-2 and fought back to tie the game can be looked at as a good thing. It's easy to pack the tent up in a road game where you clearly just don't have it, and zone out. The Hawks didn't. And that's the best thing I can say about this game.
- Bryan Bickell was back and didn't exactly look "rejuvenated". I'm not even sure what to suggest. He's a lost puppy, at this point.
- The first goal against was a direct result of "the phenom" Brandon Bollig and his attempt to be cutesy. He attempted a cute one touch pass to Ben Smith that was intercepted and it was off to the races the other way. Granted, Antti Raanta's 5-hole looked more like a combination of a 5th, 6th and 7th hole on that shot.
- Bouma's goal was ALL on Raanta. Bouma was forced to a bad angle and Raanta just muffed it. I will defend him a little, because those shots over the ear are difficult, but he had time and space to get the angle.
- The Stajan goal was a shitshow, as well. The Hawks turned the puck over in the Flames zone on a terrible pass by Andrew Shaw to Sharp, and the Hawks recovered terribly. Bickell was blazed around like he was standing still, and then just gave up like Bambi on ice. This left Seabrook all alone facing a 2-on-1 with Leddy having pinched deep into the Flames zone. Raanta was pretty much hung out to dry because Seabrook bit hard on the shooter. I'm not sure why he was so worried about David Jones, who was on his backhand. That's the ideal situation for that play. Que sera sera, right?
- The Backlund goal was brutal. When you allow a 3-on-1 shorthanded rush, you're doing it wrong. Keith and Raanta were the sacrificial lambs on that play. Sharp, a forward playing point, was the next closest Hawks, but he wasn't going to do much.
- The overtime goal was not Crawford's fault. He followed the shooter and recovered for the rebound well. Definitely not Nick Leddy's best shift. He was walked through and then didn't cover the far post for his goalie, once the play turned into the Shanghai Circus. Rozsival stood there like a clod. Sharp coasted back on the back check and eventually did a fly by. Hossa not only couldn't control the puck at center ice, which started the rush, but then was the last guy back and watched the entire play.
- The Blackhawks spotted the Canucks an early 1-0 and, eventual, 2-0 lead. After that, the Hawks then turned on the jets scoring five straight goals. The Canucks have sure turned into a shit show, haven't they?
- The first Canucks goal was definitely a woofer, but Crawford followed up with at least three spectacular saves to keep the game 1-0.
- Saad drove the secondary scoring, with 2 goals and an assist on the night. This kid is just a stud.
- Bickell and Versteeg continued to be lightning rods. Versteeg was directly responsible for the second Canucks goal, when he tried to stickhandle through the Canucks deep in the Hawks end. As one might expect, it was stolen and eventually ended up in the back of the net. Bickell sat for the second game in the last three.
- The Blackhawks were awful at the faceoff dots. They won only 37% of their draws. El Capitan was at the top of the futility list, winning only 33% of his draws.
- Ryan Kesler was a beast for the Canucks. He won 80% of his faceoffs, 5 shots on net, 4 hits and an assist. Of course he had to sour that with a 10 minute misconduct in the third period. It's the Canuck way.
- It was nice to see the powerplay pull itself out of the slump it was in. The goal was disgustingly easy and leaving the final leg to Hossa is about as safe as you can get.
