4-2 Loss
- Another game where the opposing goalie stole the show. Varlamov made 38 saves and kept the Avalanche alive long enough for the Hawks and Crawford to give up some marginal goals, at best.
- The bright spots were, of course, the Blackhawks goals. The fourth line continued to be under appreciated, and overlooked. Ben Smith and Brandon Bollig worked the corner hard, giving Smith a prime chance to blow the puck by Varlamov. The Toews goal was a beautiful passing play, on the powerplay. Toews, Kane, Keith and Sharp all touched the puck, zig-zagging through the Avs defense, with Sharp finally hitting Toews on the backdoor. That was it for great Hawks moments.
- Late in the third period, Saad made a rare youngster mistake by trying to walk through the Avs, as the last guy back. He had the puck picked off and Landeskog ended up with a partial break-a-way.
- Crawford only saw 20 shots and 3 went in. Not his finest performance, by a long shot, but the rest of the team around him wasn't all that impressive either.
- Duncan Keith had a gorgeous -3 hung around his neck, and Seabrook had himself a -2, so that tells you how the night went.
- Handzus was eaten alive at the dots, going only 5 of 15.
- HEY, ERIK JOHNSON! Remember that guy? One of the two guys picked AHEAD of Jonathan Toews? If you thought he was dead or retired, you're not the only one. He actually had 3 assists.
- It must be nice to be so stacked at Center. The Avs have Duchene, Stastny, MacKinnon, and O'Reilly. All could be in most team's top 6. Throw in Talbot, who would make a nice #3, and you have quite the logjam. Their issue is that they don't have any real stellar wings other than Landeskog.
6-1 Win
- Bollig continued his point streak with the first goal of the game.
- The Blue Jackets goal was horrendous. The Hawks turned the puck over as the defense went for a change, leaving the Jackets 2-on-0 with only Crawford to beat. Somehow, somewhere, there are a group of meatballs screaming, "Fucking Crawford! Worst goalie in the league". Those people would be enormous assholes who should be forced to be Buffalo fans.
- The first Shaw goal was a great stretch pass from Brookbank, that put Shaw in on a partial break-a-way. Shaw finished with a little finesse and the Hawks never lost the lead. Shaw had himself a nice little night with 2 goals.
- The first Toews goal was completely set up by Brandon Saad, weaving right through the Jackets defense, and finally hitting Toews, who was standing wide open on the back door. This Saad kid might have a future. After a not so impressive debut, as Hossa's fill in on Tuesday, Saad was like a man possessed in this one.
- The Hawks were dominating at the faceoff dots as well. They won an incredible 69% of their draws, with Ben Smith and Handzus winning a combined 17 of 20.
- Keith and Seabrook rebounded from a less than stellar game against the Avs, with a +4 and +3 respectively.
- Brandon Dubinsky was credited with nine hits. NINE! Most stupid stat ever.
