The Blackhawks took the trek down Route 66 to smelly, St. Louis last night, to face the disgusting farm animals known as the Blues. These are teams that don't like each other at all, and don't hide it. This was a great way to spend a warm October Saturday night.
The Blackhawks came out with some fury in the first period, but when the game finally settled in, the Blues controlled a majority of play. This was evident by the shot total of 16-9 in favor of the Blues.
The second period was a little slower and slightly more even, until the final minute, but the Blues doubled the Blackhawks shots once again. After two very late Blues goals, the Blackhawks dug themselves a very deep hole in hostile territory.
The Blackhawks woke back up from their mid-game nap in the third period, but it was too late. They out shot the Blues 10-4 but they weren't able to tie the game.
- Within the first 1:02 of the game the Blackhawks drew a penalty from their aggressiveness, drew a second retaliation penalty from a big Andrew Shaw hit, and scored a powerplay goal. That's what I like to see. Shooter scored a pretty easy backdoor goal on a feed across the goal line with one of the Blues best penalty killers in the box.
- I'm not sure that I've ever seen the Blackhawks come out with this kind of controlled aggression. Shock-n-Shaw was the catalyst of this, and if he can keep this up without killing himself, fans are in for a treat.
- Early in the third period, the Blues left Kris Versteeg wide open in the slot and he beat Elliot to bring the Blackhawks back within one goal. Q put the line of Sharp, Richards, and Versteeg together to try and make something happen and something did happen, even if it was brief.
- The Hawks got caught running around in their own end very late in the second period, and Dmitrij Jaskin gave the Blues a 3-1 lead with just 5 seconds remaining. He jumped off the bench, took a pass, and beat Raanta. The momentum change after Roszival's colossal fuck up is completely maddening.
- Carcillo took an awkward hit to the right leg in the third period and took a long time to get off the ice. As much as I don't like the guy, I'm not really sure what we would have to accept as an alternative.
- The Hawks were beat at the faceoff dots, 37-43.
- There is a lot of talk about starting Scott Darling on the ass end of the back-to-back tonight, but I couldn't disagree more. The Blackhawks have lost 2, division games, in a row. Throwing a rookie AHL quality goalie in the net, even against the Sens, puts the Hawks at much higher risk for a loss. Then Tuesday, they face the Ducks, which might be their toughest game to date. I don't buy into this "plan" that a young goalie can't play two straight games. The plan changes when Crawford goes down with an injury. If you absolutely need to give Raanta a game off, do it when Crawford comes back or Thursday vs the Sens again. Whichever comes first.
- The Blues tied up the game with just under 8 minutes remaining in the first period. The puck was rattling around in the slot and Jaden Schwartz just chipped it towards Raanta, who just simply missed it.
- In the middle of the second period Brent Seasbrook had a brain fart and decided it was a good idea to chip the puck from his own corner to the slot area in front of the Hawks net. Kruger tried to intercept it, and only made matters worse. Jaden Schwartz nearly came up with his second goal of the game, but Raanta bailed out his teammates.
- Can I just tell you what a piece of shit Barrett Jackman is? He's a complete cheap shot artist, and shame on the officials for letting him get away with his crap. He cross checked Richards, from behind, in the Blues corner, right in front of the refs and no call.
- I'm not sure what Michal Roszival thought he was going to accomplish, trying to stickhandle through the Blues forecheckers at his own blue line, but it ended up a goal for the Blues and swung the momentum fully in the direction of the Blues. I still don't think there isn't a single camera angle that conclusively shows the puck cross the line, but after a long look from the war room in Toronto, they decided that the puck crossed the line. Worthless piece of garbage Ryan Reaves was given credit for the goal.
Sharp-Shaw-Hossa
Smith-Kruger-Saad
Carcillo-Richards-Versteeg
Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
van Reimsdyk-Roszival
