The Blackhawks closed out their preseason with a 3-2 shootout loss Friday night. After today's shenanigans, I'm getting right to the highlights:
- I like what I see with Turbo Teravainen on the first powerplay unit with Shaw, Kane, Sharp and Seabrook. The kid has some great instinct and is very confident and comfortable.
- Without their two top centers (Toews,Richards), the Hawks still looked pretty good. Shaw was the #1 pivot and Teravainen played second pivot. Kruger played on the third line and Regin centered the checking line.
- Trevor van Riemsdyk looks like a nice catch. He moves pretty well and makes some nice safe plays. He made his mistakes too, but there is some promise.
- With 5 minutes remaining in the second period, Pat Kane used Andrew Shaw as a screen and blew a shot past King Henrik, to tie up the game on the powerplay. That is exactly what one of the premier snipers in the league SHOULD do, given that kind of space and time.
- Two minutes after the Kane PP goal, Kane set up Andrew Shaw for a gorgeous backdoor goal. That line of Kane-Shaw-Saad was clowning the Rangers for a solid minute and a half and Kane almost had his second of the night, and just kept pressing. If Richards doesn't work every night, then sliding Shaw in will be a nice option. Shaw is not an every day second line center, but he can certainly hold his own from time to time.
- I hate to say this, but Kevin Hayes looks like me might be a nice player. Shame the Blackhawks couldn't hang on to him.
- It didn't take Gorilla Salad long to drop the gloves. the game wasn't even 5 minutes old and he was scrapping with Tanner Glass. After taking hi lumps he ended up going to the locker room. How ironic.
- Martin St. Louis scored to give the Rangers a lead, with 5 minutes gone in the second period. Not really much Crawford could do, as St. Louis tipped it over Crawford from about 5 feet away. Van Riemsdyk was taught a lesson in NHL defense from the wily little shit veteran.
- Ryan Malone ended up taking advantage of the Blackhawks 4th line to tie the game at 2, with just over 4 minutes left in the third period. Gorilla Salad was right in the thick of the action, showing his glaring uselessness.
- Call me critical, but I still have no use for Kris Versteeg. He floats. He's not aggressive. He makes stupid plays, like taking an icing when was three feet from the red line. How he gets away with this crap, with Quenneville as his coach is beyond my comprehension.
- The Hawks were generally pretty terrible at the faceoff dots. Derrick Brassard pretty much dominated the Hawks by himself, winning 8 of 9 faceoffs.
- Kane hit the crossbar.
- Zuccarello juked Crawford out of his jock.
- Sharp stopped by Lundqvist
- Duclair stopped by Crawford.
- Teravainen beat the King on a nice backhand.
- St. Louis hit Crawford in the glove.
- Morin couldn't beat Henrik
- Nash missed the net.
- Ben Smith was beaten by Lundqvist's pad
- Hayes mishandled the puck
- Shaw couldn't elevate over the right pad
- JT Miller was stopped by Crawford's pad
- Versteeg barely got a shot off
- McDonough missed the net.
- Saad poked checked by Lundqvist
- Stempniak stopped by Crawford.
- Bickell stopped on a wrist shot.
- Malone beat Crawford low for the win.
Behold the Highlights:
