The Blackhawks traveled to legendary Montreal, Tuesday night, for a tilt against the Habs. The Habs had been one of the hotter teams in the league at 8-3-1, and boasted one of the hotter goalies in the league. This didn't necessarily set up a warm and fuzzy for the Blackhawks.
The Habs came out with noticeably more energy than the Blackhawks in the first period, out shoooting the visitors 11-5. This would have been all peachy for the Home team if they weren't down going into the first intermission. Things certainly didn't get any better from there, as far as the Habs go.
The Blackhawks woke up in the second period and didn't look back. They led in shots 17-8, and scored the second goal of the game which then brought us to third period.
Our mighty Blackhawks opened up the game and applied boot pressure to the throats of the Habs, in the third period. They scored three goals, while out shooting the Habs 10-9 and holding on to that elusive shutout. Good on all accounts but the injury front, which we'll discuss later.
- Even though they were out shot early, the Blackhawks powerplay grabbed a 1-0 lead, just over halfway through the first period. El Capitan tipped a long Deuce shot past a helpless Carey Price, and it looked as though all the stars were aligning in Montreal. Glad to see Tazer heating up because they will need it. Drive to the front of the net; goal. Not a hard concept.
- Almost exactly half way through the second period three very unlikely characters aligned in a justice league of whipping boys, to put the Blackhawks up 2-0. Kris Versteeg banked a pass from the corner off Markov, and over Price, for a pretty fluky goal from Bickell and Rundblad. Still looks to me like the pass hit Kruger, but what do I know? Total garbage goal, but anything to increase Versteeg's value.
- Brad Richards scored his second Blackhawks goal, shortly into the third period, which then opened the flood gates. All he did was, again, drive to the net and tip a Sharp shot puck past Price. Nothing pretty, but certainly effective.
- Heading into the home stretch, Patrick Kane joined the fun, showing a little chemistry with his BFF, Jonny Toews. They weaved through the Habs zone while Ben Smith, wait for it; drove to the net. That opened up the slot for Kane, and El Capitan hit him on the tape for a pretty redirect.
- To finish the scoring, the unusual suspects of #DammitVersteeg, Ronnie Pickle and Strongbad struck again. This was another flukey goal, as well. Versteeg and Bickell worked the weave, similar to the Toews/Kane goal, but this time the shot went wide. A clearly aggravated Price over pursued and got dragged entirely out of the crease. Bickell dug the puck out from behind the net and Versteeg hit the gaping net. This was not a slam dunk by any means, because Versteeg and "missed open net" are almost as synonymous as Stalberg and "can't finish".
- David Rundblad wasn't noticeable, which means he wasn't abhorrently terrible. So, hey, one point for him.
- Faceoffs were split right down the middle, which we will call a win for the Hawks, because they were the road team. If it weren't for Brad Richards getting mushroom stamped (1 of 10), the Hawks would have been golden.
- The new stat to watch is attempts blocked. The Hawks had 24 blocked. This cannot continue. If we can see this from watching on TV and seeing the stat line, the coaching staff has to realize this.
- Bourque, Subban, Markov and Eller were all -3 for the Canadiens. WOOF!
- According to the stat line, Hoss had a rough night. Four PIMs, no points, not on the ice for any goals, two missed shots. No worries.
- Patrick Sharp went knee to knee with Alexei Emelin and wasn't able to get off the ice under his own power or even put weight on his leg. After the game it was inferred that Sharp would be out quite a while, as in a matter of several weeks. all that being said, don't expect Teravainen to take his spot. Just not Q's style. Most likely we will see someone like Versteeg slide back up the lineup and Nordstrom come take his spot on the 4th line.
- This embellishment thing is stupid, and this is coming from a person whose team it benefited. It's completely subjective and now it's just going to go off reputation. You get players like Robidias getting away with a terrible one in Toronto the other night, because he's not a notorious diver, but the Habs get nailed twice last night on reputation alone. My brother brought up a good point, last night. The rule "should" be that if you get caught for the embellishment you forfeit the powerplay, as well as get a penalty of your very own. This will shape shit up real fast. This current situation is not consistent at all.
Sharp-Shaw-Hossa
Saad-Richards-Morin
Bickell-Kruger-Versteeg
Keith-Seabrook
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
van Reimsdyk-Rundblad
