After a much needed break for the Christmas holiday, the Blackhawks resumed their season in the rocky mountains on Friday night. Much like the scenery, the start by the Blackhawks was more than a little rocky itself. Nathan MacKinnon got the scoring started, by firing a wrist shot past Corey Crawford, to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. To the Blackhawks credit, they responded just 31 seconds later with Brandon Saad scoring the equalizer. Just over a minute later, the sloppy, choppy play continued and Erik Johnson regained the lead for the Avs. Late in the period Patrick Kane tallied his 17th goal of the season, to tie the game a two at the first intermission.
In the second period, the Blackhawks regained their legs, and used their speed to their advantage. Brent Seabrook scored the loan goal of the second period, ripping a slap shot past Calvin Pickard to give the Hawks a 3-2, and one they would never relinquish. Did I mention that Seabrook's goal was on the power play? Please forgive me as power play goals are few and far between.
With the Blackhawks up in the third period, birthday boy Patrick Sharp added another power play goal to increase the lead. Pardon me while I jump for joy. Patrick Kane added his second goal of the night, this time by way of the empty net, and sealed the Hawks 5-2 win over the Avalanche.
The Good
- First off, thank God that NBCSN has picked up Road To The Winter Classic, now maybe Gatekeeper will quit his bitching and moaning about Epix.
- After a sluggish start, the Blackhawks managed to get their act together for the start of the second period, which was a nice surprised. Based on how the first period went, I think the majority of us thought we were well on our way to a 7-6 or 8-5 hockey game.
- In the streaky play that is the Blackhawks, Brent Seabrook's hot streak continued, this time he netted the game winner. Keep this play up and he'll be penciled into Team Canada for the 2018 Olympics. Oh wait, never mind about that.
- Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, that is all.
- Despite a soft goal to start, Corey Crawford was strong in net for the Blackhawks. For Crawford it was a nice bounce back game from his last one against Wiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnipeg.
- Michal Rozsival didn't play. Guess the injury or old age is finally catching up to him. And lighten up people, its not a serious injury. Take a joke.
- Finally the Blackhawks solved an AHL goalie. Woohoo!!!
The Bad
- The sloppy start was kind of expected after a 3 day break, and a morning flight the day of the game, but it still wasn't a nice sight to see. Luckily the Blackhawks woke up in time, and took control of the game.
- The $4 million dollar man Bryan Bickell couldn't crack 9 minutes of ice time. Money well spent in a salary cap era. If Stan Bowman is looking for suggestions, look at two former Blackhawks and see Montreal's treatment of Rene Bourque and Nashville's treatment of Viktor Stalberg. In my opinion Bickell is becoming unwatchable.
- The MacKinnon goal was a weak one by Crawford. Probably should have had it.
The Ugly
- The hit(s) on Kane after his empty netter by Duchene, and Landeskog were cheap to say the least. Losing 5-2 at home and now you want to act like tough guys by going after the smallest guy on the ice. Maybe if you showed that fire all game the outcome would have been less embarrassing for ya.
- The Blackhawks went into Denver and took 2 points from the Avs. Lets not get too picky on the ugly. We'll just move along and focus on Nashville on Monday night.
