Sudden Death
Did you honestly expect anything less from me when the Blackhawks and Penguins meet in Pittsburgh? Of course I'm going to reference my favorite good/bad movie of all time. Its probably only going to get worse with the references, but I just wish the Blackhawks had a goaler that could kick that high in full equipment.
If you were hoping for a Gatekeeper recap, I'm sorry, but he's getting the Antti Raanta treatment. You know he's sitting on the bench while Puckin' Hostile rides the hot hand. Okay, enjoy bullshit, onto the "Rivalry Night" matchup. Who knew you could have a rival who swept your ass in the '92 Finals, and then had to rely on a fire marshal in Game 7 of the '95 Finals to save your ass? I guess after all you can have a rival from a movie. Told you, it was going to get worse.
The Blackhawks picked up right where they left off the previous night against the Coyotes as David Rundblad, yes, Adequate Rundblad opened the scoring for the Hawks. However unlike last night when they faced an AHL team in Arizona, it was a much more evenly matched opening frame, and in the end the Hawks were up 1-0 on the Penguins after one.
The second period saw the Hawks increase their lead early on after Marian Hossa fired home a Power Play goal. Then the game went to hell in a hand basket pretty quickly. The Hawks managed to blow that two goal lead, following goals by Zach Sill (who?) and perennially dickbag Steve Downie. After two the game was tied at two. Fire up a bad Pat Foley tone there.
The highlight of the third period belonged to Corey Crawford. Well its not the highlight you're thinking of. As Crawford left the net to play the puck on a dump in, the puck took one of those crazy bounces, and wound up on the tape of David Perron. Luckily for Crawford, Seabrook pressured Perron, and Perron missed a wide open net. Crisis averted. After an evenly matched third period, that produced no scoring, we headed to sudden death. Yes, this shit writes itself sometimes.
After a scoreless overtime, the game headed to shootout. El Captain, and Kane scored for the Hawks, while Perron and Crosby went 0 for, and the Hawks skated away with a 3-2 shootout win. Thank you for not counting on Jean-Claude Van Damme to save the day this time.
The Good
- Rundblad now adequate instead of serviceable
- With all the line blending that goes on, the Hossa - Toews - Saad line is very strong, and one that should not be blended anytime soon.
- Speaking of Hossa, wasn't it nice to have a sighting of him again?
- Crawford was big net for the Hawks, recording 33 saves.
- It was nice to see the Hawks play a clean game against a legitimate NHL opponent.
The Bad
- Two times in the 1st period the clock stopped working. I speak for everyone when I say, fix your clock Pittsburgh.
- As much as we enjoyed seeing Downie take a stick to the chops, I'm still in awe that it was by way of a Crawford high stick. At least he bailed himself out on the penalty kill.
- Again, I have to repeat myself to all goalies. STAY IN THE NET. Once again a bad bounce just about cost the Blackhawks the game. Someone please inform Crawford that he does have defenseman to play the puck.
The Ugly
- Michal Rozsival had a very nice Michal Rozsival type of night. He was on the ice for both of the Penguins 2nd period goals. On the second goal he managed to let Downie beat him to front of net, and since we like to live in the past, it reminded me of how Chara let Bickell beat him to front of net in game 6. Brutal, just brutal. Easily the worst contract on the Blackhawks.
- Continuing with Rozsival, the Oduya-Rozsival pairing is hot vomit in a garbage bag. How this pairing has stayed intact is beyond me.
- Oh the coaching of Q showed again why I don't think its a good idea for Teuvo to learn on the fly. Turbo got a team low of 8:26 of ice time.
- In the battle of the "worst announcer for a Blackhawks/Penguins game" I'll give the award to Pierre McGuire, only because we at least got a "Holy Shit" out of Paul Steigerwald.