Perhaps you heard that some hot shot prospect was going to be making his season debut tonight for the Blackhawks. That guy, I mean kid, is highly touted prospect Teuvo Teravainen. Now, I will warn you, if you're a Teuvo lover, then I suggest you might not like this recap. I probably should have entitled it the Puckin' Hostile Roast of Teuvo Teravainen. Any way, enough about a 20 year old prospect who probably won't amount to much, other than, we'll go with Jack Skille. (Lighten up)
As for the more important things, you know like a divisional game against Dallas, in a continuation of recent play in the NHL, sloppy, ugly hockey was on display at the UC on Sunday night. I mean, if I had played the drinking game of, "take a drink every time turnover was mentioned," then I would be in NO condition to actually write this recap.
Jamie Benn (who is the most underrated player in the NHL) got the scoring going 4 minutes in, but the lead didn't last long. Just over a minute later Brandon Saad tied the game, after a sweet dish from El Captain, and that's where we were at after one.
You like scoring you say? Well then the first five minutes of the second period were right up your alley. That scoring bunch saw Dallas goals by Jordie Benn and Eric Cole, with a Patrick Kane goal sandwiched in the middle. Then late in the period, by parking himself in front of the net, Bryan Bickell was able to redirect a shot past Kari Lehtonen to tie the game at three. Woohoo, the roller coaster of a period ended.
If you didn't think it could get worse by the goal scorers of the game, well haha, joke is on you. Eric Cole added his second of the game (facepalm), on a redirect four minutes into the third. The $2 million dollar bargain Brad Richards added his 8th of the season (that's two more than Bickell folks) to tie game at four. And that's where we'd be as the game headed to overtime.
The highlight of the overtime came by way of a Corey Crawford turnover (DRINK), in which he played the puck up the slot to a wide open Cody Eakin. Luckily for Crawford he didn't place it on an actual hockey player's stick, because otherwise it would have been game over. Crawford was able to slide back and make the save, therefore, ass saved. For the sake of all of us, Patrick Sharp ended the game just over a minute into overtime, after a nice slap pass from Duncan Keith. Blackhawks win, 5-4, run away because this was an UGLY win.
The Great
- Look at the healthy scratches!! Finally Gorilla Salad finds his ass in the press box.
The Good
- Once again, the Blackhawks were able to battle back, and win a seesaw game in which they weren't very good. I guess it is better to be lucky than good sometimes.
- Que the line blender, everyone on the Blackhawks saw at least 10 minutes of ice time.
- We'll give a shout out to 4 Blackhawks who had multiple points tonight; Hossa and Keith with 2 assists each, while Richards and Sharp had a goal and assist each.
- Eh, what the hell, 1 of 3 on the night, I'll take it. Baby steps power play.
The Bad
- The Savior, I mean Teuvo had an awesome gooa, oh wait, he didn't score. I sorely disappointed. I was expecting a hat trick and for him to clown everyone on the ice based on everything I read on Friday afternoon. Lower your expectations folks. You're being way too unrealistic if you think he's the next version of Toews and Kane.
- As much as I am a Marcus Kruger fan, tonight was not his best performance. -2 on the night.
- Dallas managed to block 27 shots tonight. Time to start moving into open shooting lanes for the Blackhawks.
The Ugly
- What the fuck Corey Crawford???!!! Who the fuck do you think you are playing the puck like that? Marty Turco? Stay in the fucking net.
- That Dallas to the Western Conference Final pick of mine, one word. BARF!
- I couldn't tell which did more work tonight? The LineBlender, or the Turnover Machine? I thought Versteeg was out?
- Could someone tell EVERY Chicago sportscaster how to correctly pronounce Teuvo Teravainen's name?
- Did you see the forecast for this week?