The Blackhawks wrapped up the tail end of their notoriously bumpy late season ice show trip in, of all places, St. Louis on a Sunday morning. The Blues were coming off an embarrassing 7-1 loss in Lumbus Friday night, while the Blackhawks had finally gotten the Winnipeg monkey off their back with a pretty tight 2-1 overtime win. Nothing brings out the worst in these two teams quite like facing each other.
The Blackhawks started off quite slow in the first period, but an early goal, and followup powerplay were able to get them back in the groove. The Blues actually out shot the Hawks 12-9, for the period, but the only goal was by the Blackhawks 4th line.
The second period follow suit to the first. The Blackhawks gave up the lead, took it back and then quickly surrendered it back to the Blues. The Hawks were out shot again 12-7, so the Blackhawks were lucky to come out even. The game could have easily been down going into the third, on the road.
In the third period, the Blackhawks locked the defense down and out shot the Blues 12-3 as well as out scoring the Blues 2-0. This was a nice statement win for a team that always has it's doubters, no matter how much they just keep winning.
- Not even five minutes into the game, after Gorilla Salad played a few terrible shifts, he pushed the puck up to Kruger in the Hawks zone. Kruger led the rush in on a 2-on-1 and snapped a puck past Elliott for an early Blackhawks lead.
- Bryan Bickell Picked up a fat Brian Elliott rebound and did the one thing he is really good at. He snapped a wrist shot past Elliott for a short Blackhawks lead.
- Just over halfway though the third period a Blackhawks powerplay, drawn by Brad Richards, turned into a Saad to Marian Hossa one timer for a Blackhawks 3-2 lead. Huge big game play by huge big game player. Hossa later added an empty netter to ice the game.
- Crawford was, once again, solid in net, saving 25 of 27 and keeping the game from getting out of control.
- The Hawks were pretty dominant at the dots again, winning 57%. Kruger and Shaw were pretty bad, but the rest of the team was above 60%
- Doc called Stastny "Olympian Paul Stastny", which had about as much juice as "Hockey Star Mike Fisher".
- David Rundblad only saw 9:20 and three total third period shifts. I think this experiment is going to end soon. If they are going to ride Rozsival right into the grave, and play the #6 d-man only 9 minutes, the playoffs will sure be fun. Duncan Keith will spontaneously combust when he hits the 35 minute mark.
- After some bad turnovers, Teuvo had his ice time shaved down a little more. He's destined for Rockford when Versteeg comes back this week. He didn't play badly, but the turnovers really stuck out like a sore thumb.
- The big stupid sasquatch, Ryan Reaves, took one of the dumbest penalties ever and, as a result, ended up getting a few teeth kicked out by Teuvo Teravainen's skate. Good for him. Slobbering fucking moron. He should be drinking his meals through a straw anyway.
- Just a few minutes into the second period, the Blues tied the game with two familiar faces out on the Blackhawks back end. Oduya and Rozsival. Oduya made the decision to pinch and none of the forwards rotated back, leaving Rozsival and his concrete boots, to try and catch Tarasenko. That wasn't going to happen, and Tarasenko buried the chance.
- A minutes and a half after the Bickell goal, the Blues tied the game once again, late in the second period. Backes set Oshie up for a nice one timer, in the middle of four Hawks defenders, that Crawford saved. Oshie was then pushed (or slid into) Crawford, and the rebound squirted out to the other side right to Backes. Crawford got a piece of the shot, but it snuck past the post and Crawford's blocker.
- Steve the Pirate and Gorilla Salad tried to throw down after a rough hit on Marcus Kruger, but it was stopped before it could even begin. Such a joke.
Saad-Toews-Hossa
Sharp-Richards-Kane
Shaw-Teravainen-Bickell
Smith-Kruger-Carcillo
Keith-Rundblad
Hjalmarsson-Seabrook
Oduya-Roszival