Once Upon A Review
On Monday night the Blackhawks returned home to the UC to face the soon to be relocated Coyotes in the first game of an eight game home stand. With the Blackhawks being on a back to back, it was Antti Raanta between the pipes instead of Corey Crawford. Without anymore story lines, lets get to the recap.
The first period was BORING. Like snoozefest boring. See soccer fans, even I can admit when my sport is boring. Aside from a couple of chances by the Blackhawks, there wasn't much to see.
The pace picked up a little bit in the second period. A balls out effort by Brandon Saad, led to a loose puck finding the stick of Jonathan Toews, who centered it to Hossa and he did the rest to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. The lead didn't last long. After a selfish unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Patrick Kane, Shane Doan cashed in on a redirect to tie the game at one.
The Coyotes managed to take the lead courtesy of soon to be former Coyote, Antoine Vermette to put Arizona up 2-1. However, Mr. Bobblehead Marian Hossa would answer back with his second of the night, and tie the game at two. That's where the scoring would end as the game headed to overtime.
Oh overtime, what an overtime it was. Andrew Shaw tried to hand the game to the Coyotes on a BRUTAL turnover in his own zone, but luckily for Shaw the puck was on defenseman Keith Yandle's stick and he couldn't beat Raanta on a breakaway. From there things got crazy. As the OT frame wound down, Shaw took a shot the hit Mike Smith high, and bounced towards the net. At first glance it looked like the puck had crossed the line, but referee TJ Luxmore emphatically signaled no goal and play continued. Seconds later, Saad rang on off the crossbar, and thus the overtime ended with no scoring. The war room in Toronto phoned down, and the Shaw play went to video review. Upon review the call on the ice stood, as there was NO CONCLUSIVE evidence the entire puck crossed the line. It was the right call on the ice, kudos to TJ Luxmore for getting it right, and for Toronto to verifying the call. So then it was onto the shootout.
Lucas Lessio and Vermette converted for the Coyotes, while only Patrick Kane could score for the Blackhawks. As a result, the Blackhawks fell to the Coyotes 3-2 in the shootout. Next up for the Blackhawks is a visit from the once rival Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
The Great
- I said it on twitter, and I'll say it again. We shit on officials all the time, but tonight they deserve a lot of credit for getting the call correct. Everyone's argument for more replay is so "they get the call correct." Well tonight, they got the call correct the first time and the second time. So stop complaining because you didn't get to hear the call you wanted to hear. From our original angle, it looked like the puck crossed the line, but when you look at it, the puck was on a 45 degree angle in the air. Of course from our vantage point its going to look like the puck was completely across the line.
The Good
- Sticking with the Shaw play, credit to Mike Smith for even making it across the net to stop that puck.
- Marian Hossa was a beast tonight as was Toews, plain and simple.
- The hustle, and effort by Brandon Saad on Hossa's first goal was ridiculously awesome. I'll take that kind of effort any day.
- Antti Raanta was good enough for the Blackhawks to win tonight, stopping 27 of 29 shots.
The Bad
- Back to back 2nd period penalties by Patrick Kane and Johnny Oduya. Kane managed to get 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Very uncharacteristic of Kane. Next time just shut your mouth and keep playing. Serves him right that the Coyotes scored on that power play.
The Ugly
- Speaking of power plays. The Blackhawks power play was 0 for 4 and absolutely horrendous. Particularly on entries. But this is nothing new to us.
- Shaw's turnover in overtime was enough to make my eyes bleed. Its getting to the point where I won't mind seeing Shaw shipped out of town. Stop overvaluing him because of one picture two years ago.