Less than 24 hours after Friday night's game ended on Long Island, I mean, Brooklyn, the Blackhawks and Islanders were back on the ice. This time however the game took place in Chicago. I know this kind of a home and home this early in the season makes no sense. Schedule making is hard for some in the NHL. Anyway, game 3 of the season went on as scheduled, featuring a marquee AHL goaltending matchup between Scott Darling and Jean-Francois Berube. If that kind of a matchup doesn't get you excited, than nothing will.
Once the puck dropped, the Islanders seemed to control the possession early on, despite the Hawks getting a few opportunities and Berube looking a bit shaky. As the period went on, the Hawks would gain their legs, and get on the scoreboard first. Trevor van Riemsdyk would open the scoring with his first career NHL goal, after a nice read of the Islanders defense napping. TVR found open ice in the slot, drove to the net uncontested and roofed a backhander in. I guarantee that's exactly how he drew up his first goal as a defenseman. As the horn sounded, ending the 1st period, TVR's goal would prove to be the difference on the scoreboard.
As the second period got underway, the Islanders looked to have the same jump to their step they had in the first period. They caught the Hawks in a bad change early in the period, but Scott Darling was able to stop Nikolay Kulemin on a breakaway to keep the Hawks in the lead. Whatever momentum the Isles had was done after the AK-72 line took over. Panarin would increase the Hawks lead by two on a twisted wrister wide open from the slot, following a slick pass from Kane behind the net. Later in the period the AK-72 line would completely clown the Islanders for two minutes before finally Kane ended the silliness and redirected a TVR shot to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead after two periods.
The third period turned out to be a different story than the first two frames. The Islanders seemed to pack it in and the frustration would boil over. John Tavares would receive an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as well as a game misconduct with just over 5 minutes remaining. The Hawks would cash in on the power play late in the game as Brent Seabrook added another to increase the Hawks lead to four. Unfortunately for Scott Darling he wasn't able to hang onto the shutout as Cal Clutterbuck would score shorthanded with just over a minute remaining. That would prove to be the final as the Hawks defeated the Islanders 4-1.
- I'm dubbing them the AK-72 line, go ahead make fun of it, but that line of Anisimov, Kane, and Panarin is lights out right now. They absolutely dominated play in the second period with Panarin and Kane both registering goals, and would end the night with 3 points each.
- Scott Darling was rock solid in his first start of the net. Although he would be a minute short of getting the shutout, his save on a Kulemin breakaway early in the second period seemed to start the dagger into the Isles momentum.
- TVR had a very nice night. His read on the Islanders defense that led to his goal was perfect. Not one Islanders defender put a stick near him. Bravo kid, hopefully Quenneville doesn't piss on your parade in the next couple of days. Everyone else knows you played good tonight.
- On the second night of a back to back, Quenneville finally had some sense knocked into him when comes to ice and a game that's in hand. Everyone's ice time was spread out, which is a nice change from the past.
- A night after their balls were chopped off at the dot, the Hawks held down the fort and were an even 26-26 against the Isles tonight.
- Show of hands if anyone had Ryan Garbutt skating on the first line in the third game of the season. Put your hands down, you're lying. In all seriousness someone break Q's finger so he can't press the line blender.
- The power play. While it looked good at times, it ended the game 1 for 7. That is pathetic.
- I have nothing more to bitch and moan about when it comes to the Hawks. So lets go with the Rockford IceHogs. Way to show up in Stockton tonight. The Hogs lost by a touchdown.