by Gatekeeper
Well, the Puckin Hostile Road Watch was a huge bust, and so was the game we watched. That is alright, because we all knew that doing a roadwatch on the Saturday before Christmas was an awful idea. Eh, big deal.
The Blackhawks came out in the first period and took a quick 1-0 lead, but then went into winter hibernation. Two straight Sabres goals put the Blackhawks in a hole which they eventually dug themselves out of very late in the game.
The game went to overtime, in a rare no 3-vs-3, because of powerplays each way. When the game finally hit the shootout, the Blackhawks first of the season, it played out exactly how you would have thought. Patrick Kane was the only scorer, and the Blackhawks took the extra point.
- Dennis Rasmussen might very well be a thing. He put the Blackhawks up in the first period with a power move around Evander "I'm the second best" Kane. Once he was in on Chad Johnson, he was able to lift a shot up and over Johnson's glove for a 1-0 lead. All looked like it was going to go the Hawks way. Not so much.
- You could not have scripted this result any better. Blackhawks and Sabres are tied with under 2 minutes to go and who scores on the 6-on-3 advantage? Patrick Fucking Kane. Because, of course. It took them FAR too long to score, also. According to stats, they are third in the league in powerplay scoring, but they take damn need 2 full minutes to score on a 6-on-3 advantage against a team who's PK is in the 20's. This 3rd in the league shit is going to come crashing down, soon.
- Phillip Danault had an alright debut. He played bout 11 and a half minutes. He was on the ice for the Franson goal, but that had nothing to do with him.
- The Ryan O'Reilly goal was a result of a Blackhawks defensive crossup. O'Reilly gave the puck up to Sam Reinhart and both Blackhawks defenders just left O'Reilly alone. Reinhart found O'Reilly on the back door and Crawford had no chance.
- Two Sabres penalties on the same play was an absolute gift.
- This game was painfully boring. PAINFULLY
- As #Fatrick said, "Stunning, Gate and I are watching a game which there was no 3 on 3 OT, and game goes to a shootout. Blame #TeamMiserable"
- Ryan O'Reilly, Tyler Ennis, and Zemgus Girgensons all failed in the shootout. What about that Eichel kid?
- Speaking of Jack "The Greatest American Hero" Eichel. He played 18:55, or so I'm told.
- The Cody Franson goal was brutal. Crawford went behind the net to play it, the puck hopped over his stick and he just assumed that Andrew Desjardins was going to bail him out. He half assed it back into the net and Desjardins didn't help any. Franson had a pretty open net to hit, and he did.
- Thanks to everyone who showed up to the Roadwatch. All four of us. If I hear one more complaint of "when are you doing a roadwatch?", I'm pointing to this recap. At least it was people I actually like.
Teravainen - Toews - Hossa
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Bickell - Rasmussen - Shaw
Garbutt - Danault - Desjardins
Keith - van Riemsdyk
Hjalmarsson - Seabrook
Rozsival - Scuderi
