by Gatekeeper
The Blackhawks returned to sunny Tampa for the first time, Thursday night, to face their Stanley Cup Final foe from last spring. The Blackhawks came in with a whole bunch of news. First of all, they announced that they had traded Ryan Garbutt to Anaheim for Jiri Sekac, which should be a really good move. Following that news, Joel Quenneville announced that forward Richard Panik was going to be scratched because he overslept for the morning skate. Just perfect, when the team is riding a twelve game winning streak. Kind of gave you the feeling that they were doomed in this one before they even took the ice.
The first period was one of those period that are very misleading. The Blackhawks and Bolts were tied at one after the initial twenty minutes, but the Blackhawks grossly out shot 13-4, with two of those four shots coming in the last ten seconds of the period. There was no way they were going to maintain the lead with play that poor. Something had to change.
The second period was even worse for the Blackhawks. They came out and laid yet another egg. The Lightning out shot the Blackhawks once again 10-5, giving the Blackhawks a paltry total of nine shots for the first forty minutes. The Lightning also broke the deadlock after two generous powerplays in the final five minutes. The screwy lineup was looking like it effecting the Hawks energy for certain.
The third period didn't get any better for the Blackhawks. They came out of the locker room and just didn't have what it took to compete. The Lightning led in shots, for the third straight period, 10-9 and kept the Blackhawks off the board for the 59th straight minute. This was going to happen, eventually. I would rather see them play this bad on the road than see them piss themselves at home.
Anyhow, No time to pout, with the Blackhawks back in action tomorrow in Sunrise Florida against Uncle Dale Tallon's Panthers.
- Forty three seconds into the game, the temporary line of Kane-Anisimov-Rasmussen grabbed the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Rasmussen set up a rush over the blue line and dished off to Kane. Kane hit a wide open Anisimov, almost identical to his goal against Nashville. Just that quick, the Blackhawks were on their way. This was Hawks' first official shot of the game.
- Corey Crawford gave the Blackhawks a chance in this game. If not for his play, the Hawks would have lost 4 or 5 to 1. He deserved a better fate, but these games will happen
- The Lightning tied up the game about half way through the first period on a long deflection. Viktor Hedman took a long point shot that looked as though it was going well wide. Anton Stralman was standing about three feet to Crawford's left and redirected the puck past him.
- Late in the second period, the Lightning were the fortunate recipients of back to back powerplays, to Patrick Kane no less, and finally cashed in late on the second one. You got the feeling that all the Bolts pressure was going to finally lead to something. Nikita Kucherov snapped a shot high over Crawford's glove after about 5 straight minutes of pressure.
- The Hawks faceoff number were putrid. They only won 16 of 48 faceoffs for a whopping 33%.
- Clearly the Blackhawks trading a 4th line player, who barely saw the ice lately, was the reason that the other 18 players looked like shit.
- How the fuck do you keep 2 Russian Nikitas (Kucherov/Nesterov), both wearing numbers in the 80's, straight? I defy you.
- The asshole Lightning fans kept booing Teuvo Teravainen because, I guess, they don't know the difference between a 6 and an 8. Stupid senile shitheads.
- I'm really sick and fucking tired of looking up and seeing the fourth line and third defensive pair all out o nthe ice together. You cannot let this happen. I don't care what you need to do.
- The makeshift line of Suckderi/Rasmussen/Mashinter was fucking awful. I never want to see this again without being put to death immediately after.
- As I mentioned before, which the Blackhawks down a forward due to the Ryan Garbutt trade, #DickPanik overslept through the morning skate and was punished by Quenneville. Not the best way to impress your brand new future Hall of Fame coach.
- The Shaw/Toews/Hossa line was worked pretty bad in possession, but you can adjust that for their high number of defensive zone starts.
- The #AK72 line, on the other hand, led the Blackhawks in positive possession numbers.
- Steven Stamkos is just floating out there. For a guy that's supposed to be such a dominating player, I noticed him on the ice twice. He was also one of the worst possession player for the Bolts despite favorable zone starts. Call me Mr. Miserable but here is my hot take. The team that gives Stamkos the max deal this summer is going to end up regretting it, in short order. He is a very good, but hardly great. I'll take Ovi, Toews, Kane, and Kopitar over Stamkos any day. He slays Eastern conference bums all season and then disappears in the playoffs, which is why Toronto will be perfect for him.
Shaw - Toews - Hossa
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Desjardins - Danault - Teravainen
Scuderi - Rasmussen - Mashinter
Keith - Hjalmarsson
Gustafsson - Seabrook
van Riemsdyk - Rozsival