by Gatekeeper
The Blackhawks took their traveling road show to Arizona, Thursday night to face the Coyotes. Maybe we should call them the Glendale Coyotes, or the Seattle Coyotes since they are basically the team that no one wants. They are also the team that suspiciously discarded All-Star MVP John Scott right when this whole ordeal began, so screw them. The Blackhawks won on and overtime goal by Jonathan Toews, and there were several bizarre events, like Michal Rozsival scoring a goal.
Unfortunately, however, schedule conflicts left us unable to give a full recap but here are the highlights:
I promise to make this up to you all somehow, but we have a guest recapper, who was EVER so kind to put this together. Let us put our hands together for the extremely generous, and beautiful @StaceySarasin who did a great job of throwing something together without my asking. This one might have a future.
The Good
- Captain Clutch's 5th OT goal gives Hawks two points and keeps them on top of the Western Conference.
- Strong game for Crawford with his 30th win this season. Stopped 24 shots (although it seemed like way more). He had some spectacular saves, especially in OT. Must be all the Mac n Cheese he's been brewing up.
- Panarin with 3 assists, leads rookies with 50 points.
- Rozsival with a GOAL, yes a goal! First for him since December 2014! Way to go Old Man Rozy.
The Bad
- Penalties, penalties, penalties. First there was Coach Q's unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (served by Panik) which lead to a Coyote goal by OEL that gave Arizona (or Phoenix, as Pat Boyle insists on calling them) the lead.
- Next there was the double minor against Shaw for charging and roughing. Panik reported to the box once again to serve time on the roughing penalty. Might be a new useful way to use Panik. Wish I was a fly on the wall to hear the conversation between Panik and Shawzy.
- Other penalties included one to Keith for holding but Toews scored a shorthanded goal. Danault for tripping and even Hossa got into the penalty mix for slashing but was offset by Doan's crosscheck penalty early in the third. Too much PK for my liking.
The Ugly
- Isn't it obvious....Inexperienced ref makes unbelievably bad call after reviewing Hossa's goal in the first which lead to Coach Q's head nearly exploding! Can you say aneurism? Ref may need a tissue after that yelling match.
- Although there were many cheering Hawks fans in attendance at the Gila River Arena, could we please stop Howler from howling? How annoying is that to hear?! Almost as annoying as the Ducks quacking.
Shaw - Toews - Hossa
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Desjardins - Danault - Teravainen
Mashinter - Rasmussen - Panik
Keith - Hjalmarsson
Gustafsson - Seabrook
van Riemsdyk - Rozsival