by Gatekeeper
After it was announced that no less than 9 Blackhawks players would be playing in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the actual Hawks wee set to pair off with their once biggest rival, Detroit. Nowadays there isn't quite the 3 hours of nausea that we all once held so dear in the days gone by. These days they are a team full of aging "has beens", a few players like Nyquist, Tatar and Jurco and a crop of brand new shiny pups. Names like Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou should frighten the hell out of the Eastern conference, because they are going to torch the hell out of defenders for many years to come. This night, though, the Hawks get to face them as green rookies. Thank god.
The first period was like a day at the dog races. For the first 10 minutes there were barely any stoppages in play as both team raced up and down the ice. This kind of play bodes well for the Blackhawks so it was really exciting for all of us watching. It was a surprise that the stats only had the shots at 9-8 in favor of the Blackhawks, but the most important stat was the 1-0 score.
The second period was more excitement, but this period was even more in the Blackhawks favor. They weathered some early penalties to cash in on a couple of powerplays of their own, while their goalie stood on his head, once again. The Hawks were actually out shot 16-13,thanks to those penalties, but the Blackhawks pair of powerplay goals were all the scoring.
The Wings showed a little life in the third period, but the Blackhawks had already done the damage they needed to. The Blackhawks scored 2 goals on 11 shots while the Wings finally broke the shutout, scoring 2 on 9 of their own shots. Tomorrow its @AtomicFroster as the Hawks meet the Bruins.
- With less than 2:30 away in the game, the Blackhawks caught the Wings with a lazy back check and Erik Gustafsson fed the late coming Brent Seabrook who beat Petr Mrazek cleanly from the top of the circle for a 1-0 Blackhawks lead.
- Thanks to the help of a penalty drawn by Andrew Ladd the Blackhawks cashed in on a 5-on-3, as Kane hit Panarin on the back door for a dunk. Just like they drew it up.
- With the second penalty still on the board, Brent Seabrook absorbed a hit from Riley Sheahan, who was out of position looking for the kill shot, but not before dishing the puck off to Duncan Keith. Keith barely held onto it long enough to get the puck to Kane. Kane 1-on-1 with the goalie is just fucking unfair, and Kane gave Petr Mrazek a good ol fashioned "rodgering".
- One of my favorite players, Andrew Ladd, scored what looked to be the knife in the heart for the Blackhawks. Just a dirty, in close rebound goal. This is some exciting shit.
- Thirty five seconds after the Ladd goal, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin lit the #AK72 alert once again. Kane drove the zone and sent a perfect pass cross ice that Panarin one timed for a Blackhawks 5-1 lead.
- Dale Weise was finally able to climb the Canadian wall and make it to Joe Louis arena, but not in time to play. Baby steps right? Looks like he'll make his debut in Boston tomorrow.
- Corey Crawford was outstanding, once again. It's getting repetitive, but it needs to be pointed out for all those times the meatballs came at him. This win was career high 34th.
- Andrew Desjardins took a borderline hit from Jonathan Ericsson, and went face first into the boards. He jumped up and took exception, which did nothing but earned him a double minor becasue Ericsson wasn't fighting anyone. Desjardins was taken to the quiet room, but came back a little later. Funny how that never happens at home, putting the Hawks down an extra guy (so someone can serve the time while player is being evaluated).
- The Wings scored another goal with 2 minutes left, but Wings fans didn't care at that point, because three quarters of the fans were gone already. Good job Hockeytown USA.
- Christian Ehrhoff had a great chance in his 6th shift of the game, having Mrazek dead to rights but pulling a "noonan" and chipping the bouncing puck wide of the net. Not really his fault, but still an A+ chance missed.
- Erik Gustafsson got fucking owned but Pavel Datsyuk early in the second period, and it left him spinning like a top.
- Halfway through the third period, Patrick Kane took a stupid penalty, which ultimately turned into a Brad Richards powerplay goal. Too many fucking penalties!
- Once again the Hawks opponent led in total (56-52) and 5v5 (45-43) Corsi.
- Trevor van Riemsdyk and Christian Ehrhoff led the Blackhawks in overall Corsi, but a lot of that had to do with the sheltered zone starts.
- If you want to know hot much Joel Quenneville likes Tomas Fleischmann, he was a regular on the penalty and led the Blackhawks with 12 defensive zone starts.
Ladd - Toews - Shaw
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Desjardins - Teravainen - Fleischmann
Mashinter - Rasmussen - Panik
Keith - Hjalmarsson
Gustafsson - Seabrook
Ehrhoff - van Riemsdyk
...and finally, Just a reminder that the Hawks players kicked Mrazek's ass in the AHL too.
