by Gatekeeper
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After laying a total turd of a game in Manitoba, Tuesday night, the Blackhawks continued their trek across the land of the snow Mexicans to the Alberta chapter. First on the list was the, now handicapped, Calgary Flames. They announced that Johnny Gaudreau would be out for 6 weeks, following surgery to repair a broken finger. That is what I'd call a real kick to the coconuts. The Blackhawks could use the help, though, to get back on track. They had a few days to rest and get their feet back underneath themselves, so there were no valid excuses coming in. This is one of those games that they needed to win.
The first period was pretty tame even though the Blackhawks were able to take a 1-0 lead. A couple of sloppy Blackhawks penalties gave the Flames an advantage in shots 11-9. Other than the two powerplays, You could have slept through the initial twenty minutes, and I'm pretty sure most of the Calgary crowd. The ones that actually showed up, that is.
The second period opened up pretty badly for the Hawks. They came out and game up 2 goals on 3 shots, to not only allow the Flames to tie the game, but take the lead. Eventually the Blackhawks extracted their heads out of their asses and were able to tie the game back up before the end of the period. Miraculously, the Hawks salvaged the game thus far with a 9-9 shot total.
The Blackhawks gave it a little gas in the third period, and that little additional gas was all they needed. It took just over 17 minutes to get that game winning goal, but they managed to make it happen. The Hawks weathered the Flames push and were out shot 10-6. Now they get to head to Vancouver to play the complete shit show they call the Canucks.
- Those classic red jerseys are gorgeous. They should never ever change them. Just look at these beauties:
- With about 8 minutes gone in the first period, the Blackhawks took advantage of a late change and Ryan Hartman gave them a 1-0 lead. Artem Anisimov found himself with the puck on his stick right in front of Corey Crawford and caught Hartman coming off the bench behind the Flames defense. Hartman out raced Dennis Wideman and was able to fend Wideman off long enough to beat Chad Johnson on the partial breakaway.
- Late in the second period the Blackhawks were able to tie the game back up on this new thing called the powerplay. Seemed like an innocent enough play, but the Flames PK never rotated to Seabrook, who blew the shot past Johnson.
- The makeshift line of Panarin, Toews, and Kane nearly took the lead early in the third but Chad Johnson and their captain, Mark Giordano, somehow kept the puck out of the net. Another thing, people; That will never be a full time line. Quenneville does that after penalty kill situations and has for a while. Control your erections.
- Very late in the third, the Blackhawks took the lead they needed to get out of Calgary with a win. Artemi Panarin game in 2-on-4 with Marian Hossa took a long shot from the top of the left circle. Chad Johnson had some problems hanging on to the puck and it dribbled down to the ice behind him. Hossa was driving the net, like the additional forward should (ALL YOU YOUNG HOCKEY PLAYERS), and was able to get enough of the puck for it to just barely get over the line.
- The penalty kill was pretty damn good, with their help of their goalie. They killed off all 5 pretty sloppy penalties.
- On the other hand, the power play scored on their only chance.
- I've been off the Flames bandwagon for quite a while, but I might have to re-adopt them as my second favorite team. Monahan, Bennett, Gaudreau, and Frolik are all really good players. If they could get a stud goalie, they'd be really dangerous.
- This seems like a broken record but Corey Crawford was excellent once again. He made several acrobatic saves that he simply would not have made 2 years ago. He still has his woofers, as any goalie will, but he's at the top of his game right now. Crawford saved 28 of 30 and could have easily given up 2 more, based on the Flames chances.
- Three and a half minutes into the second period, right after Patrick Kane stopped what was a sure goal from going into the Flames net, he later turned over the puck in the offensive zone, which led to a Flames goal. After Kane turned the puck over he pouted just long enough to allow the Flames to get a 2-on-1. The initial shot/pass hit Duncan Keith and ended up in the corner. Sean Monahan threw the puck off Crawford and it laid in the crease between Patrick Kane's feet. Kane basically stood there and stared at the puck long enough for Sam Bennett to shuffle board it into the net.
- Four minutes after the Sam Bennett goal, Sean Monahan banked a puck off a slightly confused Gustav Forsling and past Corey Crawford. Until the goal horn went off, I'm pretty sure Forsling had no idea what was going on because he had his back to Bennett and was having a spot of tea with Troy Brouwer.
- Just when the Blackhawks seemed to have their stupid penalty problems figured out, Jordin Tootoo took a stupid momentum killing offensive zone penalty in the first period.
- I don't want to just single out Tootoo, because the Blackhawks took several lazy or sloppy penalties.
- The Blackhawks faceoff percentage was truly awful. They won only 42%
- As much as I like Michael Frolik, his possession numbers were awful. He was a -12 overall, and a -11 5v5.
- Speaking of terrible possession, Dennis Wideman and TJ Brodie just got eaten up.
- The Blackhawks weren't much better. The only line that wasn't under water was Panarin, Anisimov, Hossa, Kempny and Seabrook. That will happen, though, when your PK is out on the ice for 10 minutes.
Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Panik - Toews - Kane
Panarin - Anisimov - Hossa
Rasmussen - Kruger - Hartman
Desjardins - Schmaltz - Tootoo
Keith - Campbell
Kempny - Seabrook
Forsling - Hjalmarsson