Blackhawks vs. Canucks5-4 Overtime Loss Recap

"Big Ole Pile Of Them Bones"

 by Patrick Stankus
Send a McRib to #Fatrick

The Blackhawks took to the ice on Tuesday night, riding a five game winning streak, and for the first time, as a team headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Following Sunday night's game, the Hawks were able to clinch their ninth straight playoff appearance, thanks to the Calgary Flames defeating the Los Angeles Kings. The playoffs were never in doubt for the Hawks, but now the question of how much rest will Coach Q give the players as we head down the stretch? With the division still at stake as of Tuesday's game, the lineup was much of the same, with the addition of Marian Hossa following his two game absence. I guess I should mention that the Hawks were taking on the Vancouver Canucks tonight, Look at that. I made it all the way to the end of the intro before I said the Hawks were playing the Canucks. It seems like just yesterday these were the games we used to get pumped up for. My how times have changed.

Once the puck dropped it appeared as if both teams had very little interest in actually playing tonight. The Canucks could barely manage to get the damn puck on net, while the Hawks best chance came from a line of Rasmussen, Kero, and Jurco. Yes, that same Tomas Jurco that looks completely lost out there. Not even a power play for the Hawks could muster up a spark. Finally, with a minute remaining, the Canucks found the back of the net to put the Hawks down one after twenty minutes.

The second period didn't exactly get off to the best start for the Hawks. Following a turnover by Nick Schmaltz, Vancouver found the back of the net less than two minutes in to increase their lead to two. The Hawks however did find some life in the second period. Less than two minutes later, Ryan Hartman cut the Canucks lead in half with a power play goal. That would prove to be the highlight of the period for the Hawks. Just before the midway point, the Canucks redirected another puck past Crawford to increase their lead to two again. Despite having two more power plays in the period, and registering fifteen shots, the Hawks couldn't score another and trailed 3-1 after forty minutes.

If you enjoyed the third period by the Hawks on Sunday night, then you were in for more excitement tonight. The Canucks opened the scoring a little after the two minute mark to give them a three goal lead. That also proved to be the end of Corey Crawford's night, as Scott Darling came on in relief. The spark Quenneville was looking for from the goaltending change happened as the Hawks scored two goals in under four minutes to cut the Canucks lead to one. Late in the period, John Hayden had the game tying goal taken away after a Canucks challenge for offside, but the Hawks didn't quit. Ryan Hartman tied the game with a minute remaining to send the game to overtime.

To start the overtime, the Hawks had some carryover time from a third period penalty by Vancouver. As the Hawks power play came to an end, Jonathan Toews was called for goalie interference, and the Canucks headed to the power play. It took just over thirty seconds for Daniel Sedin to cash in and win the game for the Canucks, by the score of 5-4. The war room in Toronto reviewed the goal to see if there was goalie interference, but there was none, and the Hawks winning streak was snapped at five.

The Good

• Marian Hossa returned to the lineup after missing the last two games, and tallied his twenty-third goal of the season.
• As bad as the Hawks power play was in the first period, their power play goal in the beginning stages of the second period was a thing of beauty. A sweet passing play by Schmaltz to Hossa to Hartman cut the Canucks lead in half.
• #DickFuckingPanik scored his twentieth goal of the season. That loud chuckling noise you hear isn't The Joker, its Gate laughing with a cigar in his mouth at all you people who called him crazy for saying Panik would score twenty goals.
• With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Patrick Kane fed a fantastic pass to a wide open Ryan Hartman, in front of the net, and Hartman tied the game at four.
• John Hayden continues to impress by making his presence felt with physicality and play making abilities. While he's been good, lets not get the anointing oil out for him just yet. Its early in his career.
• Despite shitting the bed in the second period, overall the power play wasn't too bad. They ended the night 2/6.
• Ryan Hartman had two goals tonight to give him eighteen on the season. Money well spent Montreal.

The Bad

• What little momentum the Hawks had in the beginning stages of the first period were killed by a lifeless power play. A power play that managed one shot.
• After scoring on their first power play chance of the second period, the Hawks squandered the next two power play chances in the middle frame.
• John Hayden looked as if he tied the game at four, late in the third period. However, Vancouver challenged the play for offside, and after review it was deemed Panik was offside and the goal was taken away. I'm not saying this because the call went against the Hawks, I've said this all along, REPLAY SUCKS.
• On the Canucks game winning goal, Scott Darling and the war room in Toronto felt the need to look for goalie interference. Thank the Lord, this goal wasn't overturned because of "goalie interference." As I said to Gate, if that was goalie interference, I give up.
• Unlike Sunday night, tonight the Hawks couldn't get the win in comeback fashion. Frankly you deserve to lose when you have to play catch up to teams like the Canucks and Avs.
• Forty-four shots against the Canucks, and the Hawks lost. That should not happen. EVER.

The Ugly

• Who the hell decided to give the Bulls the prime time slot on CSN, and bump the Hawks to CSN Plus?
• Just over ninety seconds into the second period, Nick Schmaltz had forced a turnover while exiting the Hawks zone. Unfortunately for Schmaltz, he had his pocket picked immediately afterward, and the puck wound up in the back of the Hawks net. Not exactly an ideal start to the second period.
• Through two periods, the Hawks held the Canucks to eight shots, but somehow the Canucks managed three goals.
• Tomas Jurco earned himself a set of healthy scratches coming up. Early in the third, Jurco failed to see TVR pinch in, and got caught drifting out of position. This resulted in a two on one, which allowed for a tap in goal for Vancouver.
• Corey Crawford allowed four goals on ten shots. That's deceiving though because a couple of the goals were redirected, and one he was hung out to dry for.
• Speaking of Crawford, I'm gonna feel bad for him when he's stuck wearing a Canucks jersey.

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Blackhawks vs Canucks4-2 Win Recap

"Confidence Vs Consequence"

by Gatekeeper
Yell at Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks were not resting on the 7th day, this time. The, now pretty terrible, Vancouver Canucks were in town to help celebrate the Jeremy Roenick "One More Shift" shenanigans. Now, looking at the Canucks record, you might think that "terrible" is extreme, but they are playing above their means in a pretty awful division. 22-19-6 was good enough 9th in the conference and the Canucks were only one point out of the wild card, but nursing a -17 goal differential. This was, and continues to be, a team with no discernible identity. They continue to ice Jack Skille, folks. That should tell you enough.

The Blackhawks simply imposed their will on the Canucks, in the first period, Sunday. They averaged almost a shot a minute and had a final tally of 18-9. It was great to see this success but, let's be honest, this was against a simply inferior team. This is why they were also up 2-0. Looks like they didn't need any help from Jeremy Roenick, right? Well, if we've learned one thing, it's that the Blackhawks are consistently inconsistent.

As is in the Blackhawks DNA, they flipped the script in the second period and managed only 4 total shots on net, while giving up 8. Again, this is an inferior opponent. While the first period was fairly clean, the second was more sloppy and there were three power plays, as a result. This is certainly part of the reason for the shot differential, but the Blackhawks definitely took their foot off the gas pedal. With 2-0 lead going into the third, the Blackhawks had themselves set for two more points.

Or so you'd think.

The Canucks came out in the first half of the third period and not only unleashed 7 shots, but scored two goals. Nothing like keeping that intensity for 22 of 60 minutes, and then squeaking out a win, right? Luckily for the home crowd, the Hawks then eventually woke their asses up, but it took until the final minutes. Two goals in the final 1:18 gave the Blackhawks a win that turned out to be much harder than it should have been. Playing down to your competition is a great describe their play, as of late.

The Good

• As I said, The Blackhawks had a lot of pressure in the first period, and #DickFuckingPanik gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead with about 6 minutes remaining. Brian Campbell found Panik in a soft spot between the circles, and Panik was able to get off a decent one timer, even with a wobbling puck. Miller never really saw the shot and it went bar down.
• Three minutes after the Panik goal, Patrick Kane gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead. He picked up the puck in the corner and drove out to the slot but as he cleared the goal line, he surprised Miller with a quick snipe over the left shoulder. The route was on, right?
  
  Wrong.
• Very late in the third period, just like in Boston, the Blackhawks mustered up some pressure, and this time it was by the 4th line. Quenneville followed up their shift with the first line, who had had a great night overall, and it proved to be the right move. Richard Panik took a long shot from the half boards that ended up short of the net but bounced out from behind the end boards, right to the stick of Jonathan Toews who deposited it in to the back of the net.
• Usually, Empty net goals are pretty uneventful but tonight's empty netter was Toews' 4th point of the night and Marian Hossa's 400th point as a Blackhawks player. Both noteable.
• Corey Crawford had a good night overall, and collected his 200th career victory. He finished with 26 saves.
• The Roenick one more shift was pretty damn cool to see. As a hockey player, not many have been as fun to watch, here in Chicago.

  Jeremy Roenick comes out for #OneMoreShift, kisses the United Center ice. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/wYyGhBXAxs

  — Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) January 23, 2017

  My issue with this is that with these ordeasl, they usually interview the player between periods and get some content out of them. It was like Roenick skated out there, waved, kissed the ice, listened to the anthem, and then they booted him out the door. Something was amiss.

The Bad

• The Hawks were pretty awful at the faceoff dots. Brandon Sutter just put a clinic on, winning 18 of 21 by himself. The usually great Toews only won 8 of 24 (33%)
• Kempny was having a decent night until the Canucks second goal, then it all ended. Great job just shitting all over this guy's confidence, Coach Wizzo. I cannot see him long for this team, if this is how he's going to be treated. I've heard the old, "He's much older and a professional". That's plain horseshit. He was a pro in the KHL on bigger ice, with lots of players that spoke the same language. He's learning the smaller ice surface, better players, dealing with a language barrier, and now a moody coach. He watched Forsling swallow himself several times, and just keep getting thrown out on the ice, but Coach Wizzo pulls Kempny's ice time at the first mistake. The only player getting shit on like that, even the slightest, is Campbell. Even Campbell isn't getting dumped on like that during games, though, just the healthy scratch shuffle. If Kempny was abjectly bad, I'd shut my mouth. He's not, though. He's battling some confusion and it looks like he's got some anxiety. You would too, if every single mistake you made cost you 3 games in the press box. I'm not sure what this accomplishes, other than scrambling the brain of your potential 4th defenseman. I sure hope they have a backup plan, because they are handling this situation like absolute shit. TVR gets himself walked all over in possession, night after night, but he does no wrong. Whatever.

The Ugly

• Yup, We all got stuck with Steve Konroyd again. Who can think of a better way of spending 2 hours on a Sunday night?
  
• On one easy call in the second, The puck went off the post and hit Crawford right in the yap. Konroyd kept saying, "It hit the post and hot Corey in the body". While, technically, he was correct, it was an inaccurate analysis of the play. Between the second and the third, he made the bold proclamation that "You wanna possess the puck". Brilliant, Captain Obvious.
  
• The Canucks took advantage of an early third period power play to finally break the shutout. The goal was a pretty innocent long shot by Troy Stecher that Crawford anticipated being tipped. It was never touched by Sedin and fluttered past Crawford's glove.
• Forty seconds after the Stecher powerplay goal, Bo Horvat just clowned a reaching Michal Kempny and powered his way to the front of the net. Horvat was able to not only get a shot off, but pick up his rebound to poke it past Corey Crawford, and tie the game. Kempny didn't see the ice for the rest of the game. Right back to the doghouse for #KempnyGod. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sitting next game.

The #Fatrick Stankus Fatsy Stats

• The 3rd line of Hinostroza/Kero/Hossa had a rough night possession wise. They were all heavy in the negative, at -11, -21, -11 respectively.
• The #AK72Line, on the other hand, were plus 18/19/19 respectively.

The Lineblender

Left Wing - Center - Right Wing
Hartman - Toews - Panik
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Hinostroza - Kero -Hossa
Desjardins - Rasmussen - Schmaltz

Keith - Hjalmarsson
Kempny - Seabrook
Campbell - van Riemsdyk

\

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Blackhawks at Canucks4-3 OT Win Recap

"You'd Be Well Advised Not To Plan My Funeral"

 
by Patrick Stankus
Tweet to #Fatrick

Following a brief stop in Calgary on Friday night, the Blackhawks continued their final Circus Trip with a stop in @atomicfroster's land of Vancouver on Saturday night. Unlike years past, the trip to Vancouver did not mark the end of the Western Canada portion of the trip. For Lord only knows why, the Hawks still have to travel back to Alberta for a Monday night match up with Edmonton. With the Canucks struggling, Corey Crawford was given the night off, and it was up to Scott Darling and crew to take to the ice.

The Hawks came out of the gate exactly how a team that played the previous night and had a decent amount of travel would have. Throughout the period the Hawks were sloppy and careless with the puck. A number of their passes didn't connect and led to turnovers. Luckily it was the Canucks they were playing and not an NHL caliber team. The Hawks were playing with fire when it came to the slow start, and it wound up burning them. The Canucks got on the board first with a power play 14 minutes into the game to give themselves a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

As bad as the Hawks were in the first period, the second period turned out to be one of the worst periods of hockey I've ever seen them play. The carelessness with the puck was at an all time high and the turnovers were multiplied. The Canucks cashed in on those turnovers to score two goals in just over a minute to increase their lead to 3-0. I wish I had more to say, but an accurate display of the Hawks second period is best described when typing in "dumpster fire" on a Google search. For Christ's sake they ended the second period with four shots. Four goddamn shots!

The roller coaster that is the Hawks took a turn for the good in the third period. The Hawks looked like a completely different team. They skated circles around the Canucks for the entire 20 minutes. One by one, the Hawks chipped away at the Canucks lead, and before you knew if, they didn't have the Canucks on their heels. No, no, no, they had the Canucks on a fall to the ground. Ryan Hartman completed the comeback and tied the game at three with four minutes remaining in the period. Despite having a couple more chances, the Hawks couldn't net the game winner in regulation, and we'd head to overtime.

In overtime, it appeared as if Jonathan Toews won it thirty seconds in. However after a video review from the War Room in Toronto, it was deemed Hjalmarsson was offside, and the goal was waved off. Following that call the Canucks rode a wave of momentum and peppered the Hawks net with numerous shots. Scott Darling fought off all those shots, and made all the saves needed, including one without his glove, to give the Hawks a chance. As the Hawks went for a change, Marian Hossa, in a one against three, scored to finish off the comeback and give the Hawks a 4-3 overtime win.


The Good

• Scott Darling was flat out, outstanding tonight. I could careless if you think a goalie who gave up three goals is bad. He was not bad tonight. He made too many saves to count that kept the Hawks in the game.
• Another (insert Foley voice) "LOCAL BOY", Vinnie Hinostroza had himself a game. Not only did he score his first career goal, but he also added two helpers to give himself a three point night. My only knock on him is that number he wears. Seriously dude, pick a new one. Anything other than 48. I mean that number screams bench warmer for a high school varsity football team.
• Early in the third period the Hawks got a power play, and while they didn't officially score on it, they did right after it expired. Kane fed a cross ice pass to Panarin who one-timed the puck into the net. #AK72Line alert. Feels sooooo good to say that again.
• The third period the Hawks turned in may have been one of the best 20 minute stretches I've seen them play all season. They simply clowned the Canucks.
• I enjoyed seeing the line of Schmaltz-Toews-Kane again. Perhaps when we unplug the line blender next game, it will stop on this combo.
• Aside from his first period penalty, Michal Rozsival was solid. Admit it folks. Sorry, you're gonna have to find a new scapegoat.
• Ryan Hartman is turning into more than just a serviceable player. Tonight he added the game tying goal in the third, but overall he was noticed for more than just that.
• I hate the term "at least they got a point," but tonight was an exception. If the Hawks had lost in overtime, I would have taken the point. They had no business getting one point, let alone two, with how awful they were in the opening 40 minutes.
• Boy that "steadily declining" Marian Hossa was back at it tonight. All he did was net the game winner. If he keeps this up, I bet the Coyotes won't mind adding him to their "Ring of Cap Hit Honors" in the rafters of their arena.
• The McRib returned to McDonalds this week. I could think of no better way to celebrate than devouring a few of those "saucesome" sammiches. Our photoshop fanatic @Wm_J_LePetomane shared his thoughts on my view of that glorious sammich.
  

The Bad

• Michal Rozsival was guilty of a very soft hooking call in the first period. Of course the Canucks scored the opening goal on the ensuing power play. 
• In the second period, Marcus Kruger took a penalty right off a face off. Much like Rozsival's penalty, it was a very generous call for the Canucks. Luckily for the Hawks, they killed this one off.
• Vinnie Hinostroza had a horrendous giveaway at the blueline that led to a great scoring chance for Canucks. Thankfully for Hinostroza, Scott Darling made the save when needed.
• I'm pretty sure the Hawks found every which way possible to hit the post tonight. I actually lost track.

The Ugly

• The first 40 minutes of the game, the Blackhawks were a complete shit show. The low light might have been the fact that 30 minutes into the game, they only had 8 shots on goal. None of which were of any quality. 
• Late in the second period, while on the power play, Toews turned the puck over at the blueline. While that was bad, the "effort" Brian Campbell showed while trying to stop Bo Horvat on a breakaway brought a new meaning to the word lazy. Campbell never moved his legs, and tried to latch onto Horvat's arm with his stick. It truly was beyond pathetic, and summed up the Hawks play to that point nicely. I can only imagine what the outcry would have been if Rozsival did that.
• Speaking of that power play in the second. The Hawks never managed to get the puck into the zone. It was a complete waste of two minutes.
• Its amazing how the Hawks can just flip a switch and go from looking like Gate's over 40 team, to an elite NHL team. That was the case tonight. Whatever was said in the locker room during the second intermission, I'd like to know what it was.
• I hope everyone enjoyed that fabricated 3 on 3 overtime. Holy shit, it just gets worse and worse. Pray to God players hit the net with their shot, otherwise its a 2 on 1 the other way. I'm sorry, but no sport should change their rules to "make it more exciting." Hockey is exciting enough 5 on 5. Leave it alone.
• Speaking of overtime, @UncleRozsival dropped this gem tonight; "If 3 on 3 is this exciting, I can't wait to see 2 on 2 overtime." Kill me. Kill me, right now.

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Blackhawks at Vancouver3-2 Win Recap

"From Canada With Love"

by AtomicFroster

The Chicago Blackhawks take to the ice for the second night in a row as they finish off a back to back in my home province of British Columbia and play the struggling Vancouver Canucks. Darling gets the nod and will play two games in two days, a rare thing for a NHL goalie, but really what do they do anyway other than let pucks hit them? Right Gatekeeper?! The two teams are headed in opposite directions as the Canucks have scored only three goals in their last six games and the Hawks netted four just last night in Cow Town. 

The first period starts with the Hawks lineup looking a little different than of late, Kruger rejoining the team last night, Rasmussen in for the first time in nine games, and Anisimov out with a case of lower body general soreness; he is listed day-to-day so Teuvo will take his spot up on the second line. Some would want you to believe that he's a healthy scratch and in Q's doghouse but I don't believe the hype. Also the third D pairing is featuring Ehrhoff rather than Uncle Rosival. The frame would be a rather boring one if not for a late period goal by Fleischmann set up by TVR and Ehrhoff. The Hawks did have the better of the chances and almost doubled up the Nucks on shots. 

Shots: Blackhawks- 13  Canucks- 7

The second starts with Henrik Sedin taking a tripping penalty and sending the Hawks on the PP. Can the Hawks break their horrid streak of power plays? No-- the Hawks don't score and are now 0-23 at this point. Eleven and a half minutes in, the Canucks put a point on the board via an Alex Burrows one timer wrist shot set up by Linden Vey from behind the net. The goal seemed to wake up both sides and the pace for the rest the period was quickened with the Canucks controlling the majority of the chances. Hawks fend off the push and exit the period all tied at one.

Shots: Blackhawks- 9  Canucks- 6

The final frame starts with the same pacing as the second ended but this time with the Blackhawks controlling most of the play. It's too bad you can't score a third hand assist: Panarin with a great heads up play slap passes the puck from his own zone to a streaking Kane but the pass is to hot for Kane to handle. He takes it behind the net, passes to TVR who one touches it to Teravainen, who then buries it in the open net. Toews takes a 4 minute rest in the box for a highstick and the PKers along with Darling come up large, killing the penalty. Unfortunately, the Canucks do end up evening up the score at two with a Baertschi goal the was generated from Panarin over handling the puck in the offensive zone. Luckily the tie was short lived as Toews sets up a Ladd slap slapshot putting the Hawks over the Canucks 3-2.  *sidenote the Canucks pulled the goalie with only couple minutes left as to not upset Gatekeeper.

Shots: Blackhawks-10  Canucks-15 

Total Shots: Blackhawks-32  Canucks-28 

THE GOOD

• Winning the second game of a back to back which has been next to impossible for the Hawks this year;
• TVR's play tonight was exactly what we are looking for from the young D man;
• Darling getting two wins in two days this close to the playoffs is great, it will give him the confidence he needs;
• All lines looked be able to handle them selves on the ice unlike the weeks past where maybe one would show up; and
• I, @atomicfroster got my first win making my recap stats 1-2-2;
• Blackhawks clinch a playoff spot for the eighth straight year.

THE BAD

• While I liked Panarin's pass to set up a Teuvo's goal I was not impressed but his turnover that lead to a Baertschi goal; and
• I'll go easy on them tonight and leave it at that (even though it should not be this close with the worse team in the league). 

THE UGLY

• News came that Crawford may not play again during the regular season, being thrown into the fire come playoffs is a less than desirable situation;
• Anisimov, is he hurt? is he scratched? Calling him day-to-day rather than scratching him is a easy was to avoid the media storm that could have ensued; and
• Letting @atomicfroster beat you! 

Ladd - Toews - Hossa

Panarin - Teravainen - Kane 

Fleischmann - Rasmussen - Weise

Desjardins - Kruger - Shaw 

Keith - Hjalmarsson 

Svedberg - Seabrook 

Ehrhoff - van Riemsdyk 

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Blackhawks vs Canucks4-0 Shutout Win Recap

"Manshitter Kills Mankind"

by Gatekeeper

The Blackhawks rode their red hot scoring leader and a Friday night shutout back at the United Center, to face the Vancouver Canucks Sunday night. The Blackhawks powerplay was also about as warm as the 65 degree December temperatures in Chicago, coming in ranked 5th in the league. Patrick Kane was looking to extend his point streak to 26 games.

Quite honestly, the first period was boring as all hell for this one. If not for a Blackhawks powerplay, there might not have been any scoring chances at all. There were only eight shots aside, and just the one Blackhawks powerplay goal.

The second period was a little more exciting, but not much. Thanks to a couple more powerplays each way, the goalies had to wake up long enough to make a couple of really nice saves. Patrick Kane had a more active period as well, getting a few grade A chances. The Canucks had 13 shots on net, to the Blackhawks 11.

The Third period was pretty much all Chicago. The Blackhawks scored 3 goals, including an open netter. The Canucks had a goal negated and were out shot 11-9, which led to a 4-0 final score and Corey Crawford's 4th shutout of the year. Nothing to complain about right there. Next up are the Colorado Avalanche and their hobo coach.

The Good

• The powerplay continued to gel, roughly half way through the first period. Duncan Keith took an Artemi Panarin pass from the corner, and used an Artem Anisimov screen to beat Ryan Miller. on a side note, league scoring leader Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 26 with a secondary assist.
• The Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead halfway through the third period after a nice breakout by the Blackhawks third line, Dennis Rasmussen made a touch pass to Bryan Bickell. Bickell had about 72 hours to size up Miller, but Miller got a piece of Bickell's shot but it was trickling towards the net. Rasmussen followed the play and poked it into the net.
• Corey Crawford got his second straight shutout, with 30 saves. Back to back shutouts are a rare thing for him, so enjoy it. He's done it twice this season, but only 3 times in his career.
• The Hawks were dominant at the dots, willing 64% of their draws.
• I cannot say enough about the Russians. Panarin and Anisimov have be outstanding.

The Bad

• I've gone from being a Bryan Bickell apologist to a Bryan Bickell detractor. He had several chances to bury the puck, or at least get a shot on net. He couldn't even get his big meat head mitts on the puck. Whatever they need to do to get rid of that contract needs to be done. I know he had the assist, and probably should have had the goal in the third period, but the rest of the game he looked awful.
• Rasmussen and the Manshitter played the least for the Blackhawks, but had a combined 3 points. Some nights Hockey is just plain stupid. If Rasmussen keeps this up, he may never see Rockford again, and with good reason.
• I challenge you to name more than 5 names on the Canucks roster. What a bunch of nobodies.

The Ugly

• That Pat Foley, "Henrik, where's Daniel? He's looking for Daniel." is so fucking annoying. So much so that it diverts my attention from the game. Knock that stupid shit off, Pat.
• How fucking embarrassing. After the Shaw empty netter, the Canucks then allowed The Manshitter to score his first NHL goal. I cannot express how terrible this is. There MIGHT only be one worse player in the league, and he goes by the name John Howard Scott.

The Lineblender
Teravainen - Toews - Hossa
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Bickell - Rasmussen - Shaw
Mashinter - Kruger - Desjardins

Keith - Hjalmarsson
van Riemsdyk - Seabrook
Daley - Rundblad

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Blackhawks at Canucks6-3 Loss Recap

“Vanquished by Vancouver”

by guest recapper @AtomicFroster

After two lacklustre performances in rounds 1 and 2 of the circus trip, albeit getting three out of a possible 4 points, Coach Q opens game 3 by once again shuffling the lines in a BoggleTM style free for all. Anticipation was palpable in Vancouver with Daniel Sedin sitting on the cusp of 900 career points.

Pre-game festivities took slightly longer than usual as Vancouver anthem singer, Mark Donnelly, sang the usual duo of anthems and in addition the Canadian National Anthem en francais in tribute to the recent events in Paris.

First Period:
The puck drops with the first line of Toews, Shaw and Garbutt to start, followed by the third featuring Kruger and Hossa. The teams trade chances until things are interrupted by a fight between Rockford Captain Brandon Mashinter and Brandon Prust. Although Mashinter has an obvious size advantage, the fight ends with no cleanly landed punches and the two falling on each other. Fight seemed unprovoked other than both Prust and Mashinter trying to prove their worth to their respective coaches. Bartowski is sent to the box for tripping Toews 5.5min into the period. Toews makes them pay by taking matters into his own hands and scoring a short-side goal over the shoulder of Ryan Miller. This goal should not have happened for the fact that Tanev pinches up ice to Hossa and leaves #19 free to seize the opportunity and strike first. Niklas Hjalmarsson cross checks Jannik Hansen in front of Cory Crawford pushing him to the ice and making him the recipient of a slapshot to the head putting the Canucks on the Powerplay. 50 seconds later, Toews takes a penalty for tripping Burrows. With two of our three best penalty killers in the box the Canucks make the Hawks pay with Henrik Sedin wristing one past Crawford, with the assist to his twin who recognizes the 900 point career milestone. The Canucks score again 6 minutes later with Kero making a lazy play at the side of the net allowing Henrik’s set up of Hansen upfront. Luckily a minute later Garbutt evens the score with the helper coming from Toews. Kane gets a clean break away with 3min remaining but his attempt is foiled by Ryan Miller’s left pad. All is even at 2.

Second Period:
The second period starts with the Blackhawks controlling the majority of the gameplay and scoring chances. Any momentum gained is quickly halted by a Ryan Garbutt hooking minor 7 minutes in. The Canucks capitalize with a Daniel Sedin goal assisted by brother Henrik. From this point on, the Canucks were the better team for the remainder of the period. The Blackhawks get a powerplay curtesy of a Luca Sbisa hi-stick on Anisimov but the Hawks only register an abysmal one shot on net. Period ends with the Canucks up one, 3-2.

Third Period:
Both teams trade some minor scoring chances until the first notable play of the period is an Andrew Shaw hit on Canucks Dorsett 6min into the final period. It seemed like the gloves would be dropped for the second fight of the night but the refs forced gameplay to continue. Seabrook gives Burrows a breakaway and Crawford stands tall and shuts the door. Shaw stifles another odd-man rush with a great back-check. Blackhawks even up the score thanks to a fantastic play by Patrick Kane at the blue-line, shaking the defender and setting up an Anisimov wrist shot. The tie game was short-lived as the home team scored three successive goals to dash the Hawks hopes at putting the circus trip over 500. Final score 6-3 Vancouver. Blackhawks register 29 SOG; Canucks, 20.


The Good

• Coach Q’s BoggleTM approach seemed to work providing the best Blackhawk game this trip
• Jonathan Toews powerplay goal was highlight-reel worthy
• Patrick Kane’s point streak continues (16 games)
• Ryan Garbutt scores first goal as a Blackhawk (that’s a good thing, right?!).

The Bad

• 5 goals on 19 shots for Crawford, marking one of his worst performances this year
• Allowing the Canucks sisters to net 9 points collectively
• Did we mention 5 goals on 19 shots?!

The Ugly

• Mashinter’s fight against smaller Prust left us wondering if he’s capable of NHL level brawls
• Captain Serious needs to get serious about staying out of the box
• 3 unanswered goals, late in the third, is never going to win you a hockey game.

The Lineblender
Shaw - Toews - Garbutt
Panarin - Anisimov - Kane
Desjardins - Kruger - Hossa
Mashinter - Kero - Dano

Keith - Hjalmarsson
van Riemsdyk - Seabrook
Rozsival - Daley

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Blackhawks vs Canucks3-1 Win Recap

"At The Graves"
by Gatekeeper

The first period was slanted in the Blackhawks favor, out shooting the Canucks 13-10. And unfortunate turnover by an unnamed defender let the Canucks back in the game, late. Fortunate for the Hawks, it only cost them the lead and there was 40 more minutes to go.

The second period was a little less exciting that the opening period. The Blackhawks out shot the Canucks 11-10, but no one was able to advance the score. The Blackhawks did have several quality scoring chances, especially towards the end, though.

The third period was just more of the same. Action at both ends and quality chances. The Canucks actually out shot the Hawks 15-14, but the Blackhawks won the scoring battle 2-0. Congrats to the Blackhawks on nailing down their 7th consecutive playoff berth.

Since I passed the hell out during the third period, and the Blackhawks have something to celebrate about, here is a special GIF enhanced recap:

The Good

• With just over 5 minutes gone in the first period, the Blackhawks used a stickless Eddie Lack as an advantage. The 4th line peppered the net and Marcus Kruger slipped the puck back to Teravainen in the slot. He snapped a shot past a diving Lack for a 1-0 lead.
  
• Midway through the second period, the Blackhawks took the lead back for good. A Johnny Oduya shot from the point was redirected half way to the net by Marian Hossa. The shot went off Lack's right post, and landed behind Lack right on Jonathan Toews' stick. Toews was able to fight off Dan Hamhuis and push the puck into the net. Weird goal, for sure.
  
• A couple of minutes after the Toews goal, Marcus Kruger turned the lights out for the Canucks. He stole the puck from Bo Ho-Duke in the neutral zone, with some help from Teuvo Teravainen, and rushed to the net. He was able to both out race the Canucks defenders racing off the bench to recover from a terrible change and fight off a diving attempt, to navigate around Lack and tuck it in behind him. Pretty goal.
  
• Crawford was excellent once again. He saved 36 of 37 pucks he faced, and was lights out to close out the game. I love that he's been huge when they need him most. Saves me the trouble of being the lead Crawford apologist.
  
• I'm not really sure just how this 4th line is working, but it is. Teravainen belongs nowhere near these guys, but it's somehow working.
  
• Johnny Oduya....still looking good.
  
• Kimmo Timonen's ice time has risen, and he's looked better. That's reason for excitement.
  
• Blackhawks were dominant at the dot, winning 65%. Toews and Kruger were a combined 26 for 38 which is almost 70%.
  

The Bad

• The Blackhawks had an early breakaway...but it was Versteeg. You can imagine how that went.
  
• What is with these Blackhawks too many men penalties??? Quenneville must be crawling out of his skin.
  
• Vermette with 4 PIMS, a -1, and only 11:59 time on ice. Not good. He has to break out sometime, right?
  

The Ugly

• The Canucks got a generous 4 minute powerplay for high sticking, and dumb ass Alex Burrows took a hooking penalty to negate half of it.
  
• With just over a minute remaining in the first period, Michal Rozsival passed the puck across the middle of the Blackhawks zone, right to a surprised Derek Dorsett. Dorsett went right to the net, put a head fake on Crawford and beat him with a perfectly placed snipe of a shot. Make all the excuses you want, intarwebz and Eddie O, but he's just terrible. If David Rundblad made that play, the Blackhawks would have played with 5 defenders the rest of the game. RozySlow gets a pass because he's old, or something. I'm tired of it.
  
• Blackhawks powerplay is shit. It's forgotten about when they win but, god damn...
  

The Lineblender

Versteeg-Toews-Hossa
Sharp-Richards-Vermette
Bickell-Shaw-Saad
Desjardins-Kruger-Tervainen

Keith-Rozsival
Oduya-Hjalmarsson
Seabrook-Timonen

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Canucks at Blackhawks5-4 OT Loss Recap

Burn It To The Ground

by Patrick Stankus

On Wednesday night, the Blackhawks continued their 8 game home stand, as the once rival, Vancouver Canucks came into town. Since the playoff match ups of years past, the hatred between these two teams has calmed down, despite some of the media's efforts to drum up support, I'm looking at you Jim Rose. Bottom line is now that Kesler, Luongo, O'Brien, Torres, and others from the Canucks are long, this is just another match up in the season. Sure we still can't stand the Sedin sisters, or Alex Burrows, but come to grips with it folks, its over. If tonight's game was any indication, we're in for a bumpy right with yours truly in control of Puckin' Hostile for the next week.

Talk about a lackluster start to a hockey game. The first period was full of  sloppy play by the Blackhawks, with much of their passes going to no one, and filled with one or some cases two too many passes. It was about as awesome as a certain Western Canadian band named Nickelback.

The second period was a complete and utter shitshow as Gatekeeper would say. Numerous turnovers wound up in the back of the Blackhawks net, with none being a soft goal allowed by Crawford. The loan bright spot for the Blackhawks was a goal by Patrick Kane in the first minute of the period, one that didn't even go in off of his stick. Thank you Dan Hamhuis.

With the Canucks up 3-1 to start the 3rd period, many (including yours truly) thought the Blackhawks were down and out after being completely outplayed. But credit the Hawks, they kept playing, barely, and the Canucks took their foot off the gas enough to give the Hawks some life. Hossa would open the scoring just past the midway part of the period, only to see Daniel Sedin answer right back. Then the Blackhawks woke up in the final 5 minutes of the game with goals by Saad and Hossa to tie the game at four. From there we would head to overtime.

The overtime frame didn't last long as Henrik (in a vomit inducing Pat Foley voice) "where's Daniel? where's Daniel?" would eventually find Daniel, for the sake of humanity, and the Sedin would bury the chance to give the Canucks a 5-4 overtime win over the Blackhawks.

The Good

- Well, I don't want to give the Hawks much credit, so I'm lumping Hossa and Kane into the same sentence. Hossa had two goals, while Kane had a goal and two assists. We'll also give an honorable mention to Saad, who had one goal and one assist.

- The other good is Corey Crawford who kept the Hawks in the game despite being down 3-1 at one point. Crawford's play is the only reason the Hawks ended up getting non deserving point tonight.

- The Hawks did manage to go 2 for 4 on the power play. Jump for joy.

The Bad

- Adequate Rundblad is no longer looking so adequate as of late. His ill advised turnover wound up in the back of the Hawks net. At least the trade deadline is coming up and the Hawks will be able to address the need of two defensemen and a center, oh wait. No cap space. Sorry to get your hopes up.

The Ugly

- The turnovers, and all around sloppy play by the Blackhawks for 50 minutes tonight was nauseating. Completely inexcusable in my opinion.

- Speaking of nauseating, next time ANY Blackhawk has an open shot, SHOOT THE DAMN PUCK on net instead of making the too cute, extra pass.

- Kris Versteeg had a return to the lineup that last year's Kris Versteeg would love. Versteeg managed to be a -3 on the night, and of course showcase his awesome stickhandling into a turnover.

- With the news that Joakim Nordstrom had been sent down earlier in the day, we knew it was coming, but still managed to act surprised. Quenneville made Teuvo a healthy scratch in favor of inserting Gorilla Salad into the lineup. Salad managed 5:43 TOI tonight. Seriously, what the fuck Q? This is exactly what I was saying when NO ONE wanted to listen to me on why Teuvo shouldn't have been brought up in the first place. How is sitting in the press box going to A. build his confidence, and B. get him accustomed to the NHL? Sending him back to Rockford isn't a knock on his game, because I thought he was alright for the most part, but its all about seasoning and ice time. Both of which he doesn't get while sitting in the press box in Chicago.

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Blackhawks at Vancouver 4-1 Loss Recap

                            The Catch Up

It was bound to show its ugly head at some point. After last night's shellacking of the Edmonton Oilers, tonight's game had the makings of a trap game; 3 games in 4 nights, plus a couple of days off before the next game. In the end, the Hawks simply ran out of gas as the game ran on, and the Canucks ran away with the 4-1 win.

Jannik Hansen opened up the scoring in the 1st period for the Canucks, just as a Kris Versteeg penalty had expired. Despite Versteeg taking the penalty, it was one you don't mind seeing someone take, as he was sticking up for a teammate after Luca Sbisa drilled Patrick Kane in the corner.

The second period saw our favorite, wait most criticized player, Kris Versteeg net a power play goal to tie the game at 1. Hang on while I continually punch myself in the face. Of the 2 power plays the Hawks had in the second, this was the only one they would score on, and at the end of the 2nd period the game was tied at 1.

As the game went on the Canucks took over. The fatigue of the Blackhawks showed in the 3rd period, as the Canucks scored 3 times, to take a 4-1 win. Jannik Hansen completed the hat trick with an empty netter, and Radim Vrbata also tallied the 3rd Vancouver goal.

The Good

- Corey Crawford gave the Blackhawks a chance to win this game. More power to him consider he was playing his 11th consecutive game.
- Kris Versteeg hot streak continued, as he provided the lone tally for the Blackhawks.

The Bad

- Adam Clendening certainly came back down to earth tonight. A bad delay of game penalty, coupled with bad defensive positioning (that led to Vancouver's 2nd goal) proved that he is human, and a work in progress.
- The inconsistent power play continued tonight as well. The Blackhawks were 1 of 4, and didn't look good on some of those opportunities.
- The hit on Patrick Kane. I didn't have a problem with the hit by Sbisa, nor did I have a problem with Versteeg's response. The biggest problem I had is Kane putting himself in that position to potentially be injured by turning towards the boards.

The Ugly

- It wasn't the best night for some of the Blackhawks leaders. Toews was a -4, while Hossa and Seabrook were -3, and Keith was a -2. Over the course of a season, games like this are bound to happen.
- Watching someone like Jannik Hansen score a hat trick was vomit inducing.
- The Blackhawks were just about dominated at the face off dot tonight, 36 to 27.
- Someone please inform the Vancouver Green Men that their act is old, tiresome, and boring. Its run its course guys, come up with new material.

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Blackhawks Week That Was - 1/31

1/27 - Blackhawks vs. Jets
3-1 Loss

• The only Blackhawks goal was a terrible misplay by Al Montoya just a minute and a half into the game. The worst part is that it was Bollig who threw the bad angle shot at the net. This goal along with the one against Rask last week are going to reinforce him taking shitty shots from bad angles. Just perfect.
  
• The big story was the Blackhawks $4 million power forward sitting in the cheap seats, wearing a suit. Bickell sat in favor of Michael Kostka, which is not something any of us expected to hear when this season began. This just reinforces that he's in Q's chateau bow wow. Milkbone underwear for you, Dog Boy. Kostka was credited with 4 hits in just over 7 minutes of time. The official scorer must have been tripping balls!
  
• Maybe Quenneville has finally realized that his 6'5", 400 year old security blanket just drags his team down. Handzus play a second lowest TOI total of 8:14.
  
• The third piece of the "Fourth Line Puzzle", Kris Versteeg not only missed a wide open net that would have put tied the game for the Blackhawks, but he turned the puck over at the Hawks blue line twice in one shift. I wasn't really excited to have him back, and I'm even less excited now. Jimmy Hayes wouldn't have hurt playing the same minutes, and would have been cheaper.
  
• It is just plain pitiful that the only Blackhawks player that could generate offense was Brandon Bollig. Kudos to him for making it happen but with the talent on this team, someone else needs to produce.
  
• Not Crawford's best game, but he played well enough to win. Wheeler's goal was a fat rebound off a leg in front of the net with the fourth line on the ice, and Ladd's goal was a terrible turnover by Hossa that was redirected by Keith's leg. The easy meatball reaction is to blame the goalie.
  

Here are the video highlights: 1/29 - Blackhawks at Calgary 5-4 OT Loss

• Well, this was a fun game, wasn't it? The Blackhawks went down 1-0 just 1:13 in, and never held a lead. Both teams has shorthanded goals, and both starting goalies were eventually pulled. Poppycock. Even the box score of this game makes you think, "meh".
  
• Corey Crawford only gave up one goal on 14 shots, but the meatball nation will blame him for this loss. That couldn't be further from the truth. Raanta was slightly below average at best, and the defense looked tired.
  
• The fact that the Hawks went down 4-2 and fought back to tie the game can be looked at as a good thing. It's easy to pack the tent up in a road game where you clearly just don't have it, and zone out. The Hawks didn't. And that's the best thing I can say about this game.
  
• Bryan Bickell was back and didn't exactly look "rejuvenated". I'm not even sure what to suggest. He's a lost puppy, at this point.
  
• The first goal against was a direct result of "the phenom" Brandon Bollig and his attempt to be cutesy. He attempted a cute one touch pass to Ben Smith that was intercepted and it was off to the races the other way. Granted, Antti Raanta's 5-hole looked more like a combination of a 5th, 6th and 7th hole on that shot.
  
• Bouma's goal was ALL on Raanta. Bouma was forced to a bad angle and Raanta just muffed it. I will defend him a little, because those shots over the ear are difficult, but he had time and space to get the angle.
  
• The Stajan goal was a shitshow, as well. The Hawks turned the puck over in the Flames zone on a terrible pass by Andrew Shaw to Sharp, and the Hawks recovered terribly. Bickell was blazed around like he was standing still, and then just gave up like Bambi on ice. This left Seabrook all alone facing a 2-on-1 with Leddy having pinched deep into the Flames zone. Raanta was pretty much hung out to dry because Seabrook bit hard on the shooter. I'm not sure why he was so worried about David Jones, who was on his backhand. That's the ideal situation for that play. Que sera sera, right?
  
• The Backlund goal was brutal. When you allow a 3-on-1 shorthanded rush, you're doing it wrong. Keith and Raanta were the sacrificial lambs on that play. Sharp, a forward playing point, was the next closest Hawks, but he wasn't going to do much.
  
• The overtime goal was not Crawford's fault. He followed the shooter and recovered for the rebound well. Definitely not Nick Leddy's best shift. He was walked through and then didn't cover the far post for his goalie, once the play turned into the Shanghai Circus. Rozsival stood there like a clod. Sharp coasted back on the back check and eventually did a fly by. Hossa not only couldn't control the puck at center ice, which started the rush, but then was the last guy back and watched the entire play.
  

Here are the video highlights: 1/29 - Blackhawks at Vancouver 5-2 Win

• The Blackhawks spotted the Canucks an early 1-0 and, eventual, 2-0 lead. After that, the Hawks then turned on the jets scoring five straight goals. The Canucks have sure turned into a shit show, haven't they?
  
• The first Canucks goal was definitely a woofer, but Crawford followed up with at least three spectacular saves to keep the game 1-0.
  
• Saad drove the secondary scoring, with 2 goals and an assist on the night. This kid is just a stud.
  
• Bickell and Versteeg continued to be lightning rods. Versteeg was directly responsible for the second Canucks goal, when he tried to stickhandle through the Canucks deep in the Hawks end. As one might expect, it was stolen and eventually ended up in the back of the net. Bickell sat for the second game in the last three.
  
• The Blackhawks were awful at the faceoff dots. They won only 37% of their draws. El Capitan was at the top of the futility list, winning only 33% of his draws.
  
• Ryan Kesler was a beast for the Canucks. He won 80% of his faceoffs, 5 shots on net, 4 hits and an assist. Of course he had to sour that with a 10 minute misconduct in the third period. It's the Canuck way.
  
• It was nice to see the powerplay pull itself out of the slump it was in. The goal was disgustingly easy and leaving the final leg to Hossa is about as safe as you can get.
  

Here are the video highlights:

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Blackhawks Week That Was - 12/20

12/14 - Blackhawks at Toronto - 7-2 Loss

• Two more powerplay goals against in this one. The Hawks bit themselves in the ass, in the first period, with three straight first period penalties.
  
• Joffrey Lupul and Mason Raymond each had four points, which should just about tell the story
  
• Antti Raanta didn't get much help, but he didn't help himself either. Kent Simpson came in and gave up a goal on his first shot against, just 28 seconds into his first NHL period.
  
• Duncan Keith had a rough night. He was a minus four and looked completely uninterested, at times.
  
• As bad as the Hawks played, they won 53% of their faceoffs.
  
• The Toronto official scorer claims there were 75 (30 to 45) total hits, which I cannot fathom.
  
• Under the radar, Pat Kane had 2 goals on 8 shots while playing the second most TOI for the entire Blackhawks team.
  

Here are the video highlights:

12/15 - Blackhawks vs Kings - 12/15

• The Hawks had an excellent first period, opening up a 3-0 lead with a shorthanded goal, a power play goal, and an even strength goal. Three first period goals would have told the story of a possible rout, but that wasn't to be. The Hawks were shutout the rest of the way.
  
• Sheldon Brookbank at forward makes me very stabby.
  
• Raanta rebounded nicely from the thrashing he took in Toronto, the previous night, with 21 saves. He had an excellent save in the second period on Kopitar that made the highlight reels. Unfortunately the kid is snake bitten as far as shutouts go. He may just be that guy that will always give up at least one, but he's not too shabby, otherwise.
  
• Dan Carcillo was a plus 1 in his 11:53 of TOI. So there is that, LA.
  
• The Hossa shorthanded goal was all Toews. He pressured Jake Muzzin, who coughed the puck up, and dished to Hossa for an easy one timer. Nice to see Kopitar getting back to cover Hossa...oh wait.
  
• The Sharp powerplay stroke was set up by some great patience from Toews. He drew 3 defenders, and dished to a wide open Shooter. Two apples and 77% at the dots for El Capitan.
  

Here are the video highlights:

12/17 - Blackhawks at Nashville -

• How in the hell do the Hawks get some many faceoff violation penalties? A minute and a half into the game, no less. Literally TWO SECONDS after taking a 1-0 lead. Consequently, the Blackhawks had their worst game of the season at the dots. THIRTY SIX percent. OVERALL! Everyone, but Kruger, was cock whipped at the faecoff dots.
  
• If Shea Weber DOESN'T score from that spot, on the powerplay...well...yeah.
  
• Kane's roof shot on Hutton was just absolutely sickening. He was less than ten feet from Hutton and roofed a backhand over Hutton's left shoulder. How do you even prepare for that? As a goalie, you have to just shrug your shoulders, because it's impossible to see that coming.
  
• Raanta continued to show that he's capable of, at least, the backup position. He saw as many powerplay shots as he did even strength ones. Let's hope they can somehow bury Khabibulin on long term IR.
  
• As "clown shoes" as the powerplay was all last year, the Hawks role reversal has been unexplainable. The penalty kill has been absolutely horrid, and the penalty kill has been money in the bank. Third in the entire league behind the Pens and Caps. The PK, well, third worst behind the Panthers and Isles. Quite honestly, I'd rather it be the other way around.
  

Here are the video highlights:

12/20 - Blackhawks vs Canucks - 3-2 Shootout Loss

• Antti Raanta and Eddie Lack both had tremendous games. Even though the shot totals were low, there were several quality chances. Both deserved the win, and none of the goals cleanly beat the goalies. When it looked like the Canucks were going to eat Raanta alive, in the shootout, he shut the door for six straight shooters.
  
• Crazy 8s continues his red hot play, with a goal and assist, leaving him three points behind Sid for the league lead.
  
• The Hawks opened up a 2 goal lead in the second period, and proceeded to blow it.
  
• Both teams were 0-4 on the powerplay, which was a little surprising.
  
• The Canucks Zac Dalpe played a game low 3:14 but still got a chance in the shootout.
  
• Henrick Sedin absolutely sucks in shootouts.
  
• The Hawks were 49% at the dots which isn't terrible, but isn't great either.
  
• The Blackhawks absolutely HAVE to score more than one in eight shootout chances.
  
• It won't show on the score sheet, but Ben Smith had a great night. His drive to the net late in the second was really nice.
  

Here are the video highlights:

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Blackhawks Week That Was - 11/29

11/23 - Blackhawks at Vancouver - 2-1 Win

• Talk about a boring game. Other than the Kesler goal, there wasn't anything to stay awake for until late in the third.
  
• Speaking of Kesler's goal. Crawford did just about everything, but destroy his groin, to save that shot. Sometimes they just find that one small hole. It was a 5-on-3, for christ sakes. Aside from that, Crawford had an excellent night. 36 saves; one goal; in a hostile environment.
  
• The Shaw goal was vintage Shaw. He was in the right place at the right time, and made a play. He might be one of the dirtiest diggers in the league, but you have to love him. Kane tried to make, what seemed to be a stupid blind backhand pass across the slot to El Capitan, but Shaw stepped in front of the pass and redirected it past Sweaty Lu. Can't fault him in that play. Shaw just made a great play.
  
• How great is it that the Hawks player that Vancouver poached off waivers ends up being the person responsible for the bad pinch that led to the game winning 2-on-1? NINE SECONDS after the tying goal. I'm slyly looking in your direction, Ryan Stanton. I hope one of your old boys slipped you a couple hundies after the game. You made it look believable, kid. Somewhere Chelsea Daggar was ringing in heads of every Canuck.
  
• As shocking as this has become, the Hawks were above 50% at the dots again. It has gotten to a point that you should be surprised when they aren't. Shaw was the only Hawks center under 50%, but we'll let him slide thanks to his other contributions. He only took 5 faceoffs.
  
• In what might be one of the more surprising stats of the night, the Canucks were only credited with 16 hits. Usually they are throwing their bodies, in stupid fashion, at the Hawks players.
  
• After discovering a certain greasy haired goalie's twitter account what seems like a decade ago, I cannot hate the guy. If he was anywhere but Vancouver, he might be one of my favorite players.
  

Here are the video highlights:11/25 - Blackhawks at Edmonton - 5-1 Win

• El Capitan's single handed shorthanded goal set the tone for the night. He realized that the Erlers had a forward at the point and pressured him to cough up the puck. After that, it was vintage Jonny Serious. All business.
  
• After the Toews goal, it was time for Kane to tally on the powerplay. Nothing pretty, just found a loose puck in front and dunked it.
  
• Oduya was the fortunate recipient of some Erler shenanigans, when they put the rebound of Oduya's long shot into their own net.
  
• Jeremy Morin made a nice play to set up Andrew Shaw for another slam dunk not even half way through the second period, to end Dubnyk's night. Not that the goals were his fault. In comes the Russian Cosmonaut. Raise your hand if you had any idea Bryzgalov was on the Erlers.
  
• The Justin Schultz goal was a really nice one timer from the Hawks left dot and surprised Crawford. Meh!
  
• The Hawks only had 27 shots on net and scored on 5. Tell me again how bad Corey Crawford is, meatballs?
  
• The Hawks won their, now usual, 50% plus at the dots. Shaw was woofed, going only 1 of 8, but the rest picked up the slack. Hell he had 2 goals and an assist. I'll lay off his ass for the faceoffs.
  
• The only players to play less than Kris Versteeg were J-Mo and Bollig. Coach not happy already eh? Maybe all those with the happy pants should have watched his play in 2010, and not just his terrible rapping skills.
  

Here are the video highlights: 11/27 - Blackhawks at Calgary - 3-2 Win

• The Hawks were down 2-0 and looking like there was no life, halfway through the third period, and the Patricks decided to take over. Back to back Sharp and Kane goals, fifty six seconds apart, erased the Flames lead, and a Kane goal with eighteen seconds left won it for the Hawks. None of the three goals were stellar shots, but they all count.
  
• The second goal, by Sharp, was a herculean effort by Hossa, which left room for Sharp to find a soft spot and redirect it on net. Of course Edzo and Pat completely ignored the set up.
  
• For the first time in quite a while, the Hawks lost the faceoff battle, which still left them as the 8th best team in the league at the end of the night.
  
• Antti Raanta looks really composed in his first NHL start. He only had to make 20 saves and certainly didn't look out of place.
  
• Even though he's unconventional, and kind of overly aggressive, I like this Reto Berra kid. He's exciting.
  

Here are the video highlights: 11/22 - Blackhawks at Dallas - 2-1 Shootout Win

• Crawford made nice enough effort on the Alex Chiasson penalty shot was enough to force him to shoot off the far post.
  
• The only Dallas goal was a complete and utter shitshow. Crawford tried to play the puck but was too close to the ridiculous trapezoid and he coughed the puck up. It finally ended up on the stick of Peverley, who had a gaping net.
  
• Once again, Shooter to the rescue. He redirected a long Keith shot, that the Stars couldn't get out of the zone, and tied the game, which ultimately led to overtime and the shootout.
  
• For the second game in a row, the Hawks were beaten at the dots. Pirri was dicked at the dots for the second game in a row.
  
• The ELEVENTH shooter for the Blackhawks, Ben Smith, took the extra point for the Blackhawks. Sharpie was the only other Blackhawks player to score in the shootout, and Crawford only gave up one.
  
• Stars Jamie Benn had SEVEN shots and none beat Crawford.
  
• Yes, the Stars goal was ugly, but Crawford is the reason that the Hawks won. One goal, and 10 of 11 saved in the shootout.
  

Here are the video highlights:

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Blackhawks at Vancouver - Loss Recap

"Nothin' to Lose"

No one would have guessed that when the season came to a close, this game would pretty much be a throw-a-way. Yes, the Blackhawks could clinch the Presidents Trophy with a win and a Pens loss, but the Blackhawks basically had their playoff plans set. This is just another fluff game against the noted douchebag armada in Western British Columbia. With Patrick Sharp nursing a sore flipper, and twitter sensation Boberto Luongo relegated to backup duty, this game really wasn't exactly what we were looking forward to, in January. They would still pull their ass hattery, and whine like little girls with skinned knees, but we can just laugh even more at them. The biggest worry will be if someone is really dumb enough to try and exact revenge after the idiotic Duncan Keith move last spring. This is precisely why I wouldn't be one big disappointed if Kane, Toews, or Hossa sat for the evening. That said, live from the Rogers Arean in burnt out Vancouver, it's the Blackhawks and the Canucks.

The first period was an absolute clusterfuck from the word go, since Comcast, in their infinite wisdom, decided to air the Bulls, and Cubs over the Blackhawks. Push the team with the best record in their respective league to the 3rd channel, A STANDARD DEFINITION CHANNEL, on your depth chart. Clowns. To steal a quote from CT at Hockeenight, "In a world where I have access to more than 900 channels on my television, there are apparently not enough to accommodate 4 separate local sports teams playing at the same time". I don't pay for HD service so that I can have seizures watching a flickering and pixelizing standard definition broadcast. I'm so glad to see the last place Cubs blowing a late April extra inning game, with 144 more of those remaining, was more important that the first place Blackhawks trying to lock up the best record in the league.

Anyway there WAS a game actually played, but you could have fooled the Hawks. They were out shot in the opening period 11-5 and gave up a powerplay goal. This was not what the way they needed to start.

The second period wasn't any better than the first period. The Hawks gave up a couple more goals, even though the shots were even at 9. They looked like they had truly mailed this one in. The third period was going to be just as ugly, if they didn't wake up.

The third period...whatever. They didn't really wake up. The Hawks never even really showed up to the Rogers Arena in the first place. The Hawks were out shot in the third 12-11, and scored a goal that did nothing but avoid the shutout. Credit where it's due, the Canucks had their agenda and smeared it all over the Hawks faces. Next opponent, Edmonton.

The Good

• In the third period, the Blackhawks were finally able to break the shutout. Not much to it, Gorilla Salad just cleaned up a rebound and hit the net. Right place at the right time. Other than that, the Hawks spent most of the game looking like they were trying not to get hit, while making themselves huge targets.
• While Crawford didn't stand on his head, he kept the Blackhawks in the game, until they evacuated themselves. Thirty two shots is way too much for either of these goalies to face on a regular basis. If you bring up the Calgary game, in which Emery had a voodoo doll hidden in his jock, I'm going to smack you on the head with a ball peen hammer because that will NEVER happen again. It was a freak occurrence, like the 5 goal comeback against the same team in 2009. If you expect that to happen again in the near future, you'll be waiting a VERY LONG time.

The Bad

• After a Hjalmarsson penalty for and illegal hit, both Johnny Oduya and Jannik Hansen tipped a Jason Garrison power play shot past Crawford. The shot was a total dribbler, but it was redirected and slowed down twice on the way to the net. After Oduya got a piece of it, the puck actually went off Hansen's skate. Crawford really didn't have much help on that one on a shot that was pretty much a game of pinball.
• Dave Bolland went out in the first period with an undisclosed injury. Other than the game Saturday night, he has looked like he was towing baby grand piano behind him, anyway. Anyway, the Hawks really can't afford to get any thinner at Center, so
• Things got so crazy in the third period that Viktor Stalberg ended up on the ice, killing a penalty for the first time in, maybe, is Blackhawks career.
• Crawford threw what might have been the Hawks best check of the game, in the third, which resulted in a penalty.
• Minus 2 for Crazy 8s even after the Bolland sized monkey on his back left with an injury.
• Six minor penalties for the Hawks. Haven't we established that despite their very good PK, the Hawks cannot spend this much time in the box with shenanigans?
• On top of being stapled to the boards all night, only Toews and Shaw were over 50% at the dots. With Carcillo and Bollig both dressing, Handzus was in street clothes and it showed. The remaining Hawks centers had faceoff percentages in the 20s.

The Ugly

• Bollig and Carcillo both took shifts with the first line in place of Brandon Saad, the second period. What a total shitshow. They did NOTHING to dissuade Canucks players from taking every chance possible to smear Hawks players into the glass. I'm still waiting for this magical policing power we were promised, from these two mouth breathing troglodytes. Please tell me what I'm missing here, because it's clear they are going to get walloped with or without these two on the ice. Might as well take your chances with some skill guys, if you're going to go down without so much as a whimper.
• The Canucks took a 2-0 lead when Zack Kassian planted himself right between Hjalmarsson, Keith and Shaw. Sedin was behind the net waiting for and opening and got it. Kassian was able to just stuff it past Crawford.
• While floundering to get some pressure in the Canucks zone, Daniel Sedin snuck in behind Keith and Hjalmarsson and received a pass from his brother. Sedin put a move on Corey Crawford that made Crawford wet himself. The move was pretty sick. I can't hate on that play, because he took Crawford to school with Keith hot on his tail.
• Annnnnnnnnnnnd then we have THIS piece of fine art: Duncan Keith takes sexism heat after dismissing Vancouver reporter’s question

Here are the video highlights:

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Blackhawks vs. Canucks - SO Win Recap

"Piece by Piece"

Dun, dun, DUN. The west coast evil empire, Vancouver, slithered their way into the United Center Tuesday night, to try and end the Hawks regulation undefeated streak. Call me a jinx or whatever other colorful adjective you'd like to call me, but I'm going to let you all in on something. The Hawks will NOT go undefeated this season. This is OK, because that does not take anything away from the great (and sometimes lucky) hockey they have been playing. If you honestly thought that they could go 48-0, then you're just not sane.

Anyhow, if ever there was a night for the Hawks to be lacking manpower, this was it. With Crawford nursing what has been report as a concussion, and Seabrook icing his sore balls from the cup check he took the other night, they were ripe for the picking. I would hate for all these rainbows and unicorns to end against the Canucks, but it looked like divine intervention had the planets aligned. There was still a game to be played, but the story could have already been written for them.

The first period was a track meet from the word "GO". There were 4 breakaways, none of which were successful, and the only goal was a terrible dribbler by Vancouver. The Canucks actually out shot the Hawks 12-9, but the chances were closer story than the stats tell.

The second was slanted much more in the Hawks favor and they dominated Vancouver for 20 minutes. They scored three of goals to take a lead, and out shot the Canucks 16-6, but there was still an entire period to play. We all know that nothing is a lock in a Nucks/Hawks game.

The Hawks had a number of chances to close out the game, in the third period, but could not manage that insurance goal. This would bite them in the ass, in painful fashion. The Canucks scored 2 goals in the final three minutes of the game to send it into extra time. A game they allowed the Canucks back into with massive failed odd man breaks. The streak was intact, but the points were almost bittersweet.

The Hawks had chances in OT as well, but were still snake bitten by the Canucks goaltender. Plenty of chances to win this one in regulation and in extra time, out shooting the Canucks 43-32, but the Hawks nearly left thew extra point on the table.

The Good

• Shooter opened up the scoring for the Hawks on a play that could have been whistled for a too many men penalty. The Hawks got away with the infraction and Crazy 8s dropped it off to a wide open Shooter, who wound up and beat Schneider through the 5-hole. The Canucks were too busy crying about the missed call to bother playing defense.
• After screaming at the TV for a good 20 seconds while the Hawks failed to take advantage of a Canucks defender without on a stick as the Hawks were on a powerplay, Hossa finally blasted a half clapper over Schneider's blocker for a 2-1 Hawks lead, late in the second period.
• Hossa's second goal of the night was colossal and masterful. Hoss picked up the puck in the corner and took it hard to the crease. He could have dumped it off to Saad, who had position in front, but he carried it through the crease like a bull in a china shop and tucked it around Schneider's left leg. Highlight reel goal. 3-1 Hawks.
• I'm really going to miss watching Swedeberg blaze trails around defenders only to not finish. Speed is a dangerous skill that you can never have enough of. It's just too bad that they are going to have let him go when some idiot GM throws a bag of money at him.
• As a team, the Hawks were over 50% at the dots. Only Marcus Kruger dicked the dog with his 36%.

The Bad

• Brookbank and Deuce together? That is enough to make me want to masturbate with a handful of broken glass, rather than watch Keith run around covering for Brookbank all night.
• I'm not really sure what is going on with the Hawks with letters. First, it was Deuce against the Sharks, then it was Toews flipping out against Thornton, and then Tuesday it was Shooter flipping out on Ballard. Some of the strangest reactions I've ever seen from the Hawks Captains.
• I'm not normally one to accuse the Canucks of diving, but they spent the third period falling all over themselves. As a hockey player, it's embarrassing to watch a professional team pull that kind of stupid shit. I agree with Eddie O, that a diving penalty should negate the original infraction. The Canucks would have to fold, because they wouldn't know how to function. Gutless little pieces of shit.
• Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa are a couple of smug ass clowns. I have no use for either of them. The ass hattery they pull game in and game out, is just asinine. Those are two guys I wouldn't mind seeing speared in the junk.
• Edler scored a long powerplay goal with with just under 3 minutes to go in the game, through screens from about 5 players. Emery was cheating to the wrong side to see around the Canucks player standing in his front porch and was beaten on the stick side. 3-2 Hawks.

The Ugly

• The Blackhawks choked on not 1; not 2; but three first period breakaways. Hossa, Bolland and Shooter all had 1-on-1 chances with Schneider but failed to capitalize. Two of those breakaways were on the same Hawks penalty kill. You have to cash in on at LEAST one of those. Looking ahead, just one of those scores would have avoided the Shootout drama.
• Weise took a cheap shot at Kruger, not by what could have been a clean hit, but because he left his feet. Dull-ig took exception, drawing the misconduct and the instigation penalty. Shocking, I know. How Weise got away with that is beyond me. He only got a fighting penalty on the play.
• The first Canucks goal was truly brutal. Daniel Sedin just drove up Emery's left side, and threw a backhand at the net. For some reason, Emery chose to use the one knee down method which left an opening right down through his 5-hole. Sedin hit him in the chest and it fell down through the hole and into the net like a soda machine gulping up a quarter. Awful goal.
• Jannik Hansen pulled a real douchebag move by elbowing Hossa in the back of the head as Hossa went for a head high puck. Hansen has no intention of playing the puck and SHOULD get a call from Brendan Shanaban. Such an asshole move for the member of a team that cried like a bunch of little sissy bitches when Deuce took out Sedin last year. Same fucking circumstance, except it was to the back of a defenseless player's head. Hossa never returned to the game, and you have to figure he's got yet another concussion. If Hossa has to miss time, there has to be a suspension for Hansen.
• Just as you might fear, with the goalie pulled, after two failed Oduya clearing chances, Asshat Kevin Bieksa let a 55 foot shot go that beat Emery again on the stick side to tie the game with under 2 minutes to play. Couldn't come from any bigger ball bag.

The Shootout

• El Capitan lost control of the puck
• Schroeder was stopped by Emery
• Crazy 8s was the lucky recipient of Schneider scoring on himself after a ref conference with Toronto confirmed the goal.
• Higgins took his time and beat Emery
• Shaw beat Schneider blazed in and beat Schneider.
• Emery snagged Kesler's attempt with his glove.

Here are the video highlights:

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Blackhawks at Vancouver - Shootout Loss Recap

"100 Ways To Hate"

For recent Hawks and Canucks fans, this is the game they have been waiting for. The first game of the season against the easily hated Vancouver Canucks. While some of the usual cast of clowns won't be playing or have been let go, Alex Burrows, Kevin Bieksa, and the ultra creepy ginger twins are still on hand. The Canucks came into this game 3-2-2 and with a continuingly annoying goalie controversy. Cory Schneider was anointed the starter after last season, and Borat was thrown on the trading block. Here we are into February of the next year, and Luongo is stealing starts from Schneider, like tonight. Live from Vancouver British Columbia, it's the Blackhawks and the Canucks.

As a few teams have done early in the season, the Canucks came out with momentum in the opening 20 minutes. AND as has happened a few times, an opposing goal woke the Hawks up. When the period ended, the shot clock said 9 each way, and the only goal was from the Canucks.

The Hawks used the momentum of some remaining overlapping powerplay time to come out hot in the second period, with several shots and great chances. The Hawks had picked up the pace, and managed 9 shots while yielding 6 to the home team. Unfortunately, the Canuck blanked them for a second straight period.

The Hawks were finally able to make some headway, in the third period, with a late goal on six shots. A few Vancouver powerplays allotted them six shots of their own, but neither team could score the go ahead goal. This one was going to overtime and eventually a shootout, for the second game in a row, to decide the extra point in the standings. All it took was one shootout goal to win it for Vancouver.

The Good

• As badly as I wanted Hjalmarsson traded the last 18 months or so, I'm glad they didn't. He has been a beast on defense, and saved a possible goal by Zack Kassian.
• The SaadFather continues to impress with a beautiful between the legs pass after drawing two defenders, to Hossa, and showed some serious speed on a great rush that drew a penalty in the first. He had an almost identical chance in the second, that drew another penalty.
• Crazy 8's tied the game up with about 10 minutes left in the game, after Shooter was able to fight along the boards to keep the puck in the Nucks zone. He got it down low to Shock-n-Shaw, who turned and hit Kane's stick right on the tape. Kane delayed long enough for Luongo to fully commit, and leave just enough room to tie things up.
• Crawford gave up one goal in 65 minutes of play. You can't ask for any more than that.
• As with just about every other game this year, Toews and Kruger were over 50%; Shaw and Bolland were dick whipped at the dots.
• The penalty kill is still on fire, but it's been more of a "bend-not-break" situation. They can't keep relying on it this way.

The Bad

• It didn't take long for the Hawks, more specifically Hjalmarsson, to take a penalty. His was an interference call, that was really an iffy one. As they have all year, the Hawks killed it off very well.
• Alex Edler gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with about 5 minutes remaining in the first. The Hawks turned over the puck in the neutral zone and Keith had his stick knocked out of his hand. Zack Kassian ended up with the puck and held it long enough for the trailer, Edler, to catch the play. Edler did his job and sniped Crawford, who was dead to rights.
• The powerplay looks to have fizzled once again. The chances they had looked very similar to the powerplays of last season. No movement, just stationary players playing catch. This needs to stop, because they have looked ridiculous on the powerplay for two straight games now.

The Ugly

• Keeping with his usual douche bag shenanigans, Alexandria Burrows continued an offsides play by shooting the puck into the Hawks net well after the whistle. Sheldon Brookbank wasn't having any of that, and negated the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I really loathe Pat Foley advocating those actions. Standing up for your teammate and canceling a powerplay opportunity are two different things. They would have fucked the powerplay up anyway, but it would have been nice to give it a shot.
• Bolland looked to have hurt himself early in the third period. If that is the case, Stan Bowman better warm up his phone dialing finger, and bump up his cell phone plan, because the Hawks will need another center, quickly.
• Immediately after scoring the tying goal, the Hawks proceeded to take two penalties, that resulted in a 40 second 5-on-3. Hello foot, this bullet is for you. Perfect way to kill momentum.
• If you can't score a single goal in a shootout, you can't win, plain and simple. EXPECTING your goalie to be perfect is a terrible approach.
• Speaking of the shootout, I can understand that Hossa isn't much of a shootout kind of guy, even though he's not a terrible choice, but Brandon Saad has been flying up and down the ice for a few games now, and is grossly overdue. So what does Quenneville do? "Hey, Leddy, get out there". Dumb; just fucking dumb.
• Dull-ig was back down to under 5 minutes worth of ice time. Way to make that roster spot count, Joel, especially with Bolland going down with an injury. Rolling 10 forwards with back to back games is fucking brilliant roster management.

The Shootout

• Burrows was snuffed by Crawford
• Toews ran out of room on Luongo
• Kassian was also snuffed by Crawford's leg
• Kane and Luongo got too close for comfort.
• Lapierre couldn't beat Crawford 5-hole
• Shooter got all of Lou's glove.
• Schroeder snuck one though the 5-hole.
• Leddy shot it over the net. Game...set..match

Here are the video highlights:

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