In a game facing a goalie starting in his first NHL game, the Hawks certainly did their best to throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at him. They put 18 shots on him in the first and finished out with 44 total, the most of the year thus far. It seems to be a common theme that a back up goalie comes up huge against the Hawks and comes out with a win. It seems that trend holds true for rookie debuts. While Reto Berra didn’t have to make too many spectacular saves, he was solid in his first start while the Hawks showed some tired legs. It still ends up with 3 points in back to backs… I’m not pissed.

BULLETS:

• McClure spent pretty much half the preview talking about Khabi’s need to step up his game in order to save his job. Didn’t really work out that way did it? The fact that Crawford played back to backs this early in the season means we may be seeing a call down to Rockford way earlier than expected. Things don’t look good for our old Russian friend at the moment. The first two weeks of this month are pretty light but it’s going to end heavy for the Hawks. I won’t be shocked to see Raanta make his debut soon.
• Speaking of Khabi, Fels and I were at the game on Tuesday and after the Hawks opening goal I said “They’re going to need more than one to win this game”. After watching the first period, I actually thought 1 might be enough tonight.
• In the post game press conference, Q said the Flames have “good sticks”. Maybe the Hawks should look into some of those if that’s an issue.
• Here’s the part of the wrap where we complain about the ice time of top players. Feel free to skip it if it’s getting redundant. Toews, Kane, Sharp and Hossa all were over 20 minutes tonight. On their second game in two days. Against a team that’s not going to be a threat late in the year. Whatever.
• Hey, at least Leddy got a pretty long leash tonight. He had almost as much TOI as Keith and Seabs. That has a lot to do with Q feeling like he can shelter him with the home ice advantage but it’s still nice to see Leddy getting more time. Especially when he continues to have a great year.
• Christ, I don’t know what more to say about this game. It was just a bit boring. The Hawks did everything right (or just about everything anyway) but they couldn’t come up with the extra point. It’s not the end of the world. It’s also just not that exciting to write about.