All series long, we kept saying and thinking that at some point the Hawks were going to grab this by the scruff, play their game, and wipe the Blues right out of the equation. We saw flashes of it. The first 38 minutes of Game 4, but that was undone by 15 minutes of pissing down their leg. There were moments in Game 5, but that was undone by surges by the Blues. Then you started to worry that the Hawks didn’t have it in the holster any more, that something was missing.
And then the 3rd period happened.
Let’s be clear, the Hawks needed possibly a bigger goalie effort in this one than in Game 3 to give them the platform to finally put it on the table in the 3rd. With the Hawks doing a tribal dance to the box for all of the 2nd period (aided by some soft calls from the refs), Corey Crawford stood defiant and would not let them all behind. He looked even more locked in and confident in this one than he did for his shutout in Game 3. The only blemish a dunk he could do nothing about. But unlike Game 3, his teammates rewarded him with a cushion after all his hard work.
It felt like it was over in a flash. Toews basically decided he was going to score, than Sharp goofed one a minute and a half later and you could hear the air escaping from the Blues so quickly it sounded like one of Hitchcock’s post 3rd lunch farts. From there it was about ripping their heart out, which the Hawks were only too glad to do. FINALLY. The puck support was exemplary, and a pressing St. Louis team was torn apart by the Hawks speed. Tee time boys. Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
Let’s do it.
The Two Obs
-Sometimes I feel like he gets lost in the Toews-Kane hysteria, or behind how good looking Sharp is, or that he occasionally puts his foot in his mouth. But watching Duncan Keith simply control a game by himself is a treasure to watch and all of us should bask in it more than we do. Even without the four points, this was a performance that Niedermayer or Lidstrom would be happy to call their own. His keep-in for Toews to score the winning power play goal was out of this world, and you do get frustrated that he can’t snap passes like that all the time. He got a shot on net that Shaw tipped, and then he got one himself. We’ve always said that Keith is the straw that stirs the Hawks’ drink. Today you saw why.
-You knew when the Blues couldn’t find a way on their five power plays, even with how bad the Hawks’ PP has been, that it would cost them. Maybe it takes a while, but when the Hawks smell blood it’s generally over. Once Toews got Lapierre to flop his tentacles into the corner, there was only going to be one outcome. And it felt like even 44 seconds into the 3rd, even with how the Hawks have been with the lead this series, that St. Louis’s spine was just about snapped right then and there.
-Oh hello Brandon Saad. For the second straight game he was all that is man, and it’s no coincidence that it happened when he didn’t have to watch Kris Versteeg perform his Ibsen play for dummies on ice.
-Speaking of which, the Hawks have to solve this 4th line problem if they want a deep run. Bollig and Nordstrom played a combined 4 minutes. Handzus only cracked 10 because of all the PK time. The Hawks are better when they roll four lines. At least Versteeg finally got a seat, and maybe that puts a spur on his ass. But with a new round and new strategies needed, they should come up with something.
-DEY GOTTA TRADE DAT KANE-MAN FOR MILLER CUZ YOU’LL NEVER WIN WIT CROW-STINK Oh my god I’m going to die laughing that this was ever a thing that happened in this town.
-You could argue this series changed when the Hawks were finally able to snuff out Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz. Today it was Keith. But he didn’t score the last two games, and the Blues got three goals combined.
-I don’t know where the Blues go from here, but if it doesn’t involve completely reassessing how they fill out their bottom six they’ll simply never be a threat. They got next to nothing….no, change that, they got nothing from it all series whereas at least the Hawks got signs of life from Saad and Shaw before it was too late. If this year and last is any lesson to them, it should be they can’t break teams’ will and that’s not how they’re going to win. I have no faith that this is something Hitchcock will learn.
But fuck that, it’s not my problem. And I’m not going to let HockeeNight have all the playoff song fun. So here’s our elimination anthem, just for you St. Louis:
