Box Score
Event Summary
War On Ice
Natural Stat Trick
If this had been a different part of the year, we may have written this game up as “The Hawks goofed around for a while and seemed disinterested with the Devils before turning things on in the last 20 and putting them away”. With the seesaw that has been the Hawks recent adventures, we could write that the Hawks were being smothered in the first two periods but were able to just barely shake free in the third thanks to Marian Hossa who seems pretty damn content to just do it all his own damn self these past few games. The truth is likely somewhere in between those two narratives. The first two periods were dull dusty hockey. The third was a welcome sight.
The Devils give up just over 30 shots a game but the Hawks had only managed 10 halfway through the game. They were down a goal thanks to one of the softest of the year from Crow. Then the Devils take an utterly foolish penalty in the last seconds of the second and the Hawks are able to jump on the back of Panda and with the way he’s playing.. that’s all you really need right now.
There’s a decent amount to get into tonight – lets get into it.
- Ryan Hartman was about as advertised, wasn’t he? I think we get a lot of unnecessary shit because of our adamant belief that hits are an overrated and unimportant stat. It shouldn’t be something to strive towards.. but of COURSE it’s fun to watch someone just get destroyed with a nice clean check. So yeah, watching Hartman steamroll Zubrus seconds into his first NHL shift brought a smile to my face. Hartman finished 9 minutes on the ice (over double what Carcillo had) and managed 3 shots which is only one fewer than Hossa, Steeger, and Seabrook (wait. Seabs… ok?) and 2 hits. Just two. They were fun but if that’s all you’re looking for in his game you might be disappointed.
- However, if Hartman can keep up this type of game, it’s likely he’ll be sticking around for the foreseeable future. The question is – who does he make redundant? Smith was the first casualty. Good money on that is just Q sending a message. The real odd man out seems like it would be Carcillo. And wouldn’t we be so bummed out about that?
- Oh, and there was Cuminskey. Um. He didn’t do anything awful?
- Marian Hossa’s two-goal game streak is dead. Long live Marian Hossa’s two-point game streak!
- Was the Q line juggling out in an unbelievable manner tonight or did things just get a little crazy for a while? I saw Versteeg drop to a fourth, back up to the second and maybe even a few lines that aren’t even worthy of being numbered. The bottom six are just a disaster right now… it’s too much to get into right now.
- The power play certainly has a fresh new look. If someone can explain how Kane makes sense on the point when he has always thrived controlling the puck on the halfboards, I’ll buy you a sundae. Only good things will come from having him out there with Hossa at the moment but I’d rather see Hoss on the point like we have seen on occasion. Kane’s shot isn’t strong enough to be blasted in from that far out and he won’t be challenged enough for him to dance around with the puck where he can showcase his creativity. It looked like Q switched him around a bit on the other powerplays. Lets hope he abandons this idea toot sweet.
- As mentioned above, that was one hell of a soft goal let in by Crawford in the first. He played the rest of the game brilliantly, keeping things within one goal til the Hawks removed their heads from their asses, keeping it tied for a brief second and then shutting the door once Toews put them ahead.
- I don’t care if you’re 36 and have been in the league for a while like Hossa. Having everyone in the arena chant your name has to be a feeling that never gets old.
