It won’t be news to anyone that I enjoy watching the Hawks win. Well, maybe it is but it’s true. And wins like last night, a wild and frantic last-gasp joint, are cool. Blowouts are cool too. But I think I most enjoy watching the Hawks outclass another team. Maybe it’s because I watched Scum do it to the Hawks for 15 years or whatever and it’s just a relief to be on the other side. But it’s true.
That sort of thing can take different forms. Sometimes it’s a 5-0 shellacking. Or sometimes it’s like tonight, when even on the second of a back-to-back facing a rested team in their building (though you’d hardly call it hostile, would you?) the Hawks just show the Predators why they’re just a little short right now. The scoreline was close, and a bounce here or there and it may have gone to OT. And yet from the start of the 2nd period on, this just felt like the Hawks dangling a treat right in front of the Preds, yet never in reach. Like the Hawks were saying, “We’re not at our best tonight, but we can do enough to carry this one out and there really isn’t much you’re going to do about it.”
And with that, the Hawks are in first for the first time this season’s first week. They may not stay there long with the Preds having a game in hand and not playing again until Tuesday. But whatever. Six is better than five. Get Darryl out here. (more…)
