Crawford..Crawford..Crawford: Hockeenight
88 made it 8: Chicago Tribune
75% percent chance of an Original Six Cup Winner: NY TIMES
Christ, I hope not: HuffPo
Go Habs Go: Gazette
Game 7’s are tougher: 538
Hello Seattle: TSN
Fancystats vs. Eye-Test II: MCHOCKEY
This is going to be truly awesome: Deadspin
Pitt Rolls: TSN
The “reformed one” returns: MST
Swedish Silence: CSN AP
Still confident: Chicago Daily Tribune
Iron Mike happy behind the once Iron Curtain: CBC
The Hawks got shut out tonight by Ilya Bryzgalov. Let’s let that sink in for a minute. And once it soaks in… um, can you bathe from the inside out? I guess we’ll all have to turn ourselves inside out and soap up that way.
Once again, the Hawks decided that a Game 3 wasn’t all that important. But honestly, I didn’t have too much of a problem with the first 40 minutes. In some ways it felt like a Floyd Mayweather fight. Work through the first few rounds, time your opponent’s punches, survive a couple hooks, and then slowly take away everything they do and move away in the later rounds when they’ve run out of ideas and tire.
The Hawks forgot the last part, though they did the first part ok. And they forgot the second part because of a couple lazy/non-aware plays.
The first goal sprung from a lazy and ill-advised shot from Michal Rozsival. Rozie got the puck on the point with no Hawks between him and the goal and three Wild players there. Both Kruger and Saad were waiting below the goal-line for the puck to be cycled again. Instead, he flipped a wrister so limp it might as well have been my dead grandfather’s member that was easily cut out.
This started a rush the other way, which in truth the Hawks should have had covered. But Kane lost Haula for just enough time (not sure it would have mattered as Haula is a much faster skater than Kane but considering Kane’s head start…) to bat home a saucer pass from Justin Fontaine.
The second resulted from more incompetent work after a center ice faceoff. I swear, the Hawks committed 87 icings in the St. Louis series right after center-ice faceoffs, and tonight they went the other way. Kruger lost Granlund in the middle, Seabrook was faked into a swim right along with Crawford. And that’s basically game.
Let’s get to the points:
I’m back and no I didn’t get pushed into the Grand Canyon by my wife!
3: ESPN
Shaw out: Chicago Tribune
Penguins Win: Sportsnet
Fountain of Youth: TSN
Kings win: LA Times
I think this is awesome?? Puck Daddy
Finalists for the players MVP: Globe and Mail
I doubt you’ll see a more h0-hum game in the second round of the playoffs than this afternoon’s. It’s clear that the Wild haven’t completely caught the attention of the Hawks’ faithful yet, and they haven’t caused the Hawks to think that they have to pull out the full arsenal. At least not yet. And the Hawks still lead this series 2-0 heading back to St. Paul.
The Hawks exerted a lot of control in the 1st period, without using it to strangle the Wild. They held them to two shots while only managed seven themselves, though they the attempts were 12-4. While the 2nd shows the Wild got 13 shots, half of those were piled in during a power play and almost all of them came on one goalmouth scramble. The 2nd wasn’t really any looser than the 1st, and came capped off with a Brandon Saad laster into the top corner right after a power play after the Wild didn’t fully deal with a cross-ice pass from Bickell.
While the Hawks weren’t as aggressive in the 3rd, it didn’t feel like they were completely turtling. The Wild got one goal off a really well-worked rush from Erik Haula and Cody McCormick (what?) but after that the Hawks soaked up whatever pressure there was and waited for a chance to seal it. They got two. Hossa hit the crossbar. Bickell didn’t. After the Wild goal they only managed six more shot attempts and it was pretty easily seen out.
Shall we? We shall.
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.
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.
Its because he is Marian F’N Hossa: Daily Herald
Thank God this is back: Chicago Tribune
Also having a certain Dane and AHL POM dressed could help:ESPN
The Numbers do not lie: HockeeNight
Predictions from Down Goes Brown: Grantland
This worked out well the last time Uncle Dale had this pick: TSN
The Defence beings: Cheer the Anthem
The I-55 series: Chicago Tribune SCH
Good problems to have: Chicago Suntimes
Dave Chappelle has a line about this:TSN
Shameless plug for my good friend Ken Oda, who called the longest game in Modern Era Tier 2 Jr. Hockey: NAHL
