It was about what you would think a game after nearly three weeks off would look like. Players playing at different speeds, wavelengths, sloppy, disjointed, a bit frantic. I don’t think the Hawks looked lethargic per se (well, except for Seabrook) but they definitely didn’t look in sync. It might be a couple games before they do, and the problem there is that that’s when the adrenaline of being back with your teammates might wear off and the miles traveled might catch up. But we’ll run that kitten over when we get to it.
The Hawks didn’t create much thanks to their habit of not being able to complete three consecutive passes, and they’re not really a team built to rugby scrum the puck into the net. Thanks to the form of Spear And Magic Cam Talbot (Spear and Magic Cam Talbot? Spear And Magic Cam Talbot!), that’s kind of what they needed to do.
And once again the hammock nature of the Hawks forwards kind of reared its ugly head again (much like love). The Hawks get dominant shifts from the top consistently, they get decent ones from the fourth line for the most part, and then the second and third lines come out and give a performance art interpretation of Zaireeka. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and most of the time it’s splatter pattern. Can we break up the top line yet?
Let’s get to it:
