That goal was definitely on Barker. He got caught too deep and didn’t get back in time. Sopel did, pretty much, everything he could have done to stop it, but it was a nice pass over/around his stick. By my count, Barker is responsible for about 25% of the goals we have given up thus far.

Niemi looked pretty good if you ask me. First goal can’t be put on him, and as mentioned, the last two were both flukey. He made a couple big stops when it was 3-2 after going a while without receiving a real test.

Overall, I think it was a pretty good game played by the boys in red.

Played like a mad man tonight. He brought the energy that we are missing from Eager and Burish. Every time he was out there, he skated his ass off, got right in Bulin’s grill after any shot, and put one away. Good to see out of the kid finally.

1. Campbell also had a really strong game; he made a few good defensive plays down low and then chipped in that awesome assist. McClure, I think you’re right in that Hjalphabet and Campbell sort of feed off each other, and if one has a strong game, the other one usually does as well.

2. Brouwer dislodged the glass for the second game in a row. And then he had that glorious scoring chance after weaving past two Oilers, but decided to shoot right at Khabby’s pads. Oh well, keep destroying things, dude.

3. The only thing I’m worried about going into tomorrow night’s game is the health status of Bolland. Thank god the Preds have the worst offense in the league and close-to-worst special teams, otherwise I’d be downright fretting.

4. How frighteningly good is this team’s puck possession? I mean, the Oilers’ lack of two-way forwards may have contributed to the skewage tonight, but daaamn. I keep saying this, but the offense is going to be downright illmatic when Hossa joins the lineup.

We get Hossa back in a month. God, this team is sick. If we can remain at the top(which we technically are right now…enjoy it now just in case) or near the top by the time he comes in, we will be in phenomenal shape.

Barker’s poor play could be a result of being matched up with Sopel? Last year when Barker was with Walker, it was clearly established that Barker would have to race for pucks and be the less physical of the two. I think Sopel and Barker are too similar to be a good fit together. Barker needs to be with someone that will provide the hard checks and shove goal screeners. He has some speed, but it’s like he’s waiting for Sopel to get the puck because Sopel’s the vet.

and I can’t find anything. I guess this could be a good thing though. Hopefully it just caught him between the pads and he was able to shake it off.

I didnt get to watch the third period, but I thought Sopel played a solid game through two periods. He won battles in the corner, was effective at clearing the zone / dumping the puck in, and the only thing I would fault him on is his TERRIBLE shooting accuracy. I know everyone here hates his contract, therefore he is lambasted and ridiculed more than he deserves. Not everyone on a team is gonna be a Keith or Seabrook. If it wasnt for the contract, I’m sure he wouldnt take as much flak as he does. We should pity him for having Cam’ron Turnover as his D partner

Oh, and I cant say enough how great Hammer’s D positioning is. If you added 20lbs to him, he’d be Robyn Regehr. They play a similar style

Has anyone tried using the trap against us? I haven’t been able to see all the games (thank you Comcast/VS/DirecTV/Satanic Minions) so I don’t know what kind of defensive scheme all the teams have used against us. But since we had a few troubles with the slowdown game last year (thank you Minnesota and Vancouver) I was just wondering what could get in the way of our 30+ shots a game approach.

And yeah, Barker’s killing me right now! If he goes without a point for a couple games or goes minus 6, Q should sit him a game or two. I’m guessing his shot is what’s keeping him in on the ice right now.

That the Hawks made it well into the third period before taking a penalty? The puck control looked awesome and with our netminding that’s prolly how it needs to be. From what I saw, that final score made the game look much closer than it was. This early in the season it’s hard to say how big a win this was and how good the competition really is, but I definitely liked what I saw and it’s nice to be where we are in the standings.

Hammer is a serious jersey candidate for me, but I’m a little concerned about his RFA status after this season.

What do you think it will take to keep him on?

I mean Barker makes 3 mil a year (granted big shot, gets power play time, and was a 1st round pick), but it is obvious to many that Hammer is more valuable than Barker.

Could we get Hammer at like 2 mil a year for 3 or 4 years? I would hope Bowman would figure out a way to sign Hammer even if it means trading Barker.

I read on the injury report that Burrish possible come back is March??? I thought it would be earlier. Thank God for Depth. Also There was no word on Bolland being injured.
And why does Nashville Have a Hockey team. Do people there even understand hockey or do they think that its a preshow prior to monster truck.

The defensive pairings as they are now are good if not great, Our D have to be leading the league in scoring. What can you say about Seabrook and Keith, is there a better pairing in the league..NOT EVEN CLOSE!! Soup and Hammer are good I think it allows Soup to skate more because Hammer is strong defensively. Barker and Sopel..well I call it a work in progress Barker has shown flashes of what he could be (He was very strong at the end of last season and in the playoffs) Sopel is coming back from missing almost an entire season, so I will give him a little more time before I really get after him.

Intelligent and very funny. First, I blew milk out my nose, then I peed my pants, then (yes) I shat myself laughing.

Bravo!

They look like last year’s team, only better, except the goaltending which is a bit worse (no question who the best goalie on the ice was last night. I don’t think Khabby played five games that good last year, the jerk.)

The antitode to guh netminding is puck posession. Don’t have stats to hand, but they gotta lead the league here. Last night was domination.

I suppose we might have expected this trajectory from such a young team, but I didn’t dare.

Twelve different guys have scored in six games, none of whom have a C or 34 goals last year. Yikes!

I am worried about our west cost and canadian trip, again i think that will be a great test.

The Hawks are tied for the lead in the conference and the Scum are 13th 5pts behind…hopefully a glimpse into the future of where things are going…we are tied with the Av’s maybe we should have kept Anderson?

I havent seen Nashville play this year, do they look good?? should we worry?

funny..but watching the last couple of games don’t we resemble the redwings a little. with the puck movement and the shots from the blue line. it’s a little erie. but i love it! All this and no Hossa Burish and Ben "Urlacher"junior

The Hawks controlled the pace throughout the game and played with a little more urgency at the start (guess going down 5-0 12 minutes in the previous game had something to do with it) culminating into a very solid 60 minute effort.
Niklas Hjalmarsson is really turning out to be like another Niklas…Kronwall that is. Very steady, dependable, and has very good instincts when it comes to pinching at the blueline and when to be aggressive within his own zone. Last night Hjalmarsson made some key plays that resulted in Hawks goals and was by far the star of the night.
His defence partner wasn’t and not by a longshot. Could someone please tell Campbell that jumping into the play or pinching in down low really isn’t necessary when the Hawks have a 3-1 lead late in the 3rd, and that having more of a defensive posture within the team concept subsequently is though. Loads of turnovers from Campbell and Barker last night and that must improve, but there is still a lot of time left…like 76 games left to correct these minor flaws.

Offensively, the Hawks were clicking on all cylinders with every forward playing a significant role in tonight’s success. Sharp once again continues with his (now annual) October assault with another goal and assist performance, although he needs a little work on the penalty-shot thing. Toews once again was held goalless and is now found himself in a 16-game October drought. With that said though, Toews was absolutely key in the face-off circle and is now batting over 60% at the dot. Pretty impressive. Byfuglien was a mirage in front of Khabibulin and played that physical presence that we adore him for and was an absolute force out there…hmm he must have seen that next Wednesday the Hawks are playing the Canucks, getting ready for Luongo perhaps? Ladd, Skille (nice to see him pot one), Madden, Brouwer, and Sopel (yes Sopel) all have great efforts as well.
HAWKS WIN!!! HAWKS WIN!!!

Niemi looked solid and confident in goal last night and did provide some key saves at key moments highlighted by his blocker save on Horcoff late in the 3rd to preserve the score at 3-2 and was basically a game saver for the second straight game and is now 3-0 with a 1.73 GAA and a .912 SV%. Very solid indeed.

However there are some correctable errors within his game; for example, the one rebound at the end of the 2nd period when the Oilers forward shot the puck from behind the goalline and Niemi kicked out the rebound out into the slot area and was extremely lucky that nobody from the Oilers was there although Gilbert, the Oilers defenceman, picked up the puck at the blueline and fired it into his chest but was lucky nonetheless. To his defence though at least he didn’t pull a Griess and let it in.

Another error of his is that he lunges himself towards pucks at or near him and if the pucks happens to squirt away is in no position to make the save. Near the end of the first he let a rebound get away from him and he went lunging after it and totally missed it causing chaos around the Hawks crease and the same could be said for the Grabeshkov goal when he decided to go scuba diving for the puck instead of holding his position, but in all fairness to Niemi on that play it should have been blown dead but that’s the “NEW” NHL officiating standards at times.

All in all a very soild effort from Niemi who should start to receive a few more starts very soon. Some correctable errors, yet they are very minor for the most important thing is that he is confident between the pipes and the team seems to feed off that.

Huet to get the start tonight and hopefully provides the Hawks with a solid effort, for if not his job could be in jeopardy with Quenneville’s interview with TSN before the game sounding less than a vote of confidence in Huet. Huet is still the Hawks starter for now but it won’t be for much longer if he continues to not play up to his or the Hawks standards. All in all a huge start for Huet, let’s see if he can get his game back on track.

-Datsyuk is out for tonight ‘s game for the Wings, but they’re not saying what it is.
-Adam Munro has been recently signed by the Leafs. You might remember him posting a Shutout (the only one) during the 2005-2006 campain (the shutout was against the Flames 3-0).
-And in other injury news, Havlat left last night’s game with an undisclosed injury nothing has been confirmed just yet on how long he will be out.