Recap : Wanted, One Gas Pedal

We are still waiting for the Blackhawks to play a complete game.  The trend of the early season is the Hawks coming out strong and putting it on cruise control for the second half of the game.  The Hawks didn't even get to the half way mark of the game before going through the motions on Thursday night.

The Blackhawks came out firing pucks at the net and broke the scoreless tie at 7:42 of the opening period.  Marian Hossa pounced on a Roman Polak turnover and found Brandon Pirri perched in the slot, who wasted no time sniping a wrist shot past Jaroslav Halak for his first NHL goal.  The turing point of the game came when Jonathan Toews took a slashing penalty at 10:09.  Michal Handzus lost the ensuing faceoff, and David Backes was allowed to go scot-free to the front of the net where he deflected a Jay Bouwmeester shot past Corey Crawford.

Hossa would put the Hawks back on top 17:22 into the 2nd period off of a breakaway.  Barret Jackman (more on this pud later) made a terrible turnover, during a Blues line change, and Niklas Hjalmarsson got the puck out to Hossa. Halak stood no chance against Hoss, who couldn't cash in on a partial breakaway earlier in the period.  But the lead was not meant to be, because St. Louis tied the game just 51 seconds later. Alexander Steen was given credit for a tipping in another Bouwmeester shot from the point, but it was actually Duncan Keith who deflected the puck into his own net.  Good thing Duncs isn't a Colombian soccer player.

The Blues out shot the Blackhawks 10 to 8 in a scoreless 3rd period that saw both goaltenders make some big saves.  Neither team could end the game in the extra 5 minutes so we had to endure another wonderful shootout.  T.J. Oshie was the only player to pot a shot in the skills competition.  Halak made saves on Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp.

Player of the Game

Photo credit: Jonathan Daniel

Marian Hossa appears to have gotten the rust off from missing all of training camp.  He made a great pass to set up the first Hawks goal and converted on half his 2nd period breakaway chances. He now has a goal in two straight games for the Hawks and seems to be healthy, which is very good news.