My turn, a little late. But I’m always a little late…
The Terrifying Lows
Corey Crawford – First time he’s appeared on this side, but let’s face it, some of the goals let in against Philly and Minnesota weren’t in the acceptable category. He took an ice age to get back in the net on a couple scrambles, and left Martin Havlat a barn door invitation with Marty did not turn down. Perhaps fatigue is starting to set in? It shouldn’t be, as he’s had as many as 60 starts in the A. Still, the last two times he’s been asked to go back to back he gave up three goals in each, so Q shouldn’t be so afraid of Marty Turco coming out to check his shadow every so often.
Marlboro 72 – Pretty much a disaster against Philly and Minnesota. The Hawks will go nowhere unless this case of mental-ebola is eradicated from their star d-men. A horrific turnover by Seabrook for the Wild’s first with some “meh” defending from Keith to boot, getting pantsed on a 3-on-2, and then letting Pierre-Marc Bouchard check out timeshare prices in front on a scramble. Everything they can do wrong they have been.
The Dizzying Highs
Troy Brouwer – Hard to believe he was the object of derision in the early part of the season, as he was bounced around from line to line and role to role. But he’s been the Hawks best forward for the past couple weeks, getting his nose dirty, being physical, and setting up base camp in the opponent’s crease. He hasn’t even needed Patrick Kane to give a shit to score, so imagine what it might look like when Kaner is less worried about getting it out of his pants and playing hockey. Will that day ever come?
The Creamy Middles
Bryan Bickell – Strange to put him here when he hasn’t scored, but for the past couple games Travis slowly is starting to play to his size. If Bicks can start throwing his weight around a little more, he’ll give the Hawks something they don’t have enough of which is jam. Hopefully it can continue.