Shit. Where to even start tonight? Even when fully manned at the outset of the game, the Hawks were never really in this one. St. Louis had far more jump to their stride, and as would be the case the entire night Marty Turco would bail the Hawks out as much as could have possibly be expected.
The major storyline from tonight however, is the well-being of one Jonathan Toews. After throwing the puck in deep from the neutral zone, Toews was given a clean hit from Matt D’Agostini and fell awkwardly into the boards. While he initially stayed on the bench, he would eventually head down the tunnel and not return. More on him in a bit, though.
Jake Dowell finished off a nice effort by Viktor Stalberg after picking off an exit pass and taking a look to his left, though I’m sure Ty Conklin would like to have that back. Even in spite of the lead, though, it seemed a formality that the Blues would eventually overtake the Hawks given the way both teams were playing at that juncture.
Vladimir Svbotka finally drew blood for the Blues on a dumbfuck giveaway by Nick Boynton, throwing the puck softly up the right boards to no one in particular, as if to set up Svbotka to one time a bomb past Turco. With botk Nik Hjalmarsson and Troy Brouwer missing shifts in the second tending to miscellaneous ailments, the Hawks were up against it.
Early in the the third, Brad Boyes redirected an Erik Johnson shot past Turco, though the goal was originally credited to Johnson. Later on, Brad Winchester would tip one up and over Turco, despite Marty’s desperate attempt to retrieve the fluttering puck in mid air. Hawks lose 3-1, and possibly their captain.
Observations
- It fucking figures that for the first time in a month the Hawks have everyone healthy, and they don’t make it out of a period without the captain going down. The hit was clean from D’Agostini, and it looked like Toews initially tried to tough it out, but the training staff had other ideas. How he grabbed his shoulder while on the ice is not encouraging, and if he misses significant time, this team could be screwed and screwed hard. And as Sam tweeted during the game, glad to see John Scott act as a deterrent to that sort of thing, from Matt goddamn D’Agostini of all people, he who got eviscerated by Andrew Ladd last year.
- Speaking of Scott, regardless of your stance on fighting and its place in the game, Scott’s bout with Cam Janssen in the first was completely staged bullshit that accomplished nothing. Though I will give Scott credit for getting to the St. Louis net with his increased playing time, and he put his one move he’ll have all year on a defender on his ill-fated stuff attempt on Ty Conklin.
- The turning point in the game was Kane’s borked breakaway where Marty Turco made an excellent 150 foot pass to spring him. The puck rolled on Kaner a little before his final deke and forced him to go backhand, and if he had scored, the Hawks could have taken the lead and battened down the hatches for the remainder of the game.
- Other than that breakaway attempt, however, Kane was not very noticeable. Whether it was due to Toews’ absence or lingering pain from his ankle is up for debate, but the Hawks needed more from him tonight.
- This game was closer than it had any right to be because of Marty Turco. Time and again he bailed the Hawks out, and he deserved a better fate.
- Oh hey, neo-cubist Duncan Keith is back.
- So is dumbfuck, blind-pass Nick Boynton.
- So this Tomas Kopecky at center thing is done right?
- At least the PK didn’t allow anything.
As of the post game press conference, Q is “hopeful” that Toews’ injury is nothing serious, which sounds ominous. But knowing the captain the way we do, if there’s a way for him to play, he’ll be out there. If not, this season could go tits up in a fucking hurry.