Oh what a difference a Dave makes. You hate to put an entire game or series on one man’s back but when that man finally shows up and the team plays the game we’ve all been waiting for.. well it’s hard not to. In his first game since Pavel Kubina attempted a lobotomy on him in the neutral zone, Dave Bolland made no mistake of his importance to his team. 4 points, a +4 and nearly 16 minutes of TOI that helped limit everyone else’s exposure. If I’m not mistaken, I even saw 36 throw a few hits and continue his tradition of being an all-around pain in the ass for everyone not wearing an Indian head. He’s showed no rust in getting not only back into playing form.. but seems to have made the leap directly into playoff form we’ve all missed so dearly.
Everyone else around him played an inspired game as well. Whether it is too little too late remains to be seen but consider me fully on board this optimist wave. There are plenty of places to read some negative statements about the Hawks’ chances and I can’t blame them. But looking forward to the next game is just a fuck ton more fun… so I’m going with that. The Hawks haven’t been blown out quite the way it may have seemed in the previous three games, so if they can put together another effort similar to what we saw tonight, I see no reason to be anything less than thrilled that we still get to see at least one more game.
This Kings/Sharks game is far too fun.. so lets get down to it
- Lets get it out of the way – John Scott was once again useless except for the brief moment where it seemed like he may get to pound the shit out of Tanner Glass. And I was really hoping he might get that chance. I’m not sure what happened when he drew the misconduct with Raffi Torres either.. but that would have been another good chance to see what he could do.
The sad fact is that he didn’t get to do anything with either of these opportunities. In one case, the other team was smarter… in the second.. I don’t really know. Either way, he isn’t going to be an effective player at this point in the season. We’ve ragged on him all season but obviously we stand and cheer when he destroys someone like Westgarth. The Canucks aren’t going to give him the opportunity to do anything like that though… so he doesn’t have a reason to skate. Sorry…
- John Scott did manage 20 minutes of penalties in a single period… that’s kinda cool
- Even with Scott’s eight and half minutes.. the Hawks were at least able to keep things reasonable in regards to others TOI. Campbell led the team with just over 25 minutes. 6 goals in a row will do that for you though. A lead like that lets Q rest his top lines which was much needed.
- A few flashes of life from the top lines tonight. Everyone had at least one point though plenty still haven’t broken out of their slumps. We’re waiting.. and we’ve got at least one more to see it.
- Early reports are in on Luongo being chased/being injured… doctors say he needs a backiotomy.
- Lord Byron Bickell… where did that come from my friend?
- Did the penalty boxes get the same expansions we’ve seen in the 300 level bars? How many damn people can you fit into those things now? The Canucks seemed determined to find out…
- Ryan Johnson was a bit over excited tonight… not at faceoffs, he only won 25% of those. Instead, he decided to try and even things up with more than one questionable hit. One of which was called for a penalty. Meh
- Kevin Bieksa remains a piece of shit, just in case there was any doubt
- Did anyone not see Patrick Sharp’s first goal coming a mile away? A three on two power play rush with Kane holding the puck and Sharp trailing? Sharp lifted his stick simply waiting for that sure to come pass and everyone screamed “there it is!” about a minute before it happened.
- Kings – Smyth/Sharks – Setoguchi
- Hawks in 7
Player of the Game:
No doubt about this one.. .welcome back Rat
Fels Here: We very well may not get to do this again this season, so let’s not waste any more time.