vs. 
GAMETIME: 7:30pm
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN 720
The Enemies Clarion Call: St. Louis Gametime, but good god don’t go there.
You’ll remember two years ago, when a young but irrelevant Hawks team took 5 of 8 from Scum. The following year, when the Wings decided the Hawks mattered, they won four of six and the ones they didn’t win were dead rubber games at the end of the year. Last season, the Hawks considered the Blues irrelevant, played like it, and only won two of six against them. It’s time to take these guys serious enough to show them how big the gulf between them is.
The Blues are off to a piss poor start, and poor ol’ Gallagher down there is calling for Andy Murray’s head. Especially at home, they rarely bother to show up, and have been getting beat by inferior teams. To quote Matt Taibi, this team couldn’t score backstage at a Zeppelin show with a 13-inch dick and two-pound bag of coke. Their power play is last in the league, and makes the Hawks man-advantage look like an All-Star game. That team that used to finish every check against us and be in everyone’s face? Haven’t seen it this season. Must still be mourning the Cardinals’ capitulation.
That’s not to say tonight will be easy. The Blues have been getting excellent goaltending from both Chris Mason and Ty Conklin, with Conk Block likely to get the start tonight. They haven’t been shipping in the goals either, and there’s always Erik Johnson, who’s an absolute stud and a nightmare-for-the-next-decade in waiting. They have a pretty impressive road record of 8-2-3, and you know they’ll start at their utmost tonight. That said, this team has generally looked for an excuse to quit most nights, and an early lead could do that.
As for the Hawks, expect Q to toss out the same Dr. Weird concoctions of lines and power play units we saw on Sunday. Huet will be in net, Kane with be Darth Kaner. But whatever. The Hawks are better than the Blues, and if they play like they mean to demonstrate that, they will.
Allez!