Umm.. sorry about the lack of game thread. I thought this game started at 7:00… not an impressive training camp from me so far. Thank got I’m not fighting for a spot… right?
- It sucks to lose but these two teams were worlds apart on paper so I would have gladly taken the point if this was somehow a regular season tilt… you know, if all but 10 of the regular Blackhawks came down with the plague or something.
- Despite a shaky start, Alexander Salak played his first full game as a Blackhawk and allowed only one goal after the first period. After Crawford played a full game on Friday it’s pretty clear that Q’s going to give both Emery and Salak a full shot at a game. This wasn’t a game where Salak really pulled ahead in anyone’s eyes. He looked a little scrambled and got the help of a few posts throughout the game. If Emery has an outstanding game on Wednesday it could settle this debate once and for all.
- Good to see some young ones not named Saad stepped up and had a solid game. Brandon Pirri and Jimmy Hayes seemed to find some chemistry together and combined for all of the Hawks offense, save for Ben Smith’s lone assist.
- Hayes could be a welcome addition to the team given his size and hands (re-watch that goal). He’s probably still a long shot at this point but again, it gives us something to watch a little down the line. Also – the Major League references would be a welcome addition to our arsenal.
- It seems Michael Frolik is stepping up early in this year’s race for “Blackhawk who is absolutely snakebitten”. Good to get that out of the way early.
- There were certainly issues that would be upsetting if this was the regular season – lazy, stupid penalties and piss-poor special teams come to mind but this is hardly the team we’ll see on October 7th so it’s not worth getting too worked up over just yet.