All’s well that ends well, eh? With the victory over the Kings the Hawks wrapped up the annual circus trip with 4 wins, 8 points and the potential to right the ship for the remainder of the season. After a first period that was back and forth (and possibly tilted in the Kings favor) the Hawks were able to open the scoring in the second off a great all around play. The Kings had Jarret Stoll and Ryan Smyth on a short two-on-one but Duncan Keith, who had one of his better games of the year, took away both the shot and blocked the pass attempt away from the net. Patrick Kane, who also had a great game, actually shows some great defensive awareness and takes the stick away from Jack Johnson who was lining up for a slapper. That springs Kaner along with Patrick Sharp to go into the Hawks zone along with Drew Doughty. One great pass later and Doughnuts ends up on his ass in the net along with the puck.
Kane would be a factor later in the game as well when a Tomas Kopecky passing attempt does a little bouncing around and goes in off Kaner’s chest. From that point on, the Kings weren’t really in it even with a horseshit 5-on-3 and a goal of their own to at least make the game closer than it should have been. It’s NFL Sunday – so to the bullets!
- As I mentioned above, both Kaner and Teeth had a solid game. Keith especially seems to be turning around his season after a uncharacteristic poor start. The return of last year’s defensive pairings may have a lot to do with that. While struggling it was a good idea to split up Marlboro 72 but with Keith coming back and Seabrook staying solid it makes sense to go back to what works. Of course, this also means the welcome pairing of Hammer and Soupy. The third pairing remains a question mark.. but that’s why it’s the third.
- We can’t NOT mention the Scott/Westgarth fight, can we? If Scott could actually do that every game he’d quickly become a legend among a large section of Hawks fans and honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing it either. The problem is… few, if any, players are going to want to challenge Scott. Sure there may be some dumbass on the Blues that wants to go but I can’t imagine even some of the NHL’s toughest are going to want a piece of Scott after seeing his last two fights. NHL players have the internet, they can go to HockeyFights.com and watch the YouTube videos too. Scott has established himself as one of the best fighters in the league and possibly only the other heavyweights are going to want to take a chance with him. Having Scott on the ice or just taking up space on the bench is just far too valuable for other teams.
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Oh, and my favorite part of the fight is this moment:
“Ummm.. yeah it’s great you want to go to the box kid… but you might want to go get that looked at.” -
Two more things about the fight – “You’ve been… thunderstruck” doesn’t work. Nice try Foley but you can stop that now. What does work though is Scott saying he’s a “monkey-armed baboon”. That quote is just too perfect for so many reasons.
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The goalie controversy may not even have a chance to get started. Corey Crawford has been damn near brilliant in his last two starts and remarkably solid for a majority of his chances. As McClure said, Turco is a great guy and is playing well on his own.. but he’s owed nothing here. He’ll get plenty of chances as a starter in the year but if I’m making the call for Tuesday’s start… there’s no question I’m going with the mouseketeer.
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Does anyone other than Johnny Cash like wearing black jackets, black shirts and black ties more than Eddie-O?
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That double minor on Toews for roughing was awful. Brown clearly took a run and Stalberg and at the very least it should have been minors on both sides. The Kings knew they were out of it and were in message sending mode until the refs gave them a chance to get back in it. Bolland’s gotta be more careful with his stick in those situations. Also, Doughty was acting like a little prick. That’s not what Norris candidates do Drew… come on.
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Skille only had 7:39 TOI?
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Since they’re playing the team I despise most in the NFL today I feel very comfortable saying this…Bear Down
Player Of The Game:
For the second game in a row – ladies and gentlemen, your new #1? At least for now..