A three and three road trip is definitely passable. With the strong finish, the Hawks find themselves atop the conference standings once again, waiting for teams with games in hand to come to them. Before I get to the bullets, I’d like to get a complaint in on the WGN weekend broadcasts. First and foremost, whatever was happening with the WGN feed during the third period was obviously brutal. I didn’t need a look into a day in the life of Marc Savard, but that’s about what we were subjected to with the quick blackouts every 30 seconds. I’m guessing this happens from time to time, and it’s possible that a decision was made not to fix the issue because it would’ve meant losing the third period in it’s entirety, but that still doesn’t make it acceptable. I maybe could have overlooked yesterday’s debacle had it not been for the horrible production decisions in Friday’s game. How many times were we stuck watching someone on the bench while the puck was in play? There must have been at least 5 instances in which game action was passed over for something considerably less important (most notably Sharp’s goal off the draw). Here’s to hoping that McDonough is breathing fire and making sure these issues are getting corrected.
Thoughts…if…I…….can…..get….through….the…post….concussion….syndrome
- The Kings had some good chances at several points of the game, but for the most part, the Hawks defense seems to have cleaned up some the issues that plagued them in Alberta. What can’t happen is the scoring chance that Kopitar had with just seconds left on the clock.
- While we’re on the defense, Seabs is still looking a bit squirrely at times. He had a handful of bad turnovers, including one that eventually led to the lone Kings tally. I’m sure Seabrook will settle down eventually, and even when his play is a bit erratic, he still adds much stability to the D corps.
- Crow had a pretty solid game, and made big saves when he had to. You’re obviously not thrilled about the Stoll goal, but I can’t complain too much about a 0.963 save “percentage” in a winning effort.
- Aside from the turnover that led to Kopitar’s late chance, Dunc did some nice things in this game. When Flash gets the puck toward the net from the blue line, good things happen, as evidenced by his two assists.
- Toews jumped up to a tie for 6th in the league in points; 19 point months will do that for you.
- It wasn’t a good CORSI night for the Hoss-Kane-Fro line, but I thought Kaner made quite a few nice passes that might ordinarily lead to goals. The Stalberg shank on the 2 on 0 was the result of a pass that was just a bit in front of Vik, but I think it was a chance that could have been finished nonetheless.
- Go back and watch Willie Mitchell get owned by Bruno on the first goal, it’s fun.
- Bryan Bickell breakaways, they’re not for children’s eyes.
- The Bickell-Mayers-Scott line was “alright”, and almost depressingly so. I can’t imagine that anyone really wants to see that combination continue.
- Before last night’s game, the last time the PK went at least 3 for 3 was on October 29th against Columbus. The Hawks are going to win their fair share of close games if they can kill penalties, but at 74% (dead last in the league), they still have a long way to go to.