Game Time: 7:00 Central
TV/Radio: Rodeo Channel, WGN 720
Opposition Blogs: Fear The Fin
Don’t Forget: Your SPG Picks
Well – I just wasted an hour or so of my life. I had an idea for this preview – I was going to remove the audio from the game highlights of the last time the Blackhawks and the Sharks met and play “Everybody Wants Some!!” by Van Halen over it… I had to download free trials of video editing softwear and figure out how to use iMovie but everything worked out pretty damn well. Then I uploaded it to YouTube and the fascists over there realized I’m not Diamond Dave and probably don’t own the rights to the song, so they removed it. Now all I’m left with is a silent video on YouTube and a shitty preview that I have to rush to get up here before going to work… we’re all losers.
Speaking of losers – The Blackhawks absolutely demolished the Sharks the day before Thanksgiving, didn’t they? In Hossa’s first game with the team, not much more could have gone right – expect for the team maybe not giving up and getting sloppy at the end, allowing the Sharks to score twice. Now the tables are turned slightly and the Sharks will be looking to embarrass the Hawks in their hometown… and just before a holiday again too.
Unfortunately, they’re going to have to do that on the second leg of a back-to-back. I didn’t get to see the game but from the recap up over at Fear The Fin – it sounds like the Sharks were outplayed but not outscored by the Dallas Stars.. those games happen. The major concern for Sharks fans might be that Evgeni Nabokov was leaned on heavily last night, making 36 saves. Will the Sharks force him to play two nights in a row against a Hawks team that has scored 13 goals in two games against the Sharks? Or will they go with Thomas Greiss who last played on the 12th in a loss to Phoenix? The Hawks put up 3 on Greiss when he came in to relieve Nabokov in San Jose…
The skaters for the Sharks are as dangerous as ever (pre mid-April of course). Joe Thornton in particular is tearing up the league with 9 points in his last 5 games. One more will give him 50 and extend his lead for points in the league. The Sharks are also a team that will dominate the faceoffs, they’re the only team better than the Hawks at the moment. No surprise then that they’re also 4th in the league on the kill.
Expecting the Blackhawks to simply steamroll the Sharks again is as ill-advised as removing the lawn chair from the street and parking in that space in front of your neighborhood crack dealer’s house.. but so far the Sharks haven’t been able to beat the Hawks when they were missing three of our top six and then got spanked in Hossa’s return. It should be a fun game…
Don’t forget – Tomorrow is the final road watch of the year at The Whirlaway. There will be beer, hockey and internet friends – you really don’t need anything more.
Lets Go Hawks