Another game against the Scum, another two point victory. The Hawks were once again on the victorious side of things though as they beat Detroit, this time by the score of 2-1. Not exactly the prettiest game we’ve seen between these teams. Missing names like Toews, Datsyuk and Lidstrom doesn’t help. Having the ice surface about the quality of sandpaper makes it even worse. The puck was bouncing and jumping all afternoon, though it seemed to bite the Hawks far worse than it did Detroit. In the first it was the Hawks coming out and scoring first. Kyle Quincey dumped Stalberg in front of the net (good things happen when y…) and gave the Hawks the first power play of the day. We continue to see signs of life with the man up. Sharp was on the point, Mayers was in front of the net and despite all that (ok fine.. probably because of it) the Hawks hit the back of the net first.
It wouldn’t last though, just under three minutes later Brent Seabrook was caught coming in on a change and trying to jump into the play. The puck got away from him and right to Brad Stuart got the puck to Darren “Firetruck 43” Helm. Seabrook’s pinch left Patrick Kane to cover and Helm skated right around him. He then peeled away from Seabrook who had scrambled back to position and found Kronwall who put a blast past Emery. It was the only one that would find its way past the Hawks netminder.
There were multiple chances for the Hawks for the Hawks to blow it in the second but despite a few power plays for Scum it was Patrick Kane who put one in when pressure from Hoss on Brad Stuart led to him turning the puck over to Sharp who fed it Kaner for a quick move and a backhand. Pressure in the third was back and forth and a heartattack waiting to happen. So yeah, ugly game but once again, two points is two points.
- Patrick Sharp had himself a nice little night with a goal and assist on the winner. He also led the Hawks with 7 shots on the night.
- On a night where Scum were already out a star defenseman, they also found themselves down to just 5 skating blueliners. Jakub Kindl played two shifts before going out with an upper-body injury. The Hawks seemed to bring a little extra pressure. Later in the game it manifested itself in an outright snarl. Good to see.
- Ray Emery got the win but didn’t have to make many big saves. He was there when the Hawks needed him though and his posts were there a few times if he wasn’t. I noticed a few times where he seemed to take a full minute to move from one post to the other but the team in front of him always bailed him out.
- Speaking of being bailed out, Marlboro 72, playing together the whole game, were a defensive force. Keith himself was great in shutting down Scum by getting his body in the way or using his stick to break up his plays. Biscuit had a few great clears and a couple solid hits. Playing WITH the puck was a totally different story. Seabs had the mangled rush into the play that ended in the goal. Keith had some turnovers, one ending up in a Hawks penalty.
- We’re pretty lucky they managed at least a good defensive game. All the hopes we had of Lepisto and Oduya eating ice time have been scorched. Lepisto had only 5:31 TOI which was second lowest on the team (just ahead of Bollig’s 5:05). Olsen skated only 7 minutes. Oduya is eating time (skating 25:25) but it’s not lessening the burden on Marlboro 72, Keith and Seabrook skated 26:24 and 28:04.
- Somehow, Dave Bolland is winning draws. He won 64.7% tonight, way better than his 48.1% season average. He’s about the only one winning them though, no one else was over 38%.
- Taking two on the road against the Scum as they threaten for the league lead, that’s a quality afternoon.