Some reflections on last night with the added time:
-McClure, as he always does, pretty much summed everything up very well in his wrap last night. One thing he did miss however, was that Dave Bolland escaped the Undertaker’s clutches (or choke slam?) last night and had his best game of the year by far. I know my brain has bubbled twice when Games 1 and 2 started and Q matched Bolland with the Sedins. But as you’ll see last night, most of his night was spent against the Children of The Corn, and he had a Corsi of +7. He was aided by Andrew Ladd also deciding to show up and hit everything in sight, which was usually Roberto Luongo. Obviously, this platform allowed Kris Versteeg to be…well, Versteeg (he’s also the celebrity sausage at Hot Doug’s today, and Kllion would agree it’s fucking delicious). He was maddening at times, exhilarating at times, and clutch overall. While we can expect to see Versteeg in all his moronic glory the rest of the year, considering the space the Canucks are allowing him and the sometimes cluelessness of the Vancouver D, he’s going to get away with it at times and may not be done having a big impact in this series. If Bolland can move on from here, the Hawks will once again have four lines to roll and be effective (if Burish and Eager continue to be disciplined pains in the ass), and the Canucks don’t.
-It’s weird, both team can come out of Game 2 feeling good. The Hawks can look at the 55 minutes they horsedicked the Canucks around the ice and figure if it wasn’t for a stellar performance from Sideshow Bob, they would have won going away. The Canucks can feel that if they had just buried some chances, they would be in a commanding position. To boot, they didn’t play nearly as well in Game 2, and still almost got away scot-free.
-In a lot of ways, the 1st period was the reverse of Game 1. It was the Canucks who missed chances to get themselves ahead, and the Hawks who could not stay out of the box. The Canucks were quite disciplined last night, though I don’t see that continuing.
-All of this leads me to believe we’re gonna be here a while, either way.
-While we love to make fun of him and his hair stained with tears, Luongo has been magnificent this series. Can he keep it up all series long? I have no idea. There’s no past evidence to suggest he will, I feel as though he’ll have one clunker at some point, I just don’t know when.
-Maybe I should stop calling him out, but Alex Burrows is still a ghost. Kesler and Raymond are having monster playoffs because they have to drag around this anchor all game. In fact, Kesler ate Captain Marvel for lunch all game last night, and I’m sure this is the matchup that Vigneault will opt for at home. With Buff and Kane as his wingers, this is no longer a hybrid scoring-shutdown line. The Hawks got away with Toews being the lesser player on the ice once, but they shouldn’t think they can make it a habit. Perhaps flipping Kane and Hossa wouldn’t be the worst idea, but let’s see how Game 3 unfolds.
–Brent Seabrook was a grown-ass man last night, and his tour de force finally seemed to calm Keith down, just a bit.
-Looking to tomorrow, the Hawks are going to see a fury coming at them from the first bell. The Canucks got what they came for, and know if they can hold serve they’re moving on. I would expect the first 10 minutes to be absolute torture, so the Hawks should be more concerned with just clearing their zone and getting the puck deep forcing the Canucks to go 200 feet until shit simmers down. But somehow I doubt that’s how they’ll play it. Buckle up.
ANNOUNCEMENT: I can’t believe I forgot to mention this when I wrote this post, but Friday for Game 4 we will be having an official Second City/Committed Indian Watch at The Bottom Lounge. Those of you who have been know what a mess these generally are (in a good way), and those of you who haven’t been to one are truly missing out. So please join us (1375 W. Lake St.)