Observations from 223: Dropping Deuces

Two down, 14 to go. The UC was rocking last night, everyone was expecting the Hawks to pick it up in game 2 and they did not fail to deliver. The Blackhawks stepped up their play from game one which was evident pretty much from the get go. They came out ready to play and it was a pace that the Wild were not able to match all night.

Michael Frolik opened up the scoring in the first period on a pretty easy play for the Hawks. Seabrook collects the puck behind the net makes a quick pass up the right side to Nick Leddy. Leddy still in the defensive zone makes a rink wide pass across to Shaw, who took the open ice with speed. He entered the Wild zone took a slap shot, Harding gave a juicy rebound right to Frolik who was able to get by 2 wild players and put the Hawks up 1-0 with 11 minutes left in the period. That would do it for the scoring in the first but the Hawks would outshoot the WIld 17-7.

But Fro Fro wasn’t done, while short-handed early in the second period on a high-sticking call to Toews, the Wild made a bad turnover in the neutral zone which was picked up by Frolik, he skated into the zone with Keith and Kruger on 3 Wild. Frolik made a pass over to Keith on the right side, Keith looked to just get the puck to the net with a backhand attempt. It was blocked by Spurgeon and deflected right to Frolik who was able to get a one-time wrister past Harding for his second goal of the night.

The “gooch”, Devin Setoguchi was able to draw the Wild within one late in the second period but that would be the closest they would get to being in the game last night and the Hawks wouldn’t wait long to respond extending their lead just 3:44 into the third with the Patrick’s connecting off of a broken play. Kaner skated into the zone and was looking to get the puck over to Michal Handzus, Zus seemed to struggle with the pass a little bit, or it was stuck in his feet, his attempt went wide behind the net, Kane had continued to skate and picked up Handzus’ attempt, Kane moved to back to Sharp who made a quick forehand backhand move and tucked a shot off of Harding’s glove far side into the net putting the Hawks back up by two.

Two seemed to be a theme tonight because the two Patrick’s weren’t done with their connection, on probably the easiest goal of the night for the Hawks. Patrick Kane just draws so much attention, whenever he has the puck and somehow gets a pass through all that attention to a wide open Sharpie who had originally given it to Kane after picking it up off Kane’s shot that went off the side of the net. Kane skated towards to center drawing 4 Wild players with him, the fifth Wild player was tied up with Handzus in front of the net, Kane spun a back hand pass to Sharp all by himself putting an easy goal past Harding. Harding’s reaction after that goal was great.

The wild tried to get back in the game on a bad defensive play where all the Hawks got caught too low in their zone and the puck bounced out to a wide open Scandella who fired a snap shot past Crawford. It was too little too late, the Wild would pull Harding to get the extra attacker but on a great piece of hustle from Bickell, the Hawks were able to put in an empty netter to ice the game.

*Corey Crawford was STRONG last night, on one sequence Crawford turned away 5 shots from Zach Parise all within 5 feet of the net. He also stopped the first shot of the night too. So there’s another improvement over game 1. But Crawford was very good last night when he needed to be and deserves a lot credit for last night’s win.

*Was it just me or did Seabrook seem to be struggling a lot last night? I seem to recall a few times where Seabrook made a bad read or couldn’t connect an easy outlet pass. He was a team worst -2 with 2 giveaways and 2 shots on goal. He did have 5 blocks but Seabrook will need to play better. Maybe not this series but his play will be important if he can’t step it up to his game it’s going to get exposed by better offenses.

* Keeping with the two’s theme, the Wild’s top pair of Suter and Brodin were a -2, and top stars Parise and Koivu were both -3. Also, Kane, Shaw, Frolik and Sharp all had two points a piece.

*The Hawks were outhit last night and I think I am more comfortable with the Hawks game when they get outhit versus when they aren’t playing their type of game. When the Hawks are playing their game like last night, they have possession of the puck, and thus don’t need to hit.

*Blackhawks outshot the Wild in 2 of 3 periods. Like I said above 17-7 in the first and 17-6 in the third. Only in the second did the Wild outshoot the Hawks 15-14.

*Sharpie went 4-0 at the face-off dot. Who said he can’t take a draw?

*The boarding call on Bollig was garbage. Clutterbuck was facing him before turning away and dropping under Bollig’s hit. It didn’t matter but it was just another example of Clutterfuck.

*My 4th star of the night goes to Brandon Saad. He didn’t have any points but he did have 7 shots, 3 hits, 1 takeaway and a blocked shot.

Thanks to Mad-hatter for the corsi numbers from last night: