Observations From Section 321: Motown Beat Down

Does everybody feel better now? Is the panic level down a bit? The morning started off with the Red Wings having to scratch their captain Herik Zetterberg due to an apparent groin injury. They should have called it day after that since things would not get much better. This game had a little bit of every thing. We had goals from rookies, defensemen, captains, Dave Bolland and even an own goal compliments of Jakub Kindl.

Jeremy Morin opened up the scoring with a goal on his first shift after being called up from Rockford at 2:23. Brandon Saad continued the Rockford scoring with his 5th goal of the season at 3:21 with assists from Jonathan Toews and Michael Frolik. Dave Bolland ended his scoreless streak or should I say Jakub Kindl ended it for him. I will let the following gif do all the talking.

Imagine if Bolland had hands like that. What a pretty shot!

The 2nd period was more of the same. Jonathan Toews scored his 17th goal of the season a 3:52 and chased goalie Jimmy Howard. Backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson didn’t exactly give the boost the Wings’ coach Mike Babcock was looking for. He gave up a goal on the first shot he saw, by Brandon Saad, just eight seconds after being inserted into the game.

Dave Bolland added a real goal at 7:55 and Nick Leddy continued his great play with his 6th goal of the year at 16:21. Cory Emmerton spoiled Cory Crawford’s shutout bid at 19:27 and was just comical the fact that it was another goal in the last minute of the period.

*Coach Q got everyone’s attention by shuffling up his defensive pairings this morning. I don’t think it was a big deal. When you have 14 point cushion in the division why not see what different combos can do? Considering the pair of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya have not been been good as of late, why not?

* The penalty kill seems to be back at an elite level. They slipped up for a couple of games but they are now a perfect 11 of 11 their last 6 games. The best way to keep you PK unit in good form is not to overuse them. Having to only kill off 11 penalties in 6 games is very good.

* I decided to treat myself to a Brandon Saad shirt on my birthday, March 5th. Ever since I bought that shirt the Saad Father has put up 14 points (3 G, 11 A) in those 12 games, your’re welcome! In all seriousness, we will probably start seeing Saad being mentioned in Calder Trophy talks from here on out. This kid was a real find in the late 2nd round. The 2011 draft could go down in history as one of the best in Hawks history with Saad, Mark McNeill, Phillip Danault, Andrew Shaw, and Adam Clendening.

* Faceoffs are still a mess. Tazer was the only one who showed up at the dot today going 14/19. Bolland was 6/14, Marcus Kruger 5/15 and Shaw was a pitiful 1/8.

* Maybe the Wings should have played Dan DeKeyser after all. When Michal Rozsival can walk right through your defense and get a shot off, you have a serious problem.

* It’s been almost two years since the Hawks have lost in regulation to Detroit. The last time the Wings won in 60 minutes was April 10. 2011. We are really going to miss these guys when they go out East. But with almost certain expansion/relocation coming Gary Bettman will probably move the Wings back to the West being the giant troll that he is.

The Hawks get the first look at the disappointing Nashville Predators tomorrow night at the UC, so hopefully we don’t see a let down. We will probably see Ray Emery in net tomorrow.

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