Tell yourself “It couldn’t happen, not this way. Not today”.
Tonight, the Hawks played well enough to win. Unfortunately, that’s not going to cut it against the defending champs.
The men of Four Feathers came out storming once again, with 19 shots on goal in the first period. Unfortunately, only one found the twine off of Toews’ stick on an extended powerplay, and it was fluky at that. Despite all the nay-saying, and all the peppering he received, Osgood loomed large in the first period, and he should be given credit.
The Wings drew even on a seeing-eye shot from Rafalski, with Holmstrom’s smelly Swedish ass planted firmly in front of Nik. One noticeable point: If the Hawks are going to be that passive with the forwards pressuring the pointmen on the power play, then they should at least make an effort to move Holmstrom from in front, ESPECIALLY with Walker out there (because that’s the only conceivable purpose he serves).
Detroit dictated the pace in the second, and the Hawks went over 10 minutes without a shot. That’s not to say they played poorly, but some offense needs to be generated. Once again, a Seabrook blue-line-queef led to a Cleary chance, and again, he made no mistake when in alone on Khabibulin.
The Hawks came out crashing and banging in the third, and it finally yielded results with Toews redirecting his second of the night off of a soft Versteeg point shot with about 7 to go.
From there on it was a taffy pull, and overtime seemed to be an inevitability. Not to be “that guy”, but the calls seemed to be tilted in the Wings favor. There were a couple of times the Hawks broke in against flat-footed defenders reaching with nary a call, yet somehow Dave Bolland got called for a phantom hook/trip/whatever-the fuck. I understand that it’s a tie game in the conference finals and the whistles got put away, just do so equally when Darren Helm clearly fell down on his own breaking into the Hawks’ zone.
In all honesty, overtime was a blur for me, and I was taking a piss when the goal was scored. From what I saw on the replay, Campbell could have stayed on his feet to get over and cut the breakout pass off, but I can’t be too certain. Additionally, Cam Barker needs to be on his feet longer, especially if he sees a trailer coming to make a 3-on-1. But there’s not much anyone can do about it now. The Hawks CAN skate with these guys, and as we’ve been told it’s not really a series until someone loses at home. Go get ’em Friday, boys. It’s only the biggest game of the year.
Special thanks to The Admiral, Section 326 Bureau Chief, and clhoffy for making it out to The Whirlaway. And thanks to Sergio and Maria as always for having us.