Ain’t that some shit? I was all ready to write a quick re-cap of how awesome the Blackhawks were again and then go out and continue celebrating the evening. Instead, I’m almost at a loss as for what to write. Sometimes a team just completely blows a game, and this was one of them. Now I guess we know how it feels to be a Flames fan… almost
When this team is up by 5 and seemingly dominating a team, it’s way too easy to get cocky – that may be exactly what we experienced tonight. The Blackhawks have still kept up an amazing streak of 8 games in a row where they’ve scored 4 or more goals, Kane extended his point streak to 11 games, the power play might officially no longer be clown shoes with goals in 9 in a row… yet they end up with only 1 point and Owen Nolan wins the game in yet another shootout that goes way past the initial 3 rounds.
I’m not going to bother recapping every goal and highlight for the game because that would simply take way too long. And I’m guessing you’ve got better things to do this weekend (unless you’re mjthor… we all know all you do is comment on these stories). Lets just hope the Hawks learn their lessons and remember it’s important to play all 3 periods. I know they’ve experience some success when they come out slow in the first, but forgetting to play in the 3rd doesn’t give you much time to recover. On to the…
Quick Thoughts:
- First it was Madden, then it was Buff pulling out a spin-o-rama to take a good shot or pass.. this should have been our first sign that this team was getting way too full of themselves.
- Is it possible that John Madden actually passed the puck to VERSTEEG! off of Backstrom’s pads? Because it sure as hell looked like it on that goal
- In the second, Huet way over-committed to a play and was caught absolutely no where near his crease in what should have been an easy goal for the Wild. It looked like he just gave up on the play expecting another goal… Hammer had other ideas. Probably the best save of the game.
- Horsa might be worthy of an exclamation point of his own…
- Minnesota was credited with 46 hits… I need to check the records but this might be the most against the Hawks all year. And yet another reason this stat is full of shit (but fun to talk about).
- Every time we think we’re done with them, the Huet haters get another reason to run their mouths (or in this case, fingers). This one can’t be blamed on him but I’m sure that won’t stop them from trying.
- So the shootout goes into tomorrow, but for some reason the Wild didn’t give Havlat a chance against his former team? There is probably a lot to read into this but I’ll leave that for the comments. I have no idea why they wouldn’t give someone with his skill a chance over players like Clutterbuck, Nolan or Brodziak. JHC must have been dinged up at some point in this game because he’s shown himself to be notoriously thin-skinned and I can’t imagine this would go over well with him. Keep an eye on his unsurprisingly silent Twitter account.
Player of the Game:
This is a first but… we’re giving it to Eddie-O.
I believe an assist goes to the equipment crew, because they informed Eddie that after the goals had gone in order, Sharp, Toews, VERSTEEG!, Brouwer, Hossa… that was also each players 15th, 14th, 13th, 12th and 11th goal on the season so far. These odd little numbers don’t mean anything but they’re really fun for anyone into numbers and coincidences.. That’s without a doubt the coolest thing to happen in this game… is it possible this has ever happened before in NHL history?
Oh well… Wait for tomorrow