It’ll be a pretty quick one today (don’t you love hearing that one, ladies?). Anyway, after last night’s game I can’t sit here and say the Hawks played badly. The energy was certainly there, and they controlled long stretches. Toews and Kane were seemingly dangerous on every shift. Skille was buzzing as usual, and the CORSI’s bare that out.
And yet…
There were enough mistakes to keep the Hawks from winning. And they came from Nick Boynton. Funny, I don’t remember Jordan Hendry singlehandedly giving away two goals in a game. But there was Boynton in the lineup ahead of Hendry, twice blindly trying to clear the puck up the middle, leading to direct giveaways to Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau. At least he can pick his targets well.
Dave Bolland wasn’t on the trolley either, and at this point I don’t even know if he knows where the trolley is or if he cares. He got worked by McCarthy behind the net, where I thought he was supposed to specialize, allowing him to find Jamal Mayers to go shortside on Turco (a continuing theme). Then he took a moronic cross-checking penalty that Marleau converted. BAD BAD BAD.
Other notes:
-I didn’t notice Duncan Keith being especially bad, but apparently Q did as he didn’t crack 20 minutes of ice time, and was somehow a -16 in CORSI. So he must’ve been.
-Though the Hawks did skate, they didn’t do enough of it to the front of the net. Niemi saw just about everything thrown at him. When they did, Dowell scored. More of that.
-Dowell, Brouwer, and Skille were rewarded for scoring by getting the least ice time of any Hawk forwards. Way to ride Brouwer’s roll there, Q.
-Hammer was +11 in CORSI.
–Jassen Cullimore was the only + in plus-minus yesterday. Yes, he did get walked by Patrick Marleau, but Patrick Marleau is going to walk the Jassen Cullimore’s of the world at times. That’s not making a moronic — or “Boynton-esque” mistake — that’s just being who you are.
-I’m calling this now: Q will start Crawford in Anaheim tomorrow, and unless he completely vomits on himself in true Packer fan fashion, he will start again in LA the next night. The goalie tilt-a-whirl begins this weekend. You watch.
-Jumping on the bandwagon that The Fifth Feather and Chris Block started, I too have noticed that there seem to be too many nights when Marian Hossa would be called “passenger” instead of “driver”. Is it still health?
–Tomas Kopecky needs to get out of my life. And Jeremy Morin needs to be on that line because, well, I’m Chicken Little that way.
Most importantly, a very, very Happy Thanksgiving from the Triumvirate and Hack to you our faithful readers. We hope you spend it surrounded by people you love and who return the favor. Thanks to those who came out last night, we had a blast despite the result. Now, to the couch and whiskey!