File Under "Good Enough": Hawks 3, Ducks 2 and Friday's Big Boy

Despite only one line working well and general confusion, lack of cohesion and a pair of idiotic penalties, The Hawks took the two points when raw talent prevailed over lunkheadedness.  Also, The Ducks.  Here's what I thought I saw.

- Andrew Shaw does a few things very well but it's starting to look like the stupid things he does outweigh the couple of pluses he brings.  His two penalties were just plain dumb and not borne out of desperation or even anger.  This is of zero consequence, though, as he'll never miss a shift, will he? Luckily, Ryan Getzlaf is apparently just as stupid as Shaw.
- Trevor Daley hit the goalie twice today, which is progress.
- I understand that when things aren't working, for whatever reason, it's incumbent on Quenneville to jostle things up a bit, but Toews skating with Shaw & Garbutt is just bad human resources. They will undoubtedly find some small successes here and there but this cannot be a long term solution. Hossa with Dano and Kruger is less bad, but what does Kruger offer offensively apart from a handful of opportunistic goals each year?  The scorers need to be with scorers; let them ride out this rough patch, get used to each other again, and let comes naturally to these guys happen.  Dano and Hossa showed a little chemistry today, I thought, so it's a shame Toews wasn't able to join in.  Even Teravainen would be a better choice centering The Slovaks, but of course he was playing wing with Desjardins and Mashinter.  What the hell?
- I guess those nice things I said about Tanner Kero were all crap since he was scratched while the barely ambulatory Mashinter remained in the lineup.  Whatever success and fine reputation Quenneville has earned loses it's authenticity when galoots like Mashinter, Bollig, Burish and Eager remain on the lineup card.
- The Ducks suck. They have a few fine players and their goaltender played well enough today, but any team that leans on Shawn Horcoff for 18 minutes and carries another four guys that are basically dead weight are going to underwhelm more often than not.
- Once again, the "second" line carried the mail today, with many even strength shifts looking like The Hawks had a man advantage.  The other lines weren't awful, but none of them got much going for more than an isolated few moments or a shift here and there.  I don't know how long they'll be able to get by with only one line clicking.  
- Crawford was better than the boxscore suggests, as he was left swinging on the Cogliano breakaway and Stewart's goal was a fluke on a pass that Stewart screwed up.  These things happen and it's nice that he won't have to take the fall for a game he was actually decent enough in.

Tough one, today.  Anisimov was dangerous all day, Kane had entire shifts where he just did whatever he felt like doing and Seabrook notched three helpies, but I liked the complete game that Keith played today. As well as from scoring the tying goal he was moving the puck exceptionally well and making good passes in all zones.

                                             Lovin' those orange sweaters, though.