The Hero of Zero: Hawks 4, Canucks 0 and Sunday's Big Boy

Tonight's was the first game all year that I had an easy, confident feeling about throughout the match. All four lines were ticking away like never before this season.  The defense...maybe not as much, and the level of competition may have flattered to deceive but, for the most part, I liked what I saw.
- That makes four consecutive solid outings for Andrew Shaw, after two months of sometimes-okay-sometimes-chowderhead.  I wonder if playing on a line in which his duties are more in tune with his abilities has anything to do with that.
- On that topic, I thought the Bickell-Rasmussen-Shaw line was excellent tonight.  This was easily Bickell's best game since returning from the gulag and I'm beginning to think this Razmatazz guy might be okay.  I think he owes Bickell a steak or something after bogarting that goal, but he had a strong game with some good looks and sound positioning.
- TVR was a nightmare and Rundblad went back to being unable to get the puck out of the zone if any opposing player was within 20 ft of him.  Hjalmarsson was oddly yippy in the first period but seemed to settle in after that.  On the plus side, Daley almost hit the net with a shot.
- So, Mashinter managed to cash in his third of three gift-wrapped chances tonight.  Bravo, sir.  I guess that will buy him another, what, 10 games?  20 games?  A four year contract?
- What of the others?  Toews' line was, I thought, the least dynamic line tonight, but they had the task of covering those Creepy Twins for most of the game.  They had a shift in the last half of the second period, though, that shifted the momentum back The Hawks' way after being outworked for almost all of the period up until then.  The Art Line was good but just seemed on the wrong side of the inch tonight, which is just going to happen, sometimes.  Even the Kruger line manufactured several legit chances that were done in mostly by Mashinter but, let's face it, neither Krugs or Dez have soft hands, either. 

Extra credit, maybe, for posting two consecutive shutouts, but Corey Crawford was a beaut tonight. The boxscore says he made 30 saves and, while it didn't seem like that many when it happened, some of those were tough stops to make, what with a couple of semi-breakaways and a dandy at point blank range off Vrbata (I think).  F*ck yeah, Chicago.

                                                                 Oy-yoy-yoy.