The bottom line here is that The Hawks played a pretty good six or seven minutes before The Blues got the wind in their sails and took over.
How did this go so very, very wrong? I have some ideas (of course I do).
- Imprecision: too many missed passes, rushed passes or no pass at all. Panarin was probably the worst offender, last night, but plenty of his teammates got in on this act. Some fall into this group because, well, they're just not good at passing, while the young fellas in particular often looked like they were rushing things, just as they had been doing during the early part of the preseason. First game yips, maybe? Let's hope so.
- Chucking: far too many shots were taken when better opportunities existed. Bad angle shots abounded, and more than a few times an attempt was launched without any apparent awareness of where linemates were. The stats don't tell the whole story on this, though, since lots of those ill-advised shots missed the net entirely.
- Jordin Tootoo was outplayed by Ryan Reaves, who he was presumably in the lineup to counteract. I challenge you to say that out loud without tasting bile.
- Idiotic penalties by guys who should know better, and also TVR.
- Did Nick Schmaltz play?
- Seabrook made a few nice plays, mainly out of desperation but never mind because it worked, but what we'll remember about him in this game is the no-look-back-pass-to-who-knows-where that slid into The Hawks' own net. Dude, a no-look pass behind oneself like that will get most Bantam players benched.
It wasn't ALL bad, just mostly bad.
Toews & Hoss were a mixed bag, looking dangerous on many shifts, but also disorganized and, as suggested above, too often hitting skates with their passes. They'll get their timing sorted, soon enough.
Ryan Hartman's goal was sort of encouraging, yet sort of not, the play beginning with a very good keep-in and finishing with some neat passing resulting in Hartman's first NHL goal. It could have ended differently, though, as Hartman did what most of the rookies did last night - simply stormed the crease, did not appear to look for a pass and fired an ineffective shot toward the net. Hartman later chose to shoot from the far-right hashmarks in the third period, a plan which only works if you have Kane, Ovechkin or Lemieux stitched on your jersey.
As I suggested, hopefully the mindless shoot-from-anywhere stuff clears up once the first game jitters subside.
Gustav Forsling had a few very good shifts, especially early on (and thanks for reminding us of that every 30 seconds, Edzo) but faded a bit, mid-game, before being used quite a lot in the late going. It was a respectable if unspectacular debut.
Before I go and drink Draino allow me to review my predictions from last weekend:
1) Toews would be partnered with Hossa and Panik - check. Sure, Panik scored but, other than that, he ran around being Richard Panik, which i am not fundamentally opposed to. I like Richard Panik...just not in the top-six.
1a) Motte would draw in for Panik. Not yet. Soon. Or, more likely, Schmaltz, as Motte and Kruger actually work alright together, so far
2) Hartman would make the team, Schmaltz would not. Not quite, as Schmaltz managed to make the cut, which I'm fine with 'cos of that whole thing about giving these young men a chance to succeed. I fully expected Mashinter to stick, though, which sent me on the wrong path.
3) Keith and TVR would make up the first pairing - check, but almost certainly because Hjalmarsson was suspended. Let's see what shakes out on Friday.
Meanwhile, this is too hilarious to not share:
Matthews Retires as Greatest Leaf in Franchise History
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