Didn't Deserve to Win, But Didn't Deserve to Lose:Hawks 3, Flames 2

It was a game in which both teams played well enough to win and also badly enough to lose.  Both sides had stretches in which they couldn't do much right, and then it would flip-flop, with their opponent making a mess of things for awhile.  That said, The Hawks took more of these "turns" than they should have.

The Hawks kicked off the scoring with a wonderful goal that began with Anisimov hitting Ryan Hartman with a 100-foot pass just as Hartman had come on the ice, springing the rookie on a rush in which he shrugged off Dennis Wideman, expertly corralled a hopping puck and fired a hard shot over Chad Johnson's glove hand.
The Flames actually held the balance of play for much of the first period and rode that momentum into the second frame, scoring twice to take the lead, before Brent Seabrook threaded a point shot past Johnson to even things up.  A fairly even third period followed, typified by what I mentioned earlier - several minutes of Flames domination followed by a superior shift or two by The Hawks.  It's a new spin on end-to-end hockey!
Late in the third Artemi Panarin launched a hard shot, that Johnson merely struck with his glove rather than catching it, and Marian Hossa outfumbled Johnson and Flames d-man TJ Brodie, shoveling in his 10th goal and putting The Hawks ahead for good.

Dismal Night: A few Hawks had forgettable performances in this match, namely Forsling, Kane and Panik. Forsling was guilty multiple times standing between two Flames forwards but not covering either of them at all.  Kane had some nightmare shifts, with a bobble that first led to a Flames rush followed by a confused attempt to make amends which only amounted to getting in Corey Crawford's way while Sam Bennett scored for The Flames.  Later, Kane would tap a puck out of the air and toward the gaping net, only to accidentally strike it a second time and away from the twine. Probably just one of those nights, for Kane.  As for Panik...he was just everywhere yet nowhere that he needed to be, and his non-contribution did not not go unnoticed by Coach Q, as Panik played less than ten minutes and bounced through three different lines as the game progressed.
Possession is Nine-tenths of The Law and The Flames earned the legal high ground in this match, with Sean Monahan's line soundly putting the boots to Toews' line.  The Hawks' bottom six struggled as well, although I'd hang on asterisk on Kruger & Rasmussen, which I'll get to in a sec.
Outstanding Efforts by Large Arthur's Line as well as the duo of Seabrook and Kempny helped immensely.  Sadly, these were the only five Hawks players with possession stats north of 50.  That was Kempny's best game, thus far, and he even picked up his first NHL point in the bargain.
Special Teams That Were Actually Special were key to The Hawks, as well, with the PP and PK units both being perfect on the night.  Kruger and Rasmussen did the lion's share of PK duty, with both of them logging season-high minutes and Moose logging more time than all Hawks forwards, save Toews and Kane.  So there's the asterisk for Krugs and Moose: of course they got their usual helping of tough assignments, but they also spent a load of time on the PK.  At even strength these two broke even in possession, which is about as much as one can ask for from your shut down guys.

                                       Wonder Twins Power...activate!

So, really, half the forwards had pretty great games and the rest were anywhere from meh to awful. The Hawks were denied two near-goals, one by Mark Giardano's quick stick and other by Kane's double-tap so, despite being outshot and out-chanced, this could easily have been a 5-2 laugher.  It didn't hurt that Chad Johnson, after two great games for Calgary, went back to being Chad Johnson, with rebounds a-poppin' all over the place.

Hartman's tally was a beaut and you gotta love Hoss being Hoss when it mattered most, but with Old Number 50 making save after save while most of his D in front of him kinda flailed, Corey Crawford once again receives the steely gaze of Stormare.