Don't Break Your Neck or Anything: Hawks 4, Stars 3

Alright, take Toews & Seabrook out of it, and a handful of shifts from a handful of other players, and this was an awful effort by The Hawks.  Luckily, most of The Stars seemed equally disinterested.  For much of the game both sides looked as if they were just going to do whatever seemed easiest, whatever required the least thought, and just get the thing over with.  Some quick, pointy Bits:

Hoss did score the winner, of course, but 20 seconds earlier he nearly sprung a Dallas player by flubbing a pass.  That kinda summed up The Hawks' effort, for me: the guys are certainly capable of making good decisions and taking some care in what they do but, on this night, a lot of them couldn't be arsed much of the time.
Keith was dogshit.  I've never typed anything to that effect before and I hope I never do again.
Seabrook, meanwhile, was outstanding, which I also don't think I've typed before.  Spooky.
Schmaltz on the top line didn't result in anything concrete, with #8 turning in a pair of pretty good shifts and looking overwhelmed the rest of the time.  Still, I wouldn't mind if he took another spin with Toews & Kane in the next game, y'know, after practicing with them a time or two.
Eleven Game streak, now, for Large Arthur.
Scott Darling played about as well as one would expect a guy who hasn't played in two weeks to play. He made some dandy saves, especially late in the game, but he made it look hard a lot of the time, earlier on.
Goose Forsling: I'm pleased that Coach Q has given Forsling the chance to play (just not in the last ten minutes, apparently) despite having some iffy moments in each game since he returned from injury.  It's clear that the kid is skilled as well as smart, but has occasionally gotten into jams of his own making, some of which he was able to skate away from or make a pinpoint pass to avoid trouble, but sometimes he just gets pantsed.  And, while I'm impressed with the patience Q has shown while Goose figures out what he can and cannot pull off, I know in my dark little heart that Goose had better get sorted out before TVR gets well.

Not flawless, but very nearly so, Jonathan Toews is just regaining his stride and logged another fine game tonight.