Weathering The Storm: Hawks 2, Hurricanes 1

Once again, The Hawks pulled out a win that they didn't really deserve but, despite their gaudy shot count, The Hurricanes didn't deserve it any more.  Does that even make sense?  How about this: The Hawks gave up far too many chances and a combination of Scott Darling's exceptional effort and Carolina's lack of finish allowed them the victory.  On the flip, when your best idea is to simply hack and slash at loose pucks, you can take all the "shots" you want but, most of the time, that ain't gonna get it done.  Both teams had their moments, and The Hurricanes did a fine job of getting and keeping the puck, but neither team exactly shone in this one.
The Hawks scored the only goal of the first period, an absolute gem by Toews after some fine passing by Vinnie Hinnie and Hossa.  Carolina outshot Chicago 19-9 but, to be fair, 23 of those shots came on a single power play, and half of those were desperate whacks into Darling's pads.
Chicago went up 2-1 on a PPG by Small Arthur, who rifled a wrister from his Special Place during an otherwise uninspiring power play.  The Hurricanes closed the gap to a single goal with 4 seconds remaining in the period, a tap-in by Viktor Rask  to conclude a sequence that had The Hawks spinning to try to find the puck.
The Hawks endured a full court press throughout much of the third, but did a good job of limiting quality chances, hanging on for the win.
A Promising Start to the game was undone by several mistakes and poor choices that let momentum slip away.  Hartman ruined a 4-on-2 with a sloppy pass that resulted in a Carolina rush, Tootoo and Campbell made messes of what should have been easy clearing attempts and Panik wasted a fast breakout with yet another selfish shot from a ridiculous angle that soon had the puck heading back to Chicago's end.
Toews, however, was well and truly dialed in, opening the scoring and just missing on several other high quality chances.

Kempny was mostly fine but a little less on point than in the last four games.  He helped create a great chance midway through the first and, a little later, sprawled to intercept a pass on a 2-on-1.  Unfortunately, the play that may have stuck in Coach Q's memory was a bizarre pass to no one late in the frame.  He didn't play a lot more after that.

Vin Hinostroza had what is becoming a pretty typical but quite acceptable game at this stage of his career, highlighted by his quick, short pass to Hossa that soon led to Toews' goal, as well as a determined charge to beat out an icing call, come away with the puck and create a scoring chance. The rest of the game...pretty much up and down the wing.

I'm Not Convinced that Campbell and van Riemsdyk should be paired together, as I'm unsure if Soupy feels he can wheel the puck through the neutral zone when he's unsure if TVR is where he's supposed to be.  Even IF TVR is in position, can he cope with the pressure on his own if Soup gets caught up-ice?  Kempny and TVR were, unbelievably, both better when paired up, and I've liked Soupy with Seabrook whenever they've played together.

Spencer Abbott and Gustav Forsling were both dispatched to Rockford earlier today.  I don't mind these moves, actually, in which Schmaltz, Motte and now Forsling have been demoted, presumably to play more.  They've each had a taste of what it's like to play in The NHL and should have a sense of what they need to do to get back there and stay there.  Results may vary depending on how well each of these players accept this challenge.

Toews was really quite excellent tonight, if a little bit unlucky but, once again, without some fine netminding this W doesn't happen.  Stormare's Star is Scott Darling.