Friday 16 February 2018

Back To Our Regular Scheduled Program: Ducks 3, Hawks 2

After being outshot, outhustled and badly losing the Corsi game vs. Vegas on Tuesday, The Hawks really only lost that one in the third period. Tonight, as has been more often the case, The Hawks put the boots to Anaheim in shots, chances, possession...you name it,  yet, they lose again.
One of the Guys in the studio (and they usually are Guys, or goalies, aren't they?) sputtered something about "the all-important first goal".  More horseshit.  
The all-important goal would the third one they score in a game.  Any game.
Because, it seems, almost every big mistake they make results in a goal against.
The goalies are only AHL-quality, after all, so all those breakaways and odd-man chances are gonna cost The Hawks, sooner than later.

That's pretty much it: score three goals in a game.  See what that gets ya.

What Else?
Oesterle cannot miss that open net.
Bouma has no business trying to play with Kane & Schmaltz.
Kempny was pretty poor.  After a solid game in Vegas it was disappointing to see him making things easy for The Ducks forwards.
Toews looked great...until he got within shooting distance of the net.  At that point he either lost the handle, made a poor shot or failed to get a pass to a linemate.
Duclair - I think he played tonight.  I saw him on the bench.
The Hartman Call - Adam Burish needs to settle down.  Sure, the refs got that call wrong, it should have been a 5-on-3, I reckon, but what's the difference?  The Hawks aren't scoring on the power play, anyway, so Burr needs to find another windmill to charge.

Not All Bad?
Saad came out of hibernation, briefly, and Keith finally got a shot through.
Hartman worked incredibly hard and enjoyed some good sequences with DeBrincat.
Wingels, unbelievably, had a decent game, again.

But what it all comes down to is that The Hawks cannot score.  The power play is impotent and their attack, in general, is stale and predictable.  That song remains the same.

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