The Defense Was Solid. Mostly, anyway. Despite being raked over the coals possession-wise, having played the vast majority of their shifts vs. The Blues incredibly dangerous top line, Seabrook & Keith were good. STL had some looks against The Hawks' top pair but no second chances as rebounds were either gobbled up or the nearest Blue was pinched out of the play. Gustafsson and Jokiharju were outstanding, playing a safe, smart game while generating a lot of push from the back end. The only time either of these fellas put a foot wrong was Jokiharju panicking a bit in the last minute, blindly firing the puck up the boards. Manning and Forsling were okay - I'm still not sold on Goose's defensive acumen, as he's tentative when challenging opposing forwards and, if he fails, kinda gives up on the play. We've seen this film before and, if that's how Forsling is going to go about business, he'll be back to Rockford soon enough. Manning started well but, in the final moments of the first period made an awkward outlet pass and then joined the rush that never happened, getting caught out of position and making a weak poke check attempt. He followed that up by ending a full-court press in the third period by just flinging the puck away, as he does, when he could easily have skated it back a little and maybe hit Kane or Schmaltz as they cleared The Blues zone.
Corey Crawford, behind a solid D tonight, was obviously excellent. He had only a handful of really tough saves to make but he was there every time. Crow's puck handling was outstanding, too, getting breakouts off to the best possible start.
Andreas Martinsen is a marginal player, at best, but he's been executing his directive to the letter, credited with seven hits tonight. Not to overstate the importance of the physical element of the game but this is something The Hawks have lacked for a long time and, if it gives opposing defensemen something to think about, I guess that's a good thing. Marty on the PK, though....I'm less convinced of that being a good idea.
John Hayden, similarly, had a strong game. He's a puzzle, though: he can rag and drag and otherwise maintain the puck for a long time, but rarely does anything useful with it after all that effort. Hopefully, sometime soon, he can connect the dots there and start creating some chances but, until then, he's not setting The Hawks' efforts back, anyway.
Each Of The Forward Lines had their moments. The Toews line played opposite O'Reilly's line for much of the night and spent a lot of time in their own end, but someone's got to pull that duty. Saad stormed back into the lineup and, while his line often looked like three guys operating independently of each other, he drove The STL net hard all night. I'm not convinced that David Kampf between DeBrincat and Kahun constitutes a viable 2nd line. I like Kampf, generally, but I just don't know if his offensive instincts are up to the task of centering a couple of guys who move the puck quickly, often unpredictably, as he's rarely where you wish he'd be when his wingers have the puck. Maybe that's something he'll grasp with more experience, maybe not. That said, I think Anisimov would struggle to keep up with those two guys and Johnson is nowhere near ready for that responsibility, so Kampf it is, for now anyway.
So We Get a Win on an Own Goal but, hey, if Bouwmeester hadn't kicked that one in Schmaltz would have tapped it in, himself. The goal was hard-earned, with a determined effort by Kane to get the puck to Toews, followed by a dandy pass by the captain to Seabrook.
Next: At Home vs. The Kings and an opportunity to rough up a team that's scored only two goals in their last three games. Keep the foot on the gas, boys.
DeVotchKa - How It Ends
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