Black Friday Big Boy and Other Stuff

I watched the Friday game on PVR and THEN read the various recaps, Tweets, etc., and now I wonder if I watched the same game as some of these other guys.

- After being slagged by practically everyone, including myself, Kris Versteeg is defiantly having a fine start to the season.  Let's not get too carried away, though; how many of his points were with Patrick Kane on the other wing?  Just sayin'...
- I am delighted that Kane has finally found his stride or his mojo or whatever he lacked for the first 15 or so games.  What bugs me is that his offensive outburst pretty much coincided with Richards replacing Shaw as his center.  So what took so long?  Just sayin'...
- The Hawks had very good puck possession and, as usual, outshot their counterparts handily, but it sure didn't look like "the best game all year" that several post-game soundbites and interwebz recaps declared it to be.  Sure, they schooled the first-placed team in The West but there was still plenty of ugly.  Saad was a nightmare, consistently passing behind his linemates and what the hell was that no-look pass to nowhere?  Kruger, of all people, flicking that backhand whatever-it-was in front of his own net...what was that?  Richards had to stretch, dive and chip pucks all night to make up for his linemates "approximations".  Rundblad looked slow and yippy throughout the game but, hey, the coaching staff hasn't done much to boost the lad's confidence, have they; after seeing Clendenning get benched (and then scratched) after ONE error Rundblad must feel like he's walking on glass.  He knew all along that a two-goal game might not be be enough to avoid the scratch for Saturday's match against The Kings.
- The Ducks dressed three defensemen who had a combined 16 games NHL experience, two of whom failed to crack 9 minutes icetime.  Well, at least we now know that Bruce Boudreau is slightly dumber than Quenneville.

Anyway very glad to have the two points and the emotional lift that making The Ducks your bitches must bring, but it just felt like the sort of game that, with slightly different circumstances, is a 4-3 loss.

Oh yeah, I thought this guy was awesome.

Two points and several desperate efforts to keep the play alive earns Brad Richards the pants-holder-upperer for a few hours.

                  Hey, photos of Richie in a road jersey are still as rare as Pope shit....