One But Far From Done: Hawks 4, Wild 3 and Friday's Big Boy

Oh dear.  I fell asleep with The Hawks up 3-0 and only learned this morning that they eked out a tense 4-3 win.  I guess I shouldn't have been too shocked, since The Wild outplayed The Hawks in the first period fairly comprehensively...apart from the three goals, of course.
Still, The Hawks weathered The Wild's comeback in the second and, after being pushed around for much of the period, regained the lead on a shot I would describe as optimistic, at best.

Quenneville came close to rolling four lines in this match.  It worries me, however, that the Sharp - Vermette - Teravainen combo played the least.  Vermette slayed at the dot, though, five-for-five in the defensive zone, in fact, so Q may well lean on #80 and Co. a little more in Game Two.

I'm encouraged by the resiliency and the reversal of momentum in the third period; this is a team that can be...fragile, and I take it as a good sign that they dug in and got the job done.

Here's the guy, for a couple of reasons.  First, for his somewhat-lucky-but-they-all-count winning goal and, second, for playing well enough that we probably won't see Versteeg until at least Game Three.

       Yeah, I know he doesn't wear that number anymore, but doesn't it just rub it in a little more?