The Man Comes Around: Hawks 1, Wild 0 and Tuesday's Big Boy

The Hawks are a team that, when they do properly what they do best, score early and often.  History has shown that they are not always able to come back from an early deficit and are frequently guilty of being too passive in close games that they ultimately lose.
Tuesday's match felt a bit like the passive approach I mention above.  Failing to really press the issue and merely hang on with a one-goal lead seemed, to me, the wrong choice.  Not to discount the efforts of The Wild, 'cos they were certainly game, but it seemed too close for too long for The Hawks to have switched to lead-protection mode.
That said, The Hawks did not allow a lot of quality chances once they circled the wagons; Granlund had his chance to tie and lost the coin flip, and Niederreiter got the yips at an opportune moment.  I guess this was one way to succeed, but my point is that The Hawks didn't have to approach the game the way they did.  They have the best flat-out offensive skill in the league - it just feels weird for them not to exploit that at every opportunity.

Well, who else could it have been?  That's two solid starts in a row and what will hopefully be the momentum builder that Corey Crawford needs to carry The Hawks forward.

                                      Probably still too early to be swearing in public, though.