What I really wanted for the headline, here, was a shot of Oesterle somehow falling under Duncan Keith, sending them both sprawling to the ice whilst Hank Zetterberg neatly dished to a streaking Anthony Mantha. Alas, it was not to be, but y'all can see what I'm driving at.
This rubbish effort was against a team that ain't making the playoffs, no way, no how and facing arguably the weakest starting goalie in the league. Yet, The Hawks came away with nothing but embarrassment and a touch of sunburn on Jeff Glass' neck.
They made it easy for Wings starter Petr Mrazek, not forcing to him make any especially tough saves and virtually no second saves. We couldn't even get lucky enough to get a cheapo tip-in goal 'cos there was really only one shift in which The Hawks had traffic in front AND got some shots on or toward the net.
Glass was not great. The odd thing was that he actually made a clutch of saves tougher than anything Mrazek faced, but he also let a few savable shots past him...
The refrain is largely the same: poor shot selection/timing, sloppy positioning and no one getting to the danger zone at the right times. Don't they practice this shit? What's even happening here?
The Hawks are in 10th place right now but, with five days off, they're sure to fall to 12th by the time they reconvene on Saturday. The Wings weren't the only non-playoff team out there today.
Like it says, I have other things I wanna do, so just some quick points.
- Shots were even and chances seemed close, but The Hawks were simply finishing better, thanks to Petr Mrazek being less-than-average in The Wing's net and The Wing's D-corps leaving The Hawks unchecked far too often. I wonder if Ladd's shot had not gone in how many more whacks they would have let him take.
- When Goose makes passes like the one he sent to Seabrook on the game's first goal it's hard to believe he's ever a healthy scratch.
- Christian Ehrhoff made his Hawks debut and I like what I saw. No red flags thus far.
- Looking ahead, Dale Weise is expected to play in Boston tonight and I assume Scott Darling will start.
Oh, those feckless Red Wings made several Hawks look positively heroic in this one, but the tie breaker gives Seabrook the nod due to last night at least being something other than him standing around looking bewildered. Oh, and he had three points, both assists being actually very fine plays. Also, I stole this image ages ago and have been dying to use it.
They do? I think he looks like a homeless Eddie Munster, but I'm no lady...
