Outshot, somehow, and outworked for stretches here and there, but tonight was one of those nights when the puck just goes in.
- That said, it wasn't a bad effort for The Hawks at all. Yeah, there were a few missed assignments and Crawford looked a little foolish overcommitting so badly on Duchense's second goal, which was a distraction, at least, from Rozsival and TVR wheezing away, completely paralyzed. The Av's outshot The Hawks slightly but there were perhaps only six or seven real scoring chances there.
- Hjalmarsson played a strong game again, with a couple of tremendous passes at key moments. Rozsival had the stretch pass working alright, too.
- Okay, Mashinter scored and actually had another couple of looks, so look for him to get some power play time real soon. In seriousness, he's actually more poised in-close than I had given him credit for, but that lousy shot off the rush late in the first brought things back to earth in a hurry.
- Another strong game from Toews who, rather stealthily, notched three points tonight. On his left wing though, despite collecting a pair of helpies, Andrew Shaw was a ball of confusion all evening, either a step out of sync or out of position entirely on a lot of plays.
- Two rarely-seen things occurred tonight: Semyon Varlamov gacked one against The Hawks, in The UC no less, where he's been historically stellar, and each of The Hawks' centers were north of 50% on face offs. These revelations have me checking the lunar schedule...
Two goals, a typical hard-nosed effort and renewed hope that he may still have a chance to hit 500 career goals by the end of the year earn Hoss The Belt tonight.
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone he already had two missed calls from Hossa.
Hey, check it out, The Hawks beat the Avs. Almost didn't, but nevermind.
- In a game that was equally sloppy and inspired, kinda depending on what point of the game during the game you wanna consider indicative of the overall effort, The Hawks were finaly able to touch up Semyon Varlamov. The Av's starter played well, but it was a solitary effort for much of the night as The Hawks struck for 43 shots.
- At the other end, Scott Darling had a forgettable game. Or, more correctly, a game he would like to forget while I will clearly remember Cody McLeod sliding a shuffleboard shot under Darling's pads to get the Av's within one. I'm not sure what's expected of the guy, though, when he plays only once every week or two.
- It took four tries but Andrew Desjardins finally netted a goal that wasn't kind of embarrassing.
- Teravainen took a brief spin on the PK - is that a first?
Once more, Patrick Kane led The Hawks on the scoresheet with 1G 2A. When you see him start a play in his own end, make a breakout pass and then race up ice for the world's longest give-and-go to score, you know the kid is dialed in like never before.
I am the straw that stirs the drink.
