Chicago Blackhawks v. St. Louis Blues: No Blues this Christmas
Line changing seems to be the name of the game of late for the Hawks. On the Jonathan Toews line now is Patrick Kane again and Troy Brouwer. Hmm, not bad in terms of forechecking and all out aggressiveness. And how about that Madden line with Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien on wing; Madden who has steadily increased his face-off wins and overall performance? And Jordan Hendry replaced Tomas Kopecky (Bout time somebody did!) on the Colin Fraser line. Has Coach Q finally solidified the offensive lines? Well, let’s hope so. Let’s hope Q has finally found a winning combination.
And I’m really loving Ben Eager and Colin Fraser as co-enforcers in the absence of Adam Burish. Bur could do no better in terms of quality of scraps. Once Eager and Fraser learned the fine art of discernment — you know, figuring out when to drop the gloves and when not to — these two became indispensable. Bang on boys! (Literally.)
With the Hawks getting their rough-housing out of the way a few times in the first period of tonight’s game against the Blues, it was no surprise that they waited past the first half of the first period to score. The long-suffering Troy Brouwer scored one past Blues’ net-minder Ty Conklin with relative ease off an assist by Jonathan Toews. And, with a little over two minutes left in the first, Brian Campbell also scored on a slap shot thanks to a screen from Kris Versteeg.
And with a little over three minutes left in the 2nd, Jonathan Toews came around back of the goal in what looked like it would be a wrap-around and then deftly passed to Marian Hossa who shot quickly for the third goal.
The rest of the 2nd and a little over two minutes left in the 3rd period it was hum-drum hockey until Dustin Byfuglien followed through with a clean check of Blues’ Barret Jackman. Then Blues’ Brad Winchester and Big Buff had a bit of a go, but nothing major. In the last 20 seconds of the game, Blues’ Cam Janssen encroached on Cristobal Huet and Huet pushed back until Brent Sopel swooped in to protect Huet. Ben Eager then scrapped with B.J. Crombeen, even though Crombeen refused to drop his glove. Regardless, the Hawks would take the Blues 3-0 in a shut-out for Cristobal Huet.
P.S. And good news on the Patrick Kane front. Despite that nasty trip into the boards during that last game between the Hawks and the Lightning wherein Kane hit his eye, Kaner is back. Is he ok? Of course. He hit his head, and he doesn’t use that often enough for that to have been cause for concern. Yet, for some unknown reason he was the star of the game tonight even though Cristobal Huet had the shut-out. Well, I guess that’s just good P.R. and of course you need those kids to get their parents in the those seats!
December 17th, 2009 at 10:13 am
That was a fun game to watch! Great job by Huet; the steak dinners he owes his defense are starting to pile up. Not to take anything away from him, he made some terrific stops again last night.
I was really pleased with the Hawks’ play, but I have to mention a couple things that bothered me:
Once again, Dunc looked to be playing without a blade on his stick… what’s up with him lately? As Pat and Eddie pointed out, you could hear him sounding off his frustration on the ice. Actually, everybody seemed to have a hard time settling down long, hard passes last night. Maybe everyone collectively forgot to bring their tape to the game.
Buff, Buff, Buff…. so much pushing and shoving, and still no balls to drop the gloves. Get wrapped up with a guy, and then wait for the ref or a teammate to separate you. Because God knows if you let go of him and back off a step of two he is going to drop his gloves and pound you. Grow a pair already.
I am officially giving Byfuglien the title of “Gooniest Non-Goon Of The Decade.”
P.S. We, John Madden fans, thank you for his honorable mention in the post last night! ;)
December 17th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Yes, John Madden has slowly grown on me. Hope he keeps it up.
You’re right about Dunc. I didn’t want to say anything about him yet because I was kind of taking a wait-and-see approach. I don’t know what he was hollering about either, but it must’ve been really loud if it was loud to us watching at home.
Still don’t know why Buff won’t drop the gloves, but maybe that’s his role. Maybe he’s the B.J. Crombeen of the Hawks. (ha, ha) And I like your nick-name for Buff. Gooniest Non-Goon. A perfect title!
December 19th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
“Gooniest Non-Goon Of The Decade”?
What about Otter and Avery?
Go easy on my name too, dammit…..
December 21st, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Premiere of Blackhawks TV Show To Run On Comcast SportsNet Christmas Day.
In conjunction with broadcast partner Comcast SportsNet, the Chicago Blackhawks announced the airing of Blackhawks TV, an all-access, thirty-minute television show that includes a variety of segments highlighting the players’ personalities off the ice.
The show can be seen on Comcast SportsNet on Friday, December 25th at 7:00 P.M., with an encore presentation at 10:30 P.M.
Friday’s show includes unseen footage from NHL Winter Classic 2009, off-ice player interviews on a variety of topics, a behind the scenes look at Blackhawks Ambassadors Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito and Denis Savard before and after their skate on the United Center ice at the regular-season opener on Oct. 10th, and more.
Located on chicagoblackhawks.com, Blackhawks TV received the most video views in the NHL during the month of November, garnering over 880,000. Last season it received over four million video views and is consistently among the most watched in the league.
Viewers are also urged to visit CSNChicago.com
for the very latest Blackhawks news, game previews/recaps, videos and much more.