Games like tonight’s Hawks/Canucks match-up where the teams are scoreless even after the 2nd period can kind of drag on. It feels more like tennis when you’re watching the boys skate back and forth. But there was still some good scrappin’ to keep things lively, and things lit up in the 3rd period. Seems to me like ever since that now infamous hair pulling incident, these two teams just can’t seem to get along. <chuckle> (more…)
The most consistent thing about last night’s 5-2 win over the Oilers was the inconsistency of the officiating. Beyond all the missed hooking calls that were so numerous I lost count, there were a couple of missed boarding calls (i.e. dirty hits from behind). The weird thing is the refs didn’t allow any fights. So, in theory, the refs would allow dirty hits which had the potential to do damage, but they wouldn’t allow fighting ostensibly because fighting leads to injuries? Yeah, that makes sense. (more…)
Last night’s 7-1 win over the Flames was breathtaking. For the first time this season, it felt like the magic of last season had returned. I can’t decide if that was because the Hawks have finally gelled with each other, or if the Flames just fell down, psyched out by the remembrance of the playoffs last season. I want to believe it is the former, not the latter. (more…)
Playing teams in the Pacific Division is always seemingly tricky for the Hawks. Playing teams as good as the Sharks, you can’t be undisciplined and commit stupid penalties like John Madden’s holding call in the opening minute of the game. (Madden would make up for it in the dwindling minutes of the 2nd though with a goal on a nearly wide-open net.) The Hawks committed almost twice as many penalties as the Sharks. Still, the Hawks squeaked out another win, 4-3, seconds into the overtime period on a brilliant goal by Brent Seabrook who was set up but proper by Jonathan Toews. (more…)