It’s lame enough to grab a guy by the hair, but by the beak???  Really?  Isn’t that a little like grabbing a guy with a piercing by his nose ring in a bar fight?  Or kicking a guy in the cubes?  It goes against the bro code and it’s a cheap shot.   Ok, so the Blues are out of playoff contention and have to act as the spoilers.  But no respect can come from cheap shots.  Still, I think the Hawks had plenty to say by scoring four goals in the first period.  Ha!  Take that baby Blues! (And in the coming periods it would be nice to see the Hawks have a go at T.J. Oshie and David Backes.  They’re just crying out for a comeupance!)

P.S. Way to go on that goal Bickell the pickle!  Same for Duncan Keith, Ben Eager, and Kris Versteeg who all scored in the first period.

P.P.S.  Loving Dustin Byfuglien as a d-man.  I know he used to be a d-man and I’m wondering why anyone would ever have made him a forward.  Let’s keep this guy on D.  Seems that’s where he’s most at home.

Ben Eager and Canuck Rick Rypien scrapped early in the 1st period after some late smacking around of Tomas Kopecky.  I was certain that Dustin Byfuglien and any of a number of Canucks were going to go at it late in the first period after Byfuglien was called for holding, you know because the Canucks have a long-standing hatred of Buff.  But Buff quietly slunk off to the sin bin. (By the way, it wasn’t holding.  The correct call would have been either tripping or interference.)  Canuck Steve Bournier also caused a ruckus late in the 2nd period and while not a bench-clearer, it did draw a crowd of Hawks. (Say, does anyone enforce the third-man-in rule?  Just curious.)

And though admittedly I was a little worried about Antti Niemi in net tonight (seeing as how Roberto Luongo was at the other end) he blew everyone away blocking 30 shots to Luongo’s 17. In one impressive save, Niemi reached up to the sky and gloved the puck as if he were a baseball catcher catching a wayward pitch.  Niemi was simply spectacular which of course is why he was the player of the game.

Apparently impressiveness was contagious as Bryan Bickell was back on the ice tonight despite that hard hit to the head he took last night after his open-ice check on Oilers’ Dustin Penner.  Bickell’s tougher than I thought. (And I thought he was pretty tough!)  Clearly this kid has a lot to contribute, but if that hard hit last night on both Penner and himself didn’t prove it, the one and only goal scored in the game by Bickell (a redirect goal scored off of Jonathan Toews early in the third period) sure will!  Hopefully management takes note.

And also of note, if you’re a Canucks fan, is that the Sedin brothers were back together after brother Daniel’s recent trip to IR-land.  There were definitely some sweet, you-complete-me moments upon Daniel’s return, but who cares?

Weee, what a fun Circus Trip we’re having! On to the next!

P.S. This is the second game in two consecutive games where there has been a problem with the clocks.  What gives?  Please clock minders, mind your clocks better!

Also how many interference calls were missed?  I think I counted two times when I looked up and one of the Oil was holding a Hawk against the boards. Those are pretty obvious penalties to miss, if in fact you’re just missing them and not, say, overlooking them altogether.

And in terms of overlooking things, it’s really too bad that Bryan Bickell overlooked his own safety while open-ice checking Oiler Dustin Penner which resulted in Bickell slamming his head on the ice after tripping over Penner.  It’s never a good sign when two of your own teammates (in this case Niklas Hjalmarsson and Troy Brouwer) have to help you off the ice.  Bickell got his bell rung but good and is certain to have a substantial concussion.  I hope that the Hawks management will remember how Bickell took one for the team and ask him back up when he stops seeing double (or triple or quadruple).

Ok that was the bad, now for the good stuff. How much of a nail-biter was it when Cristobal Huet made that awesome save in the 2nd period by coming out of the crease so far he was halfway to the blue line!  At the same time you have to cringe because of course you never want to see your goalie that far out.  Yikes!  (It was good that Huet was performing so well last night and that Khabibulin was not in net for the Oil because seeing those two go head-to-head just feels really wrong somehow.)

Huet would again star in another nail-biting moment later in the 2nd period.  With the clock showing 0.1 seconds left, Oiler Shawn Horcoff supposedly scored a goal.  It wasn’t a pretty goal and had it stood it would’ve been called a garbage goal, but the War Room ruled a ‘no goal’ determining time had run out before the puck went in.  Once again, Huet had another great night.

Jonathan Toews too had an excellent night. He had two goals — one in the first period and one in the third on a power play — and an assist. (Also to score were Kris Versteeg, Patrick Kane, and John Madden.)  Tazer’s forechecking is now back to his pre-injury caliber so it’s nice to have him back all the way.  It’s nice to have this team back…finally.  Now, if the Hawks can keep up their winning streak on the road, they will make Hawks fans some very happy humans (as Pat Foley would say).

It was also nice to finally see the refs, in last night’s game at least, differentiating between roughing and fighting instead of carte blanche just calling a 5-minute major penalty for “fighting” whether the gloves were thrown down or not.  I want to see more of that proper kind of officiating, you know, where it’s a 5-minute major penalty for a real throw down (i.e. actual fighting); the kind that potentially draws blood.  That’s what a 5-minute major fighting penalty should look like.

As for last night’s game, it wasn’t Jarome Iginla instigating for once.  Last night, it was Dion Phaneuf who kept picking fights, some he was called for and some he wasn’t.  Even Brent Seabrook got into a scrap last night as did the Hawks’ little coming-along enforcer, Colin Fraser.  Hey why not.  The Hawks were up by several points, why not throw down the gloves a time or two, because, as ever, the Flames kept trash-talkin’ and instigating.  Perhaps the Flames should have spent less time jawin’ and scrappin’ and more time on their defense.  And perhaps they should have pulled Miikka Kiprusoff earlier. (A .750 save percentage over 40 minutes of play? Ouch!)

While we’re talking goal tenders, Cristobal Huet had another stellar night with a .964 save average.  I really do hope I get to eat crow over Huet.  It would be nice if he became the consistent, reliable goal tender we’ve always been told he can be.

And the goals were spectacular last night with Troy Brouwer, Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Kane, and Ben Eager all scoring.  Versteeg scored twice, and Ben Eager netted his first goal of the season.  It truly was a sight to behold.

It was good to see Bryan Bickell again last night, too.  He only had a little over 11 minutes on ice, so it will be interesting to see how he does with a little more ice time.

And once again, the contributions of Niklas Hjalmarsson cannot be ignored.  It was Hjalmy’s stone-cold hit on Rene Bourque that amped the Hawks’ offense, inspiring them to score 5 times in the 2nd period. The only one that could’ve deserved that bull-dozing hit more than Bourque was Jarome Iginla.  Still, watching Hjalmy take out Bourque was like watching a Great White Shark breach the water and connect with massive, brute force with its intended target.  That would explain Hjalmarsson’s toothy grin while watching the replay from the bench.  This kid only gets better.  And so do the Hawks.  For the first time this season I have hope.  Actual hope.

And, you don’t see this often, but Brent Sopel scored a goal late in the first period. Sopie’s screener, Bryan Bickell, would go on to screen the second goal as well which was scored by Patrick Kane, on another set-up by Jonathan Toews, in the 2nd period. (Hmm, Patrick Kane sure does score a lot when his contract is about to be renewed.)

Speaking of you don’t see that often, Sharks’ Manny Malhotra had a go at Brian Campbell of all people.  Someone shoulda told Malhotra that Soupy ain’t on the scrappin’ list.  Ben Eager is on the scrappin’ list however, and so when Eager and Doug Murray went at it shortly after the Malhotra/Campbell kerfuffle, gloves were actually dropped.  For some reason, Ben Eager got an additional 2-minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the reason why is anyone’s guess. (Looked like Eager may have taken a cheap shot at Sharks’ goal tender Evgeni Nabokov.)  All of that scufflin’ made for an exciting start to the 2nd period, though.

Also, I just can’t stop talking about Niklas Hjalmarsson.  His battles for the puck, particularly in the corner, are epic.  This kid is a legend in the making, no doubt, so it was great to see him finally get some recognition as the second star of tonight’s game.  Bang on Hammer.

Now, on to the Circus Trip.

P.S.  How great was it to see Bobby Hull and Chris Chelios on Jeremy Roenick Heritage Night?