In tonight’s game 5, it looked like Dustin Byfuglien agreed when during a check of Flyers’ d-man Kimmo Timonen at about the 10 or 11 minute mark of the 3rd period, he took out Dan O’Halloran as well.  Two goons with one stone.  It was a thing of beauty!  O’Halloran seemed to know that hit was meant for him too by the look on his face.  Karma can be tricky Danny boy, so you just better watch out.  The hockey gods don’t seem to like your intentional missed calls on the Flyers.

Finally, just to add insult to injury, Hawks’ Dustin Byfuglien scored the last goal of the 7-4 victory over the Flyers with an empty-netter in the last minute-and-a-half of the game with Dan O’Halloran having to rule it a good goal.  So sweet.  Go Hawks!  Get that cup!

P.S. Hats off to Q for taking Big Buff and Kaner off the first line and moving Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky up with Toews.  It totally threw off the Flyers.  They couldn’t put the bullseye on any one player and with Buff checking up and down like a mad man, it was discombobulating to the Flyers.  Hopefully Niklas Hjalmarsson can figure his game out by game 6 though, because we need him blocking shots.  Don’t know what’s up with him, but he has that deer-in-headlights look about him.

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!

With Hossa, I’ve been reining in any excessive excitement I might let slip through my steely, hockey exterior. We’ve all been down this road before; we’ve bought into the hype and been disappointed.  Hossa did have some rust to work out of the pipes, but he did not disappoint.  Once Hossa oiled the hinges, he scored a short-handed goal on the penalty kill (as did Patrick Sharp within 28 seconds of each other) in the 2nd period.  Hossa would score again early on in the 3rd period and I was hoping for a hat trick, but alas it was not meant to be.  I am cautiously optimistic about Hossa, but continued performances like tonight’s will win over even this fiercest of skeptics.

While it’s usually good to have new blood, it’s still nice to see the old reliables, like Troy Brouwer who scored a goal during a penalty kill late in the 1st period, Dustin Byfuglien who scored midway through the 2nd (and who had a puck go up his shorts late in the 2nd period…tee hee), and Brent Seabrook who scored early in the 3rd.  Duncan Keith also had 3 assists.  And Niklas Hjalmarsson too is fast becoming old faithful.  He had a diving block in the first period (which is a really good way to break your neck if you slam into the boards head first), but that’s nothing as he seems to perpetually be putting himself in peril for this team.

There was a little bit of bumbling involving some bad passes, and at one point John Madden tripped over his own skates on a breakaway.  Madden would make up for it though, scoring a goal late in the 3rd.  The Hawks were also a little lazy on their back checking tonight, at first at least, but chalk that up to jet lag.  The important thing is that this team keeps improving.  So, what am I thankful for this season?  That the Blackhawks just keep getting better and better.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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!

Indeed, look how conspicuous some of these underperformers are when Jonathan Toews is off the ice.  For instance, Brian Campbell has always been a bumbler (at least with the Hawks), but how much more so now that Tazer isn’t there to pick up  the slack of his teammates’ bad passes, turnovers, and other bumblings?  How much more apparent is Dustin Byfuglien’s bad skating when on an opponent’s breakaway, big, bumbling Buff is left in the dust, which, in last night’s loss to the Avalanche at least, resulted in an avoidable goal.

And Ben Eager.  Well, clearly we haven’t been giving this boy his due.  In Eager’s absence is Colin Fraser seriously expected to act as enforcer???  I give Fraser snaps for trying, but please Ben Eager, eat your spinach, take your vitamins, and get back soon! (Or better yet, let’s travel back in time and re-sign Matt Walker who was an excellent, if uncredited, enforcer.)

Additionally, and as Sassone alluded to — Jordan Hendry, John Madden, Andrew Ebbett, Tomas Kopecky, and Jake Dowell — ain’t cuttin’ it.  The only newbie I see hustling out there is Niklas Hjalmarsson.  He’s so busy, he’s running circles, literally, around other defensemen like Brian Campbell and Cam Barker.  The Hammer is going to hammer himself out if he doesn’t get some help out there, and soon!

And the power-play unit.  Just the mere mention of it makes my stomach turn.  While the Hawks scored once on the power play last night, I think it is obvious even to the most casual hockey fan that there needs to be some vast improvement there.

The Hawks have had a fairly light schedule so far.  So does anyone really see them staying atop the division if they continue on like this?  Everyone knows the boys from Rockford are hungrier because they don’t have cushy multi-million dollar contracts to fall back on.  It’s play well or get out.  So, bringing up some eager beavers from Rockford might wake some of these Hawks up and make them realize their jobs aren’t guaranteed.

Let’s look at the run-down shall we?  The Hawks’ injury report looks more like the team roster with Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews, Ben Eager, Adam Burish, and Marian Hossa all having been sidelined.  Fans have also been divided between Martin Havlat/Dale Tallon supporters and the no-need-to-dwell-on-the-pasters.  And while Jonathan Toews took a nasty hit a few weeks ago resulting in a fairly serious concussion, Toews was blamed for not seeing oncoming traffic, while Toews’ hit-man Canucks’ Willie Mitchell has all but escaped scrutiny.  Meanwhile, Andrew Ladd has been skewered by sports pundits across the Internet for his “dirty” hit on the Habs’ Matt D’Agostini.

Oh but wait, there’s more.  Recent acquisitions — Jordan Hendry, Andrew Ebbett, Tomas Kopecky, John Madden — have been less than the promised spectacularness, and have yet to even gel with the rest of the team.  And let’s not forget that Cristobal Huet has had an even less ceremonious start this year than last year when he was also booed in his own stadium.

So, putting all these things together, does the evidence speak for itself, or is it still too soon to tell if the Hawks’ management have cursed themselves?  While the Hawks lead the division, it’s been…well…weird.  The United Center feels funny, the players frequently are awkward and bumbling, and the fans appear askew.  There’s a haunting energy surrounding the Hawks, no question.

Well, as other fans and myself said after the Havlat debacle, we know the truth.  Difference is, we don’t have a gag clause.  Like I said, karma’s a tricky thing.  And the Hawks’ management may just be seeing their shenanigans being revisited back on their heads.