Skip to main content

The Boys Are Back! Well, Sort Of.


CHICAGO, IL -- What the hell even just happened?

 Well, let's break this down.

 Even though it took them 13 minutes to warm up, they scored first! Good job, boys. Anisimov snatched the first goal up with ease, shooting it past Rask with a sort of sloppy play. Doesn't matter. He scored, and it was awesome--Panarin and Seabrook got the two assists for that one, and not five minutes later, Kane answered with his first goal of the game. That was a beautiful breakaway, too. But, he's not stopping there!

 Kane scored again not a minute into the second period, driving right up to the goal and earning his 98th point of the season. And, Toews wasn't too far after him, scoring two minutes in! (Sometimes watching the Blackhawks is dizzying, frankly.) Hossa was trying to get a goal in, but made a beautiful pass to Toews who was able to tip it in.

 This was the point that they pulled Rask from the net, putting in Gustavsson. He only helped a little, still allowing for a goal from Panarin. That ended in possibly the cutest celly in the world, with a hug from Kane and getting him to 99 points.
See? Cutest celly ever. (source: tazertantrum on Tumblr)
But, they're not done yet. The Bruins were sent off the ice for too many men on the ice (I swear this stupid call follows me around), and the Hawks capitalized. Kane tallied a nice goal and his second finished hat trick this season--which was also his 100th point on the season! I'm telling you guys, this was not the game to miss this season. It was unbelievable.

 And, as of the second period, with 72 points, Panarin has the most points in a rookie season since... Patrick Kane. Talk about crazy coincidences.

 Still, the Bruins came back and scored twice before the second period ended, just a mere 11 seconds apart. Chicago challenged the second call, but came up empty-handed, and the goal stuck. (Even though the fans seemed to think otherwise, cheering as the ref skated to center ice only to crush their dreams.)

 And, they score at the beginning of the third period, as well. Another goal came quick in the second period, sending Blackhawks fans into a frenzy as the boys scrambled to keep their lead.

 Not much else happened in the third, aside from rising heart rates and a possibly injured Hossa. I swear, if he's injured again, I'll be very, very unhappy. He needs to wear bubble wrap from now on, I think.

 Anyways, Hawks cleared (barely), and won. An almost-empty netter attempt was made by Desjardins with less than a minute left, but Kruger was offsides. Boo.

 While I think the first two periods were good, the last really rubbed me the wrong way. I think they need to work on defense a little, since Darling had to work much harder than necessary to keep them in this game. Granted, with Keith out, the defense was pretty good today. Especially early on, with a 6-0 lead. I'm frustrated they lost that, and they definitely shouldn't have. Hopefully by the time playoffs roll around, they'll play like they did in the first two periods.

 That being said, the boys are back. Six goals is a pretty nice tally, and though it was stress-inducing later, they needed that lead to win, and the Kane-Anisimov-Panarin line really stepped it up today.

 Playoffs, look out. The Blackhawks are picking up steam, and hopefully not showing signs of stopping.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Checking In - Breaking Down the Blackhawks' Play Over a Month

CHICAGO, IL — I’m going to be absolutely real with you—I had no idea what to write about for the blog this week. I’ve written about the Blackhawks being good, bad, and everything in between, I’ve written about Patrick Kane a couple times now (#Kane4Hart), and I’ve even written about the best goal celebrations from the Hawks this season. The idea tank is running dry, my friends. So, I thought we could throw it back to a post I made a while back about what the Hawks really needed to do to make the playoffs, and grade them on how well they're meeting all three of those items a couple of weeks later. Let's just get right on into it, shall we? 1) With 27 games left, you have to go 18-9 to get to the 88-90-point range that would potentially get them into the playoffs. So, the Hawks currently sit at 71 points through 70 games, and since the date of this article (February 8th), the Hawks have gone 9-6, which is not terrible, but also only gives them a b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Another Hat Trick for Patrick Kane Sends Hawks Into Fifth Straight Win

CHICAGO, IL -- The Hawks are certainly on a hot streak. In the past week and a half, they've beaten some of the top teams in the league--and have made it look way too easy. Tonight was no different. I was a bit worried about this game, only because the Pittsburgh Penguins are a team to reckon with. But, with guys like Kris Letang, Bryan Rust and Conor Sheary out due to injury, and the fact that they're coming off a loss to the Dallas Stars last night... The Hawks did have the upper hand to begin with, I think. But, the Penguins came out strong and tough, as usual, and the Hawks certainly rose to the challenge. The first period was basically a bust. I thought the Hawks had some great shots on goal, but Marc-Andre Fleury played incredibly well that first period and prevented anything from going through--even back-to-back Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook wristers. I was a little frustrated with the refs blatantly ignoring calls on both sides. The Hawks did manage to draw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Break-Up Day - Blackhawks End of Season Locker Room Clean Out

CHICAGO, IL — After a nice finish on the season with wins over the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars (and a loss to the Nashville Predators that we're going to ignore), the Blackhawks are officially in the off-season. The team held their annual locker room clean out, and I thought there were a lot of great takeaways from the clean out day. Obviously, the Hawks didn’t finish where they wanted to, but I think that was made up for when they moved from the 12th overall pick to the 3rd pick in the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery that took place on Tuesday. I’ll probably do a quick piece on who the Hawks should be looking at and what their options are for the draft in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for that. But, in the meantime, lets go over some of the topics that came up in the clean out presser. IIHF World Championship The past couple of years, a handful of Blackhawks players have participated in the IIHF World Championship, which takes place in early May. A coup...
Post a Comment
Read more