They're Still In This! Hawks Snatch a Big 'W' In St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, MO -- OH. MY. GOD.

Hands down, most stressful game I've watched all year.

The first period was just downright brutal. With only two shots made by the Blackhawks to the Blues' seven, it looked grim for the Hawks. There was only one power play opportunity in the first period for the Blackhawks, and though they didn't score, they at least killed off a penalty of their own.

It wasn't until the second period that things started to pick up. Tarasenko notched one fifteen minutes in, giving the Blues a lead. But, Duncan Keith wanted to make sure the Scottrade Center knew he was back in the game, scoring with just a few seconds left in the period and tying it up. That was enough to shut the Blues fans up for a bit (seriously, the booing every time either Kane or Keith touched the puck grew annoying after about the second time). The second period even ended with a nice little kerfluffle (as the Blackhawks Twitter account called it)!

And, the third period, oh my god. Talk about high-stress. Tarasenko tried to take the lead, but his goal was ruled offsides. Not going to lie, I was screaming and jumping around and yelling. It was glorious.

Anyways, Tarasenko went off for slashing Shaw, which gave the Hawks yet another power play. This one they capitalized on. There was a lot of traffic and confusion at the net, but somehow, Andrew Shaw managed to sneak one in there. The refs reviewed it, but that wasn't enough, and after they declared it a good goal, the Blues challenged it. But, they were disappointed to hear that the call stood, and thus, Shaw got the GWG. Awesome.

But, it gets better!

At about the two-minute mark, Elliot headed to the bench. And, in a last-ditch effort, Panarin shot the puck down the ice to just clear it, but ended up scoring anyways. Awesome, again!

The game was delayed for a few moments as "classy" Blues fans threw things onto the ice, but it didn't shake the Hawks too much. Shattenkirk did score with just seconds left, but let's be honest: it didn't matter, and the game was over.

And, to top it all off, Crawford set the franchise record for playoff wins, with 46. That's pretty damn impressive.

Maybe this will give the Blackhawks the confidence they need going into the games in Chicago. I hope it does.

The Blackhawks and Blues face off at United Center at 3pm EST on Sunday, then again at 9:30pm EST on Tuesday.

Comments

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...

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...

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...

Sports with Megs

Search This Blog