Skip to main content

Hawks Bounce Back with a Huge W over Penguins


PITTSBURGH, PA -- Well, this Hawks team looked decidedly better tonight, and much more like themselves.

 The Hawks certainly started strong, taking just three minutes to score--and of course, it was another Artemi Panarin and Patrick Kane beauty (with Tanner Kero's help as well). This was Panarin's 26th goal on the season, and boy has he looked good this season. And, incidentally, all three of these players that helped on this goal are the three stars of the night. Well deserved, too.

But, back on track. Not but a few moments later,  Scott Wilson took a penalty for whacking the back of Ryan Hartman's head with his stick--in the words of referee legend Mike Leggo: you can't do that. Hawks went to the power play, but nothing came of it and they were back to even strength.

Corey Crawford made some incredible stops tonight, and I thank my lucky stars every night that the Hawks are lucky enough to have him in net. He and Scott Darling are an unbelievable duo.

The Penguins headed to the box again, this time Ian Cole for interference on Richard Panik, but again, nothing comes of it, and the game resumed as a 5-on-5.

Then, Panik saved the day and netted an absolute muffin of a shot. I still can't really believe that Marc-Andre Fleury didn't stop that one. Nick Schmaltz and Jonathan Toews got the helpers on that one, and with that, the Hawks were up 2-0 at the midway point of the period.

But, I know the Blackhawks. I know how they operate. This lead couldn't last long.

Panarin came in on a breakaway--but, nope, stopped by Fleury.  Their shots started going wide, they were letting the Penguins play in the Hawks end more--this was when I started really worrying. But, the Hawks were clearing pucks. They were stopping plays. I was impressed, actually.

Just as I was yelling at the TV, telling them it was time for about three more goals, Marcus Kruger said "yes, ma'am" and sunk one in on his own rebound. Pretty sweet goal. And, just 39 seconds later, Hartman raced up the ice, sauced the pass to Marian Hossa across the entire sheet of ice, and Hossa netted it. The referees looked for offside, but the goal was good and the call on the ice stood!

So, the Hawks went into the first intermission up 4-0. And part of me still worried.

But... no.

The Hawks take a penalty for high sticking (John Hayden, actually), and Phil Kessel had a few great opportunities, but the Hawks maintain their ground and the Penguins... took another penalty? The Blackhawks sadly haven't figured out their power play game yet, so the score remains 4-0 after two minutes.

 Crawford made some crazy stops right at the end there, too. But, it couldn't be a Penguins game without Sidney Crosby whining about something--this time it happened to be that he wanted a delay of game call with just four seconds in the period left, and the referee near him just skated away. It was actually pretty funny.

Anyways, the third period started and I began thinking, "Wow, they could actually get this solid win!" Look, the Hawks are a good team, a great team. But some days, I wonder about them.

 But, again, they proved me wrong.

Crawford robbed Tom Khunhackl (what a name) right off the bat, and Kero turned right around and scored on Fleury, earning the Hawks' fifth goal of the night. Jesus.

Trevor van Riemsdyk went to the box for holding, but before the Hawks could even begin killing the penalty, the Penguins' Patric Hornqvist took a penalty for slashing, and it was 4-on-4 for almost a full two minutes.

There was a lot of back and forth, but eventually Bryan Rust scored for the Penguins, which took away Crawford's shutout--one I really hoped he'd get tonight, especially for how well he was playing. 

And, that was that. No more goals scored, no tears. Just a lot of scream-singing along to Chelsea Dagger, as one does. 

So, does this win bode well for the Hawks? I think so. I was expecting this game to be a high-energy, playoff-style game, but it was surprisingly not that. Granted, the Penguins have a good number of players out (eight, I believe), so it was not going to be an easy win against a mostly healthy Blackhawks team.

But, I still think this win meant something bigger than just the 24th road win, or Coach Q's 850th career win. This means that the Hawks aren't even close to done yet. I really do believe in this team, and this year in particular, I think they're a force to be reckoned with. Beating the Penguins tonight and sweeping the season series is huge. The Penguins, as much as many don't like them, are a good, hardy team. I knew they could give the Hawks a run for their money, but the Hawks struck first, and didn't stop striking.

I'm not saying what you probably think I'm saying, but I totally am. This team is good.

I'll ask you the same question Steve Dangle has been asking Leafs fans lately: Are you in?

Comments

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...

Blackhawks Fire Assistant Coach Mike Kitchen

CHICAGO, IL -- GM Stan Bowman is keeping to his word about making changes, I guess. This may seem like a surprise to a lot of fans, but honestly, I can't say I'm overly surprised. Kitchen was mostly responsible for the power play and penalty-killing units. It's not an exaggeration to suggest that both units were more than disappointing this season--especially when it really mattered and they needed to be strong. But, Kitchen was a good assistant coach. He saw the last two Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, starting after the 2009-2010 season with the Hawks. Up until this year, the penalty killing and power play has been stellar--but, obviously something changed. Still, I'm not sure anyone expected Bowman to make changes this quickly, or in this fashion. I think this likely sets the stage for what to expect this summer, which could be shocking to some fans this summer. I'm not even entirely sure who is safe on the roster or coaching staff (except Coach Q, w...

Measuring the Blackhawks Rookies and Newbies

CHICAGO, IL -- I know I did a quick measure of the entire Blackhawks roster back in February, but I thought since the season is likely coming to a close (save for a miracle), it might be nice to get an idea of where the newbies and rookies to the Hawks roster are. For this article, I did create some guidelines, like I did with the mid-season report cards (end of season report cards are coming soon, by the way!). This isn't really going to be a report card, but more of just my general thoughts on how the player is doing in his first season with the Hawks--I'll give a more specific/"graded" report in the post-season report cards article. The basic guidelines are as follows: Must be currently on the Hawks roster (not in Rockford) Must have played less than 82 NHL games OR less than 82 games with the Blackhawks (all stats will be just for this season to make things easy) Must be their first full year playing with the Blackhawks With that out of...