LOUSY FINNISH: Panthers 4, Blackhawks 3 (SHO)
The 2009-10 season began for the Chicago Blackhawks as the 2008-09 season ended, with a strong effort for most of the game, only to reach a disappointing end.
The Hawks dominated the play for most of regulation and overtime, only to lose 4-3 to the Florida Panthers in a shootout in Helsinki, Finland.
Let's get right to it...
THE GOOD:
Patrick Kane. His first goal was a thing of beauty, roofing a backhander. His crossbar shot later on got converted by Dustin Byfuglien, and he got robbed a couple times, which leads us to...
The offensive pressure. They put 55 pucks on goal, and only came away with 3 goals. That's insane. Tomas Vokoun absolutely stood on his bald head in this game, robbing the Hawks several times.
THE BAD:
The blueline's lapses. Niklas Hjalmarsson gave Steven Reinprecht way too much room on Michael Frolik's goal in the second period. Frolik was able to set a prefect screen on Ville Kostinen's goal in the third, and Brent Seabrook's buttass-ugly clearing attempt gave David Booth a free shot on Cristobal Huet.
This didn't take long...the Hawks got their very first too-many-men penalty this season. If this team really wants to believe they're an upper-echelon team, they need to behave like it, and play with discipline. The Hawks were dictating the flow of the game up until this dumbass penalty, and they then had to go on the kill. Great.
THE UGLY:
Huet in shootouts. He's god-awful. Always has been. When you've got a goalie who has an obvious weakness (in Huet's case, it's the top shelf), leaving him alone against a shooter coming alone from center ice will never end well.
Of course, there's 81 games left in the regular season, and this game was lost on mental lapses, which will (hopefully) sort themselves out before too long, and Tomas Vokoun having the game of his life.
These two teams strap it on tomorrow in Helsinki, this time the Panthers are the home team, and the Hawks wear the whites. See you in the Shoutbox.
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, Game Recap
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks Florida Panthers
Good to see you gentlemen haven't decided to commit seppuku after the tie against the Fort Lauderdale Tabbies.
My view is rather measured, as I expected Florida to be a strong opponent; Mr. Vokoun obviously agreed with my prognosis.
That said, one point is close enough for government work as they say, and the Hawkey Flock get another kick at the can tomorrow, eh.
I really do have to call you out, though, regarding your slandering of Monsieur Huet. Count Cristo's acrobatics kept his team in the contest early on when the Chicago Mob was searching for its identity and letting the Tabbies get all kinds of quality chances.
For the record, Monsieur Huet's shootout statistics, in terms of winning percentage is similar to such media darlings as Roberto 'Don't Cry For Me' Luongo, TimBit Thomas and Marky Flower Power of the Pingu Posse. In other words, about 50 per cent. Better than Chris Osgood.
Stats here:
http://www.nhlshootouts.com/CareerGoaliesMostWins.htm
Perhaps Les BlaqueHauques should simply avoid turning the puck over at the blueline late in the game. Turnovers are what kill this team...not the goaltending, which was more adequate today.
Of course, you could trade Cris, Cam Barker, Versteeg and Sharp for Henrik Lundqvist. If that's what you REALLY want.
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Sopel didn't make the ugly? FOR SHAME FOR SHAME!
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I think I was fair to Huet. All three goals in regulation, I hung those on the defensemen.
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Maybe the Hawks could pull Huet for the shoot-out and put in the back-up. I've seen it several times in the minors. Unorthodox, but it can't be any worse than Huet.
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