Cripes: Hawks 3, Stars 4
Dammit Cristobal, help me out here.
Yeah, that sucked. The Hawks should have by all rights won tonight's game. They dominated the first period. They killed every penalty they took. They outshot the Stars, won the majority of the face offs and were the better team. Except in goal.
On the plus side, Jonathan Toews finally got off the schnide, scoring his first goal of the year.
THE GOOD
Kris VERSTEEG!: Steeger didn't figure in the scoring, but was all over the ice, generating chances and playing well on the penalty kill. I like the offensive dimension he brings to the 3rd line, and he seems to be a good match with John Madden.
Penalty Kill: The Blackhawks killed off all 5 penalties they took tonight, and actually generated a good number of short-handed chances.
Jonathan Toews: Terrific as usual in all phases, Toews finally got his first goal of the season, easily wristing one home after Stars' goaltender Alex Auld fell down behind his own net.
THE BAD
Cristobal Huet: I've defended Huet so far this season, and I still think he's easily the best goalie on the roster, but tonight...woof. The first two goals weren't bad ones (although it appears that the new United Center tradition is going to be booing the goalie every time the opponent scores) but the last two were horrible. The first coming when an unscreened shot from way out on the right boards beat Huet short side. Even Eddie Olczyk didn't sugarcoat that one saying "that goal CAN'T go in". The last goal was even worse. After Huet had seemingly gotten the crowd back on his side with some nice stops on the PK, a Stephane Robidas dump in took a crazy carom out of the corner, skidded along the goal line and somehow eluded Huet as he stood in his net watching it. The goal was awful, one that's destined to be replayed on blooper reels for the rest of the season and worst of all it was the difference in the game. Bad goals happen, but Huet needed a good game in front of his home crowd, and he certainly didn't turn it in. Expect the calls for his replacement to intensify.
THE UGLY
Are they doing something different with the United Center glass these days? I've never seen so many weird hops off the boards in Chicago as I did tonight. Also, a section of the glass was knocked out on what seemed like a fairly routine check, which also happened in the Calgary game. Odd.
Yeah, that sucked. The Hawks should have by all rights won tonight's game. They dominated the first period. They killed every penalty they took. They outshot the Stars, won the majority of the face offs and were the better team. Except in goal.
On the plus side, Jonathan Toews finally got off the schnide, scoring his first goal of the year.
THE GOOD
Kris VERSTEEG!: Steeger didn't figure in the scoring, but was all over the ice, generating chances and playing well on the penalty kill. I like the offensive dimension he brings to the 3rd line, and he seems to be a good match with John Madden.
Penalty Kill: The Blackhawks killed off all 5 penalties they took tonight, and actually generated a good number of short-handed chances.
Jonathan Toews: Terrific as usual in all phases, Toews finally got his first goal of the season, easily wristing one home after Stars' goaltender Alex Auld fell down behind his own net.
THE BAD
Cristobal Huet: I've defended Huet so far this season, and I still think he's easily the best goalie on the roster, but tonight...woof. The first two goals weren't bad ones (although it appears that the new United Center tradition is going to be booing the goalie every time the opponent scores) but the last two were horrible. The first coming when an unscreened shot from way out on the right boards beat Huet short side. Even Eddie Olczyk didn't sugarcoat that one saying "that goal CAN'T go in". The last goal was even worse. After Huet had seemingly gotten the crowd back on his side with some nice stops on the PK, a Stephane Robidas dump in took a crazy carom out of the corner, skidded along the goal line and somehow eluded Huet as he stood in his net watching it. The goal was awful, one that's destined to be replayed on blooper reels for the rest of the season and worst of all it was the difference in the game. Bad goals happen, but Huet needed a good game in front of his home crowd, and he certainly didn't turn it in. Expect the calls for his replacement to intensify.
THE UGLY
Are they doing something different with the United Center glass these days? I've never seen so many weird hops off the boards in Chicago as I did tonight. Also, a section of the glass was knocked out on what seemed like a fairly routine check, which also happened in the Calgary game. Odd.
Posted by CT at 10/17/2009 9:55 PM 
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Game Notes
Tags: Blackhawks Stars Cristobal Huet
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Game Notes
Tags: Blackhawks Stars Cristobal Huet
Genteelmen, there's no other way to say it. Huet blew it.
C'est tout.
And I can think of a lot of other French Canadian swear words that describe my feelings.
Of course, Cristo probably has a few choice ones as well.
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I was trying to Shoutbox from the game and couldn't. I thought after the second goal was scored that we were going to come back and win it. The Cristobal Huet project is over for me. I was going to give the guy until the end of the month but now, I want him on the bench for good.
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It might not be the worst idea in the world for Q to try giving Huet as many road games as possible until he gets his head screwed on straight.
Last night he just had mental breakdowns all night. Not good for a $5MM/year goalie.
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Yeah, the problem there is that the Hawks are playing 8 of their next 11 at home.
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Funny how much we seem to think a like. I wrote last night that we need to see more of Niemi at home, simply for Huet's sake. The guy has enough pressure on him, he doesn't need to get sarcastically cheered every time he touches the puck. Let him play on the road to get his head straight.
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