Nightmare: Hawks 2, Canucks 3
That went about as bad as it could go. Let me start off by saying, I hate the Vancouver Canucks. Not the way I hate Detroit, because in my hatred of Detroit, there is at least a bit of respect. Vancouver? Fuck those guys. They talk shit like they've won something before, but they fail epically whenever the chips are down. They're the Minnesota Vikings of the NHL. To hell with them. The Hawks lost the game, which evidentally redeems the Canucks playoff series loss last year or something. If that's what Vancouver wants to think, fine. The lost leaves a bitter taste, not so much because the Hawks got outplayed, but because they got hurt. Jonathan Toews left the game after taking a clean hit from Willie Mitchell and Brent Seabrook joined him a bit later after being kicked in the head.
THE GOOD
Antti Niemi: Niemi played good enough to win. He made some good saves on point blank chances and looked a lot more confident in net than usual.
Troy Brouwer: Brouwer was one of the best Hawks on the ice tonight, playing his usual physical game and getting his second goal of the season on a nice tip in of a Duncan Keith shot.
THE BAD
Special Teams: Both PK and PP were bad tonight. The power play went 0 for 4 and failed on another 2 man advantage. Quenneville's got to fix that damn thing, because right now all the Hawks do on the 5 on 3 is pass the puck back and forth between the point men. The Canucks score on 2 of their 5 power plays, and this was mostly due to the heroics of Niemi than anything the penalty killers did. I know the Hawk forwards like to try and get short handed chances, but when Colin Fraser is jumping up in the offensive zone to try and create a 3 on 2 situation, it might be time to dial it back a bit.
Turnovers: The Hawks were way too careless with the puck tonight. They made several bad turnovers that resulted in chances for Vancouver, including a terrible one by Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell that resulted in the ame winning goal.
THE UGLY
Willie Mitchell's hit on Toews. It was clean, but Toews never saw it coming and he got rag-dolled. He was removed from the game in what I hope was just a precautionary move, and not something serious.
THE GOOD
Antti Niemi: Niemi played good enough to win. He made some good saves on point blank chances and looked a lot more confident in net than usual.
Troy Brouwer: Brouwer was one of the best Hawks on the ice tonight, playing his usual physical game and getting his second goal of the season on a nice tip in of a Duncan Keith shot.
THE BAD
Special Teams: Both PK and PP were bad tonight. The power play went 0 for 4 and failed on another 2 man advantage. Quenneville's got to fix that damn thing, because right now all the Hawks do on the 5 on 3 is pass the puck back and forth between the point men. The Canucks score on 2 of their 5 power plays, and this was mostly due to the heroics of Niemi than anything the penalty killers did. I know the Hawk forwards like to try and get short handed chances, but when Colin Fraser is jumping up in the offensive zone to try and create a 3 on 2 situation, it might be time to dial it back a bit.
Turnovers: The Hawks were way too careless with the puck tonight. They made several bad turnovers that resulted in chances for Vancouver, including a terrible one by Patrick Kane and Brian Campbell that resulted in the ame winning goal.
THE UGLY
Willie Mitchell's hit on Toews. It was clean, but Toews never saw it coming and he got rag-dolled. He was removed from the game in what I hope was just a precautionary move, and not something serious.
Posted by CT at 10/21/2009 10:03 PM 
Categories: Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks, Game Notes
Tags: Canucks Blackhawks
Categories: Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks, Game Notes
Tags: Canucks Blackhawks
Good 1st period.
Lousy game for The Chicago Blackhawks.
Good, sometimes great Niemi.
Madden, well, Madden always comes to play.
The rest of them?
Q sounded disgusted in the presser. For good reason.
Troy Murray was blunt. "The Hawks got outplayed."
And Duncan Keith agreed.
These are the games I hate...the games the Hawks throw away.
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You didnt lose because you got hurt, you got out played. TKO
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Niemi played well, but your goalie has to be your best killer and sharp on turnovers...and Niemi was off his angle, it looked like, on both.
Getting beat from outside the right dot on the GWG isn't so hot.
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I thought we were done with this whole "Sharp on the point" during the PP bullshit. Guess not.
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Is it good on 5 on 3's when the point men just hold the puck for long periods of time instead of firing quick passes back and forth? Is that good?
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Good analysis. Thank god you spared us the simplistic "Toews needs to keep his head up" bullshit I read on all the newspaper sites today. Um, he *did* have his head up, dammit. He was looking down the ice, like he should. He got hit cleanly, but he got hit from his blind spot. What would people have him do? Stare at the damn penalty box while he's skating up ice? If anyone screwed up on that play -- and I don't really think anyone did -- it was the teammate trailing the play, who needed to communicate better.
It was a clean play by the Canuck, and yet it was appropriate for Versteeg to get his ass beat defending his captain. Regular season games are full of those sorts of incongruities.
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I wonder if Niemi forgot to pound his stick on the ice to alert his teammates that the penalty was expiring. Could be a lack of experience.
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