ANAHEIM STEAMROLLER: Ducks 3, Blackhawks 0
All good things must come to an end.
The Chicago Blackhawks went into the Honda Center in Anaheim, and stumbled out after 60 minutes in which they received a thorough pantsing, courtesy of the Anaheim Ducks. J.S. Giguere stopped all 28 of the Hawks' shots on the way to a 3-0 shutout, ending the Hawks' 8 game winning streak.
Let's get to it:
THE GOOD:
Jonathan Toews. How can a forward be among the "good" points in a shutout? He went 9-2 on faceoffs, picked a couple pockets, and he, Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa kept offensive pressure up on virtually every shift.
Cristobal Huet. He stopped 31 of 34 shots, and one that went in was a Seabrook clearing attempt off Teemu Selanne's leg. As bad as this game was, it could have been a lot worse.
THE BAD:
Stupid penalties. The Hawks took 5 penalties, and that was how Anaheim generated their offense. They got away with this in San Jose, getting three shorties. But that's not going to happen every night. Tonight, they paid for it.
Special teams. They went 0/4 on the Power Play, and killed 2 out of 5 penalties. Absolutely brutal. They giftwrapped opportunities for Anaheim, and didn't take advantage of their own.
Lack of puck control. The Hawks kept playing dump-and-chase, and the Ducks were clearing as soon as the puck got into the zone. Then when someone would get into the zone, 60-footers. The Hawks' bread is buttered on puck control, and they had none today.
THE UGLY:
Brian Campbell absolutely stunk out the Honda Center tonight. He kept getting caught out of position on the Power Play, allowing pucks out of the zone. He made some piss-poor decisions on passes in the neutral zone, and on one of his pinches late in the game, fanned on the puck when he had a wide open net.
They suit up again tomorrow night in Los Angeles, taking on the red-hot Los Angeles Kings.







Genteel Men, you forgot to mention that the Ducks played, as Brian Hayward said during the FoxSports feed, "their best game of the year".
And that Jiggy was jiggy. Big time.
And that the angry duck on the front of Jiggy's helmet distracted Hawks shooters.
Nothing about Tommy Kopecky?
OK, 4-1 on the circus trip.
But they gotta get their mojo back against the Los Angeles Burger Kings, eh.
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Dave, we can just stipulate Kopecky is shitty every game, just as we can stipulate Madden is great every game.
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I know why the Blackhawks didn't win this game. Because they didn't have The Wiz on their side.
As Fork said before: No Wiz = No wins.
But in all seriousness, this team has to find a way to cut down on the penalties.
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How about a bad for Edzo on Buff's penalty. He kept insisting that his skates got caught. It was a stupid penalty.
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