Marian Hossa Is Good At Hockey: Hawks 3, Blues 2 (OT)
My bad. I had recently declared that Marian Hossa would not appear in "THE GOOD" and that you should just assume he was good unless told otherwise. Apparently that's not enough for Marian, who decided he wants his accomplishments RECOGNIZED dammit, and who the hell am I to say otherwise? Nobody, that's who.
This was one of those games that didn't need to be watched until the 3rd period. Most of the action in the first two periods went like this, Hawks/Blues take the puck into the attacking zone, try to cycle, get off a shot from the perimeter which is either blocked or saved, and then the Hawks/Blues would skate to the other end of the ice and repeat the sequence there. The Blues managed the lone goal to through 2 periods, and then in the 3rd, the Hawks started pressing on offense, generating chances, with the Blues managing some counterattacks when a Hawks d-man (usually Boynton) would pinch in and get caught. This led to St. Louis' second goal, which came off a 3 on 1 and resulted in David Perron scoring his 2nd goal of the game and TJ Oshie injuring David Backes' arm.
Finally, the Hawks had enough. Marian Hossa said "fuck it", put the boys on his back and tied the game with two sweet backhanders in the last 10 minutes. Marty Turco got it to overtime, where the Blues decided they really wanted to see if Patrick Kane could do anything if given space and Kane proceeded to mesmerize both Blues defensemen and Jaroslav Halak, then dished to Patrick Sharp who tapped in the easiest goal he'll score this year. The moral of the story is: fuck St. Louis. I hate them and every time they lose, and angel gets his wings.
THE GOOD
Marian Hossa - Remember Kris Versteeg's exclamation point? Well, Hossa found it on the bench during the third period, and he decided to stab the Blues right through the heart with it. 2 more goals gives Hoss 7 on the season. WE SHOULDA NEVER LET HAVLAT GO TO DA WILD!
Marty Turco - Turco's debut in THE GOOD, if I'm not mistaken. Turco turned away some good chances (notably, a clean breakaway chance for David Perron shortly after his first goal) in the first two periods, then kept the Hawks in it while they flailed away at the St. Louis end in the 3rd period and parts of overtime. His puck handling did actually come in handy as well, as he used his passing skills to keep the Blues from making full changes on their long clearing attempts in the 3rd.
Team Defense - For the most part, the Hawks did a good job blocking shots and limiting second chances. They still gave up 27 shots in regulation, a much better showing than we saw against the Sabres.
THE BAD
The 1st and 2nd periods were not, how do you say? Fun to watch.
Nick Boynton - I understand that technically, Boynton is skating in Brian Campbell's spot, but that doesn't mean he has to pinch down into the corner on every offensive shift. Just stay home and do your job, Nick.
TJ Oshie - I hear a lot about what a good player Oshie is, but I ain't seen that guy do shit against the Hawks. He did have an assist on Perron's second goal, but he managed to nullify that somewhat by almost breaking David Backes' arm.
THE UGLY
Bryan Bickell's fight with David Backes. I'll take that 5 minute trade off anytime, although Travis ended up with a nasty cut on his forehead.
DID YOU KNOW - Marian Hossa is awesome.
Up next, a visit from our good friends the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Looking forward to it.
Posted by CT at 10/18/2010 10:07 PM 
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues
Tags: Blackhawks Blues
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues
Tags: Blackhawks Blues
The Blues try to rough up the Hawks...and fail.
White trash team from a white trash city with white trash fans.
The triple crown.
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I was at work listening until the 2nd goal by Perron, then it was off to the World Series. Apparently, my strategy worked like a charm.
Man, dat Horsa guy is purdy good!
Just start a little earlier guys, and try to locate that home ice advantage that you misplaced sometime last March.
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Although I agree that they should start off better, better late than never in my book. What a game. I shall be entertained on Wednesday. Too bad that pussy Shane O'Brien is playing for Nashville. I was looking forward to him starting a fight then losing miserably. Ryan Kesler has been rumored to being excited to take O'Brien's spot.
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I think part of the reason for the slow start was Q shuffling the top two lines for no apparent reason. The Hossa/Toews/Kopecky and Brouwer/Sharp/Kane lines had been very good. But they played the first two periods with Brouwer/Toews/Kane and Kopecky/Sharp/Hossa instead. The switch up made no sense to me in the context that the other lines had been producing. In the third period, Q reverted back to playing the Slovaks with Toews and Kane with Sharp and it made a huge difference.
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Wednesday night will also feature our first recap of the season from Sec. 314.
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I Hart Marian.
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Possibly applicable before this is over: Art Rossa.
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