You're Doing It Wrong: Hawks 1, Coyotes 4
Welcome home, Blackhawks...ready to get out of town again?
Sometimes a team plays a great game and still manages to lose. Sometimes they play well but bad bounces go against them and the game ends up out of hand, even though you'd swear it was close from watching it.
This was not one of those games.
The Blackhawks returned to the United Center from their up and down circus trip and immediately laid an egg. Apart from maybe the first 5 minutes, Phoenix seemed to have complete control of the game. The Hawks couldn't mount a proper breakout against the Coyotes, Corey Crawford gave up some bad goals and Chicago couldn't capitalize on the few chances they managed to generate. Finally, to provide the garnish to our crap sandwich, Phoenix led 4-0 with 12 minutes left allowing Eddie and Pat plenty of time to riff on the instigator penalty, and a bunch of other shit I don't care about.
THE GOOD
THE BAD
Plenty to go around here. The defensemen couldn't control the puck down low and thus generally settled on blindly flinging the puck away when they actually got to it (Nik Hjalmarsson was the worst offender, but everybody pitched in). When the D actually managed to get the puck to a forward, they either failed to clear the blue line, or turned the puck right back over in the neutral zone. If you are going to play a puck possession game, well you'd damn well better be able to possess the puck.
Corey Crawford - Crow biffed Phoenix's first two goals and held the wrong post on the 4th one. Bad outing.
Marion Hossa - Hossa's goal scoring dry-spell seems to be making him a bit gun shy. Early in the 2nd period with the game still in doubt, Hossa got himself free between the circles and appeared to have a shooting lane with the puck on his forehand. Instead of taking the shot, he tried to draw two defenders and then dropped the puck to...Dan Carcillo. Carcillo never got a shot off. Look, I'm all for unselfish play, but Marion Hossa ain't being paid to set up Dan Carcillo. Shoot the damn thing, Marion.
THE UGLY
I think I hate the "puck over the glass" penalty. What purpose does it serve? None, other than to provide a cheap man advantage (often a cheap 2 man advantage, since it a number of these are taken by teams killing penalties). Then I realized that since I'm stupid, somebody smarter than me probably thought of the same thing two and a half years ago. Anyway, as usual, Down Goes Brown is right in ever way. Also, had his idea been put in place, at least two of the Coyotes would have gone off at the same time as O'Donnell.
Up next: The New York Islanders come to town on Friday, expect plenty of Wang jokes.
Posted by CT at 11/29/2011 11:00 PM 
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks Blackhawks Phoenix Coyotes
Categories: Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes
Tags: Chicago Blackhawks Blackhawks Phoenix Coyotes
Ughhh...
Why is it Dave Tippett gets great effort out of average and older players on a nightly basis, but Q can't seem to get consistent effort from a Hawks team most think has superior talent and a deep bench. Heck, the Coyotes aren't even sure their checks will clear, and nobody cares if they win or lose. Very discouraging performance.
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