Friday, October 10, 2008

Well, 81-1 is still acceptable: Hawks-2, Rangers-4

Not that that's what I'm counting on. Anyway, the Hawks kicked off their season tonight with an effort that can only be described as "meh". Some things to like, some things to not like, much like eating sushi.

The 1st period was clearly the best one put out by the men from the Windy City. Though the Rangers started strong and scored first, after that the Hawks dominated, creating chance after chance. Unfortunately, their finishing was akin to a teenage boy fucking, all over the place except where it's supposed to be. The glass behind Henrik Lundqvist took a beating. The Rangers first goal was a result of 51 Phantom losing a battle behind the net, a common occurrence I fear, and then Skille falling asleep as Redden sneaked in behind him to slam home on of the juicy rebounds that Huet left lying around like a junkie all night. Not encouraging. Tough for Skille, as he, Versteeg, and Bolland were everywhere during the 1st, but unfortunately will go down as a -2 for the evening.

If you were looking for Niklas Hjalmarrson after the 5 minute work, you were left staring into the abyss. Savvy didn't wait long to send a message to his GM that he'd like his #4 d-man back from Rockford, did he?

A sweet rush from 51 Phantom resulted in the Hawks first goal, so let's hope he creates more than he helps let in. From then on, it was pretty much downhill. Keith and Bolland doing an interpretive dance of McCain's economic plan led to another turnover that ended up in the net, and the Sopel thought that looked like fun so he gave one away for another goal. Catfish looked a step, or six, slow all night. Though the Hawks briefly showed some life in the 3rd with a Keith one-timer, that was quickly snuffed out when Zherdev, which I think translates to "prick", was the beneficiary of some questionable goaltending.

On the plus side, the Hawks created their share of chances, and hopefully Savvy will stick with these combos for a bit. Versteeg was also a constant nuisance, so let's hope he can keep it up for a while before someone breaks him. The bad: the D looked like a Chinese Fire Drill, though the awful ice didn't help much. Huet was shaky at best, so that situation is going great so far.

Just the 1st of 82, but let's hope it gets a little better tomorrow in Barack Obama's future home. Well, actually, it's his current home too, I guess, but you get what I'm saying.

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