“That’s a hockey game” said Patrick Kane being interviewed after the game.
A beautiful site, the Hawks mobbed Andrew Shaw after he scored the game winning goal. How can you not love this guy? He will never razzle dazzle you with the puck. That’s not his game. He plays hard-nosed, face first, grind it out hockey. He goes to the front of the net. Just like coaches and analysts will tell you – go to the front of the net…good things happen. Shaw did and Johnny Oduya’s shot in over time went off Shaw’s pads past Roberto Luongo and into the net. Game winner, game over…sorry Canucks.
This game had a playoff feel. The hate between these teams is genuine. Plenty of standing room only in this one as 21,715 (110.1% full) saw a great hockey game. It was intense.
“We have a love hate relationship with those guys” “You love to play in those games, fans in both cities get up for them and it’s good for the game….at the same time…we hate them.” Said Brent Seabrook being interviewed in the locker room afterwards.
This game was chippy throughout.
The Canucks scored early, Jannik Hansen scored 27 seconds in on a shot Corey Crawford would love to have back. To his credit though he buckled down and played great the rest of the way making several key saves to keep the Canucks at 1. They would not score again.
The Canucks were awarded 3 power plays in the first period but the Hawks penalty killers played great. Despite have the man advantage 3 times the first period ended 12-6 shots in favor of the Blackhawks. The Hawks would not give Vancouver another power play.
That’s great special teams. The frustrating part is still the Hawks power play. They went 0-5. Every time the dirty goon squad from Vancouver took cheap shots (and they took many), the Hawks could not make them pay for it. Give some credit to the Canucks as the Hawks had a hard time generating shots in close and give some credit to Roberto Luongo who played great. He had many great saves in the game. He kept the Canucks in the game.
So let’s talk about the hit. Duncan Keith’s elbow to Daniel Sedin. Duncan gave Daniel a taste of his own medicine. Daniel checked Keith in the head, watch the replays and he can see Daniel move upward as he came into contact with Keith, this caused Keith to take a hit to the head. Specifically the chin area which is a great way to give a guy a concussion. Funny how the Canucks players, coaches and management had no problem with that.
Then a puck goes near Sedin and bounces off the glass. Keith saw his opportunity for payback and did exactly that. Eye for an eye. I’m sure the league is going to look at this. You have to with the crybabies. Alain Vigneault went right to the microphones after the game to demand it. “Deliberate, principal point of contact, everything you are trying to take out of the game,” Vigneault said. “I expected a major, I got a minor. So we’ll let the league deal with it.”
They had no problem with the head shot on Keith, that’s perfectly acceptable. They had no problem with the hit that knocked Marcus Kruger out of the game. That was perfectly acceptable to them. But when you give it back to them….then they cry like crybabies. Remember last year in the playoffs when the GM, Mike Gillis, held a press conference to say that the Canucks were not getting the calls and the refs were giving preferential treatment to other teams? Are you kidding me? How can this organization consider themselves professionals? This is the team after all that ended a mans careers. Remember when Todd Bertuzzi went after an avs player and broke his neck? Yeah, that’s what they do. When things don’t go their way they play dirty. They also cry and whine and pout. Like little babies. They pull hair. Remember when Alex Burrows got into it with Keith a couple of years ago in the playoffs. What did he do? He pulled Keith’s hair instead of fighting him like a man. He pulled hair like a little girl. God I hate that team. They represent everything that is wrong in professional sports. They are a travesty to good sportsmanship.
Defenceman Kevin Bieksa, like so many of his teammates, claimed not have seen the hit. But he took umbrage with a suggestion by a Chicago reporter that the hit was out of character for Keith.
“You don’t watch him too often, do you,” Bieksa said. “I don’t know, I wouldn’t call him a Lady Byng candidate, that’s for sure. You have to watch him a little closer.”
Bieksa said Keith is also known to do a lot of talking on the ice.
“Yeah, I’m not surprised,” he said. “I didn’t hear it obviously, but I’ve heard him say things before. Again, the league will do their investigation and they will deal with it.”
Are you kidding? This guy? Talk about the Kettle calling the pot black. The only guy I hate more than Bieksa is Burrows. At least Bieksa will fight like a man instead of pulling hair like a little girl. Bieksa went after Keith the entire game and gave him several face washes during one of the wrestling matches that broke out. No penalties called on him for that. I didn’t hear Vigneault complain about that. They went after Keith the whole game and when he pushes back they cry like crybabies.
“He didn’t continue playing and that’s usually when it’s bad because he likes to play hockey,” Henrik said
That’s not accurate. His brother came right back out after the hit and finished the period. He didn’t come back after that. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Canucks held him out just to make the hit seem worse. Would you?
So Keith will probably sit for a couple of games. Maybe the rest will do him good with the playoffs right around the corner?
The NHL Tonight guys were saying after the game “let’s hope they meet in the playoffs”. I hope so too.
Kane was named the number 1 star, he also had the Hawks only goal in regulation. That was Kane’s 20th of the season. He becomes the third player in franchise history to have 20 goals in his first 5 seasons. The other two are Jonathan Toews and Denis Savard.
Hossa had a strong game as well. So did Crawford. Crawford has stopped 102 of 105 shots in his last 5 games.
Andrew Shaw kept doing what Andrew Shaw does.
“It hit me in the shin, lucky left foot, I guess,” Shaw said. “They’re going to go off me and in. I just go to the net and work hard.”
Shaw, who has been earning added ice time, has 4 goals and 3 assists in his last three games. In 30 games this season he has 11 goals—including two game winners—and seven assists.
Offensively (Shaw’s) got some nice play recognition and a nice set of hands as well, even if he uses his pads (to score),” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “Whether you use a term (like) fearless or gutsy—you could add some more terms to that—but you appreciate the way he competes for either himself, or his teammates, or his team.
“You seem to use him as the game gets even more important. I don’t think I’ve used him that much in the past in four-on-four but he did a good job tonight.”
After the game some of the Hawks joked that they need to find out what kind of pads he wears.
Let’s also talk about Johnny Oduya. Sometimes a player and a system are just a good fit. That seems to be the case here. The Hawks are 9-1-1 since the trade deadline acquisition of the defencemen. Hard to argue with that. He also took the shot in OT that went in off of Shaw’s pads. He doesn’t give you a ton of offense so when he does it’s a great bonus. However he sure does solidify things on the back-end. More importantly he takes pressure off of Keith and Seabrook. Now they don’t have to do everything. I think it’s no coincidence that both of their games have picked up since Johnny joined the team.
With the win the Hawks are now tied with the Nashville Predators who sit in 5th place in the Western Conference. The Red Wings lost in OT but the 1 point earned put them in 4th place. 1 point ahead of the Hawks. The Nashville Predators have 2 games in hand on the Hawks. They play tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Good luck with that. This game will be shown, in the US, on the NHL network. Tonight should also mark the season debut of Alex Radulov back from the KHL. His addition should make the Predators, who are already a solid team, even more dangerous in these upcoming playoffs.
Nashville is next for the Hawks as they come to town on Sunday. By then, both of their games in hand will have been played. Hopefully they lose both in regulation. They Hawks don’t play again until then.
TTS
Tags: Alain Vigneault, Alex Burrows, andrew shaw, chicago blackhawks, corey crawford, Daniel Sedin, Duncan Keith, Keith Elbow to Sedin, Kevin Bieksa, Marion Hossa, patrick kane, Roberto Luongo, vancouver canucks
taping the stick 