Blackhawks at Philadelphia - Loss Recap

"Philly Cheesedicks"



The Hawks were in Philly Thursday night to face the Flyers, fresh off their Winter Classic loss to the Rangers. The Flyers had an almost identical record to the Hawks, and are a very similar hard nosed team. With two of their top players (Pronger, Jagr) not playing, they are still obviously a very dangerous team. Based on the many recent news reports, they are apparently still salty about the Hawks skating the Stanley Cup around their ice two seasons ago. Cry me a river.

The first period of last night's game was like the wild fucking west. There were excellent chances both ways, fights, gun slinging, and end to end rushes. Both teams scored but the Flyers out shot the Hawks 13-7. The Flyers opened up the game in the second period scoring three goals to the Hawks single goal, which left the Hawks scratching their heads. Philly had 21 shots and the Hawks mustered up 15 shots, themselves. That's just ridiculous shot totals for one period, for both sides. The Hawks mounted a furious comeback in the third period, but napped during the last 45 seconds of the game, which cost them a point, at least. Philly was able to celebrate a dramatic 5-4 win, in a middle of the season random game. Congrats, Guys.

The Good

• Hazer scored his second goal in 2 games on a nice feed from MegaMayers just 3 minutes into the first period. The play started with Hazer forechecking hard enough to make the Philly defender throw the puck away like a rotten egg, and MegaMayers followed up by just keeping the puck in the Philly zone. He settled the puck, and saucered a pass to Hazer who redirected it past Bryzgalov. Hayes was near the puck or net all night long and played VERY strong on the puck. A few Philly defenders tried to muscle him, and failed. Take note, Bick, if Paul Bunyan can keep up this pace, your days are numbered and it won't take much to fill your spot, son. Four good shots and a goal in only 8:33 of ice time for Hazer. You can't really ask for any more than that.
• Shaw scored HIS first NHL goal smack dab in the middle of the second period. He deked and froze three Flyers players, and surprised Bryzgalov with a nifty little shot. Way to follow up that bloodbath you were the victim of, earlier. I thought Carcillo was an annoying pain n the ass, but Shaw seemed to make every Flyers player want to wring his neck by the end of the first period. If HE keeps this up, Car Bomb's days are DEFINITELY numbered, but this is game #1. Lets see what happens when players know what to expect from him.
• Quenneville played Doctor Lineblender AGAIN to open the third period, moving Stalberg up with Toews and Sharp, and then moving Shaw down with Hoss and Kaner.
• Seabrook took advantage of a Philly powerplay shot that rang hard off the post, and pulled the Hawks within one goal, shorthanded from the dreaded questionable double minor, no less. Bolly and Seabs saw a window of opportunity and jumped into the play taking full advantage. Definitely a goal Bryzgalov would like back.
• 25 seconds after the Seabs goal, Party Boy, El Capitan and Shooter combined for a dramatic game tying goal. Toews caused a turnover low in the Philly zone and the puck ended up on the stick of Shooter who must have wet himself because, for some unforeseen reason, the entire Philly team left Party Boy sitting in the slot all by himself. An easy pass from Shooter put the Hawks back in the game, for now.
• I guess no gnews is good gnews, with Gary Gnu. As far as Dylan Olsen's NHL debut, that is. Three shots on net, and no noticeable gaffes playing with the wilderness adventure that is Lurch.

The Bad

• While I like his spirit, Shaw took a bit of an ass beating in his second shift of his NHL career, immediately following the Hayes goal. He was bloodied pretty good from a couple of Rinaldo straight rights, but later returned.
• The Hawks missed a glorious chance half way through the first, with Shooter and El Capitan going in on a 2-on-1, from their own blue line, following what looked like a save off Razor's mask. Tazer held it long enough to clear the defender and dished to Shooter, who couldn't get the puck over Bryzgalov's pad. Not to be outdone, the same combination missed another 2-on-1 in the third period, that would have put the Hawks up 5-4.
• Nick Leddy can hang the first Flyers goal on his hook. He had a chance to get the puck out of the zone and dicked around with it long enough to turn it over to Voracek. Of course, the puck worked around, all the way back around to Voracek who hit a wide open cage. Razor had over pursued the play on the initial shot and wasn't able to get back in the net in time.
• Seventeen seconds after the Shaw goal, Scotty Carrot Top re-tied the game, smacking a puck out of the air, and past Razor. I'll give credit where it's due because it was a very nice play. He must jerk off to pictures of Claude Giroux every night, because "G" is helping him have a career year.
• Philly took the lead on a goal by some asshole named Harry ZolnierFuck, when Razor kicked a rebound right out to him. Hossa broke down on the play and took a nap on D, letting ZolnierFuck head to the net unabated to pick up the fat rebound.
• Twenty three seconds after the ZolnierFuck goal, Leddy and Hammer got worked over and Stalberg made a soft play completely bailing on taking the body. JVR picked up a second rebound, after Razor made a tremendous save on Wayne Simmonds, and pitched it in the net. Total fucking slop by the Hawks D. Not a stellar night for the the dynamic duo of Leddy and Hammer.
• JVR sent the Hawks home losers scoring a powerplay goal with just 33 seconds left in regulation. Gotta love those trivial high sticking penalties at the end of a 4-4 game. Just fucking spiffy. Kaner givith, Kaner taketh away. The play should have been snuffed out anyway, but the Hawks allowed Giroux enough time to wait for the change send the puck to a streaking Carrot Top. It began as a 2-on-4 play, so ONE of the Hawks defenders, namely MegaMayers, should have been able to pressure Giroux, who was standing still, just over the Hawks blue line.

The Ugly

• I don't know what the fuck is going on in his head, but Bryzgalov looked lethargic all night long. He's clearly not comfortable. He made a nice save on the Toews/Sharp 2-on-1, but the rest of the game he was fighting the puck badly.
• For the second game in a row, someone bailed out on making contact with One-Trick-Bick. This time it was waterbug Danny Briere. He CLEARLY didn't realize who's big shadow was bearing down on him, because Bickell is the last guy that's going to hit him.
• 46 shots against. That's really all one has to say. Deplorable!
• Invisibolly and Kaner were a combined 5-21 at the dot. I hope their bungholes are sore this morning, because they got gang raped. Your #2 and #3 centers right there, folks.

Here are your video highlights:

Phoning It In For Philly

This is exactly what I was afraid of. The Hawks looked like they used up all fire and emotion Saturday, and really phoned one in this morning. The first period was painfully uneventful, and ended 0-0. The scoring was opened up early in the second as the Flyers stuffed a loose goalmouth puck into the net about a minute in. That had the Flyers going up 1-0 into the third period. That is where everything fell apart and the Hawks gave up 3 goals, to lose the game 4-1. Not the showing you wanted to have on national TV, because they really looked flat. This was the first game I was actually able to attend this season, and I can tell you that the crowd was almost asleep. Blame it on whatever you'd like, but everyone was looking forward to the Bears game, which ended up being a huge disappointment, as well. Way to show America what a great sports town Chicago is, Guys. A double "shit the bed" for Chi-Town.

The Good

• Obviously, the Hossa penalty shot was a pretty play. The crowd showed a little life, but VERY little. Half the place had left a few minutes early when the Flyers went up 3-0.
  
• I loved to see douchebag brothers Hartnell and Carcillo get their teeth pounded in, because they really ARE completely and utter ball bags. Carcillo really got the best of Dowell
  

The Bad

• Philly had the majority of the good scoring chances all game long. The Hawks couldn't seem to get anything to the net, and it hurt them considerably.
  
• The Powerplay looked tame and awful. Again, not a good time to look uninterested, and ineffective.
  
• I'm not sure exactly how many shots the Flyers blocked, but EVERY time the Hawks shot it seemed to be into the shin guards of a Flyer, or wide of the net.
  
• The second goal wasn't exactly something o beauty, either. Mr. Crawley over pursued the play and got caught a bit too far out of the net. Zherdev recognized this and wrapped it around to the other post from behind the net. Campbell got tangled up with Crawford, and the puck was in the net before they could recover. Not looking good on that one, Corey.
  
• The third Philly goal ended the game. Yes, I know there was plenty of time left, but the Hawks were done. After that goal, I watched half the UC get up, put their jackets on, and walk out.
  
• Pierre McGuire is a total penis.
  

The Ugly

• Can we end this embarrassing John Scott saga? What did he provide in this game? The Hawks got into two fights and neither involved Scott. Furthermore, absolutely NO ONE on the Flyers were wetting their jocks when he was on the ice. He's a fucking sideshow freak, and he's wasting valuable ice time. Be done with him, he's a big joke and it's not working! Skillington could wander around the ice and do nothing for 5 minutes a game.
  
• That first Flyers goal was a complete mess. Crawford easily had time to get his ass up off the ice but continued to lay there. I was screaming, "Get up, Get u, Get up, Get up, Get up!". I didn't get my wish. Why in the hell was Jeff Carter allowed to stand there and pitchfork the puck over and over and over? Hammer? Kopecky? Anyone? Crosscheck him into next month!
  

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:
Kane-Toews-Brouwer
sharp-Kopecky-hossa
Bickell-Bolland-pisani
stalberg-Dowell-scott
keith-Seabrook
Hjalmarsson-campbell
Hendry-Leddy

Broad Street Bullies?

It's not often that I throw my two cents in about other teams in the league, but I came across some interesting developments from Saturday nights game between the Flyers and the Islanders, and had to weigh in. The Flyers opened up a whole barrel of whoop-ass on the Isles and things turned ugly fast. First, I give you the part that is actually entertaining, especially for all you people that just watch hockey for the fights. Isles tough guy Zenon Konopka (you have to be a tough guy with a name like that, someone call Johnny Cash), and noted Flyer asshelmet Dan Carcillo square off early in the third period with the Flyers up 4-0. In typical Carcillo fashion the festivities have to start off by giving the opponent a stick to the face. Always classy that Dan Carcillo is. That idiocy aside, you have to admire these two going at it, for this period of time. Imagine, if you will, two MMA fighters having to square off, on ice with skates on. How long do you think that would last? One punch, if they even made it out of their corners. Enjoy...



So, with one minute to go in the game, the Flyers were winning 6-1 and the Islanders were set to kill a 5-3. Flyer Waterbug Dan Briere decided it was time for him to throw in a major cheap shot on a defenseless player. Briere took exception to some yapping before the faceoff by Islander Frans Nielsen, and crosschecks him in the side of the face as Nielsen attempts to engage in the faceoff. At the same time, Carc-asshole punches Nielsen in the back, to complete the tagteam beatdown. This combination of events quickly sends Nielsen to the ice (luckily he doesn't seem hurt), but already killing a 5-3, I'm sure he was looking to draw an infraction. After this, the jackass three ring circus begins. Fragile Islander goalie Rick DiPietro tries to go after Briere, Carc-asshole jumps in, and the laundry gets thrown everywhere. There are quite a few observations I found amusing in this fracas, and feel free to see them for yourself in the video below:



-Rick DiPietro, while I understand his concern for his teammate, needs to keep his ass in the crease (those who know me will smirk at this). The guy is an NHL goalie that can't fall out of bed without getting some major season ending injury (and I'm a marginal Mens League goalie NOT making $4.5 million a year until 2021). Seriously Rick, GM Garth Snow is slitting his wrists watching you chase one of the leagues top douches around the ice. Carcillo wouldn't think twice about laying you out with some complete scumbag move.

-Watching DiPietro not be able to get his PINK blocker off to try and fight makes one giggle. Tough guy, with the glass jaw, in the pink pads can't get his mittens off?

-While I hate Chris Pronger, I had to laugh as he playfully grabs DiPietro and laughs in his face when Dipietro says something to him. I assume DiPietro asked Pronger to let him go after Carcillo, because, eventually, Pronger lets him go with a "go ahead" reaction. The whole time you can tell Pronger is finding this as completely hilarious as I do.

-Somewhere, Dan Carc-asshole just kicked a puppy, spit on an elderly person, and took Halloween candy from a small child.

-If you look at the laundry list of penalties below, from the game, something caught my eye. "New York Islanders - Goalie Leaving the Crease 2 mins - R.DiPietro served by D.Roloson". So, if I read this correctly and I must not be, DiPietro gets his deserved penalty, and it is served by the Isles backup goaltender? Really? I'm quite sure it has to be served by a player ON THE ICE, unless, in fact, there are no remaining players on the ice or on the bench. Interesting, and curious.