The Hawks dropped their 2nd game of the season last night but managed to come away with a point as they dropped this one in overtime. It was a gut punch the way this went down as they had the lead up until the final minute when the Jets would convert on a 6 on 5 situation as Mark Scheifele would get the rebound and send this one to overtime. The Jets didn’t have to wait long to end this one as Scheifele beats Kurashev clean and buries the puck just 38 seconds into the overtime frame and picks up his 300th career goal.
Arvid Soderblom deserved this win in this one, and the toughest pill to swallow in this one was him not getting it or the shutout. He played absolutely fantastic, making 33 saves on 35 shots and finishing with a.934 save percentage. In yesterday’s preview blog, I talked about how he needed to take advantage of the opportunities he gets after a rough 23/24 season, and boy did he do just that. He did a fantastic job absorbing shots and not giving up big rebounds, which was a major issue last season. The game-tying goal was some puck luck, but you can't put too much blame on him for this one.
What I liked most about this one came postgame, where Seth Jones made it clear this team isn’t looking for moral victories anymore: “We played 59 great minutes. Thats not going to be good enough.” It shows that this team is buying into the idea of taking the next step, and hopefully it will buy this team more wins as this rebuild continues to progress to the next level. More guys will be battling for spots on this team.
The team is going to have to get over this one quick as they take the trip to Edmonton to battle Connor McDavid and the Oilers. The Oilers, in theory, should be coming out fast and strong in this one after getting embarrassed in their season opener against the Jets, dropping that one 6-0. For a team that came so close to winning it all last year to open like that is going to create a lot of trouble for their opponents, and unfortunately the Hawks get the honor of being the next team up. The Hawks surprisingly have the Oilers number over their last 30 meetings, going 16-12-2 in those games.
Projected Hawks Line Up
As of posting, time line combos for tonight's game have not been made public, but what we do know is the Hawks will turn to Petr Mrazek back in net. He looks to get back to last season's former after posting a.846 save percentage in the opener against Utah. It won't be an easy task given the team he is facing, but he shocked us all more times last season with his play, so who knows how this one ends up?
Puck Drop is set for 9 p.m. central time tonight, with the game being on CHSN for those of you lucky enough to get the channel. As Always, Lets Go Hawks!
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