i think the play was on all of them. all of them. and that's what i think the problem is with your blog today, JJ. you talk about Corey and don't mention the mishaps by Shaw/Oduya/Rozival/Bickell
- dr_boloney

People have a right to point out what you do, but . . . s--- happens, he has to make that save.

Just heard Q has off the public record singled out Mr. Brandon Saad for a lack of intensity. Saad might get demoted.

And Philco, you might get your plate of Gorilla Salad on the top line here right quick.

Wasn't sure if anyone saw this, but I think this emobdies the fact that the Canucks are well and truly phucked.


- prd797

Cheap stuff from Henrietta


He should get 10 games for even thinking of using his stick like that.

I HATE CHEAP STICKWORK like that.

Couture with an Oscar nom too for the embellishment

Let me name a few from this year's playoffs so far - J. Quick; Carey Price; MA Fleury; E. Nabokov; J.Reimer; C.Schneider.
- RickJ

And all their teams are going to get eliminated (minus Fleury but it'd be almost impossible for him to blow that series given the talent disparity). Quick had a shutout under a pretty similar attack to what Crawford saw last game. Schneider's team took 100 penalties against a really good PP (still the 1st couture goal was soft). Goalies not giving up soft goals: proven playoff stud Holtby, Rask, Elliot, Anderson, Josh Harding. Who cares what other goalies do, when the team plays that bad the goalie has to do his best to steal one, and Crawford didn't.

Seeing as how I picked the Hawks in 5 I had to expect the Wild to win one game, which they did. And Crawford is far far down on my list of things to be worried about. He's fine.

To me Jonathan Toews being the best player on the ice should be priority number 1. Last year it was clear that he came back from his concussion issues to early and rustiness and all. But this year he should be owning the game. And so far he hasn't.

That was Minnesota's best shot. And it took three shots placed in the upper corners and max efforts to barely eke out a win. A little more execution out of the top players and game 4 victory shouldn't be that difficult. With handshakes on Thursday.
- yahoodi

I thought Toews was the best. The Wild were clutching, grabbing, mauling and cheap shotting him constantly. Some of that needs to be returned.

Anyone catch the ginger sisters cheap shots at the end of last night's game? A butt end and an after the whistle elbow to the chin. Both calculated attempts to injure. Typical.

Just heard Q has off the public record singled out Mr. Brandon Saad for a lack of intensity. Saad might get demoted.

And Philco, you might get your plate of Gorilla Salad on the top line here right quick.
- John Jaeckel

Q should look in the phucking mirror JJ. The team he commands played another CANDY A S S road game in big situation. And he dressed Houdini's all around..and your boy Bollig was hard to locate...even with the magnifying glass.

Did anyone really watch the play, the puck was low at ice level. The issue I have is that every goalie except Crawford gets bailed out by quick whistles by the refs. Next game, there better be at least 2 pokes at Harding whenever he is near the puck. Show Harding as much respect as Cullen has for Crawford.
- powerenforcer

The Hawks have been totally passive with that. Crawford gets slashed and barreled into constantly. Harding is barely touched. I don't want the guy run down but at least stay after the puck until the whistle.

Just heard Q has off the public record singled out Mr. Brandon Saad for a lack of intensity. Saad might get demoted.

And Philco, you might get your plate of Gorilla Salad on the top line here right quick.
- John Jaeckel

You guessing motivation or demotion?

^ This ^

The fact that a "puck possession" team gave up 40 shots on goal is a very clear indicator of where the fault lies for Sunday.
- Return of the Roar

Puck possession isn't measured in terms of shots on net, that's silly. Its measured in attempts at net

Q should look in the phucking mirror JJ. The team he commands played another CANDY A S S road game in big situation. And he dressed Houdini's all around..and your boy Bollig was hard to locate...even with the magnifying glass.
- philco28

i noticed him all game.

slapping his stick on the ice looking for a shot, hah.

WHY IS HE ALWAYS DOING THAT?

interesting about Saad. he has been bad. a lot of players have been bad. however, the worst has been Handzus. he was brought here to win draws and he was something like 34% yesterday and made numerous flubs that ended up as scoring chances for the Wild.

gotta figure Q is going to mix things up....are we going to see Sharp move to center? will we see Ben Smith?

Lets add these to the list - Face Off %
Kruger - 43%
Zeus - 31%
Shaw - 44%

Not good for a "puck Possession" team.
- ksilvy58

Olczyk was pointing out all night how the Wild was being allowed to "drift" into the FO. Sort of stopped in the 3rd but it still made a difference.

Every PO confirms how - all around - the officials generally suck in the NHL.

People have a right to point out what you do, but . . . s--- happens, he has to make that save.
- John Jaeckel

I'm not going to blame Crawford for the loss - but, a 'money' goaltender doesn't allow that goal early in OT. He finds a way to freeze it, do whatever it takes to keep his team alive.

I also saw Luongo give up the game tying goal in Game 2 on a puck he thought he had covered in the last minute of the game. Boom, lose in OT, series over.

Bettman's NHL stats kept by a bunch of stat geeks who never played the game are meaningless to me, I don't give a crap if the save % is .950 or .825 - Battlin Billy Smith or Tim Thomas or Grant Fuhr or Dominic Hasek wouldn't have given up that goal because they were money goaltenders. And the teams in front of them knew that.

Not arguing.

Fault all over the place. But it's not either or.

This goalie plays out of his mind for 59 minutes then gives up bad goals at bad times.

I'd rather have Niemi or a healthy Ray Emery. Sacrilege, I know.
- John Jaeckel

Niemi has been a beast. Would take his legs over Quick this PO. B

Niemi may be the best goalie in traffic in hockey. Emory would be there too this year.

Just heard Q has off the public record singled out Mr. Brandon Saad for a lack of intensity. Saad might get demoted.

And Philco, you might get your plate of Gorilla Salad on the top line here right quick.
- John Jaeckel

Seems to make sense, the kid's still a rook and the playoffs are a pressure cooker. A demotion would be a viable direction at this point to wake him up and get him engaged again.

Question is: if Saad goes down a line or two, who drops out of the lineup?

Thanks John, that was really tough to stomach yesterday.

Can't understand the "let's throw our sticks on the ice and they'll simply collapse cause we're the Blackhawks" attitude.

We (finally) see maybe one of the best, clean, hard_separate_the_puck_from_the_puck_carrier_hits from Nik Hjalmarsson yesterday and then he must have gotten a good "talking to" by the coaching staff between periods in front of everyone.

What other excuse could there be? Instead of Nik's "hammer" of Parise (which was simply great BTW -- can we have more of that please?!) being the thing the staff holds up to the rest of the team and says, we want the rest of you guys doing this to their guys, especially Koivu, Suter and Parise -- they must have said, "oh no, can't get yourself out of position by doing that, just use your stick next time to poke check 'em."

I don't know, from my time playing competitive check hockey, getting hit and especially dishing out a big hit was the thing that got me and my teammates stoked to dish out more. What an adrenalin rush! It should be something that fuels the guys -- my guess is, it did -- and the staff took the wind out of their sails.
- savvyone-1

Awesome post! If the coaches came down on Hammer after that hit then they need to go. I can't believe it but it makes sense. Q has definitely done that with Bollig.

Wasn't sure if anyone saw this, but I think this emobdies the fact that the Canucks are well and truly phucked.


- prd797

Sedin should be suspended for that. Also a really cheap elbow later on.

That team needs to be blown apart.

Who is that swinging the stick?
- John Jaeckel

Henrik Sedin I think.... One of the ginger sisters anyways.

Q should look in the phucking mirror JJ. The team he commands played another CANDY A S S road game in big situation. And he dressed Houdini's all around..and your boy Bollig was hard to locate...even with the magnifying glass.
- philco28

I'm looking harder at the guys playing north of 10 minutes than those playing south of it.

Just heard Q has off the public record singled out Mr. Brandon Saad for a lack of intensity. Saad might get demoted.

And Philco, you might get your plate of Gorilla Salad on the top line here right quick.
- John Jaeckel

I wrote it today ...Saad looks out of gas.

Chicago Blackhawks get deserved loss to Wild 3-2 in OT - MY FOX CHICAGO; http://bit.ly/18pnVwV

I hear this side to side movement thing, but it is totally subjective, and I think maybe a little driven by an assumption based on his injury. Is he slower side to side than he used to be? Absolutely. But he is a different style goalie now, much better positionally and in terms of angles taken.

And I'm sorry TKON, the guy is mentally tough as nails. Corey? Dunno . . .
- John Jaeckel

He had problems side to side last year. That was why I was surprised by the re-signing.

This year, it is much less of an issue. Hope his hip is not the issue if he ends up being used.

I'm not going to blame Crawford for the loss - but, a 'money' goaltender doesn't allow that goal early in OT. He finds a way to freeze it, do whatever it takes to keep his team alive.

I also saw Luongo give up the game tying goal in Game 2 on a puck he thought he had covered in the last minute of the game. Boom, lose in OT, series over.

Bettman's NHL stats kept by a bunch of stat geeks who never played the game are meaningless to me, I don't give a crap if the save % is .950 or .825 - Battlin Billy Smith or Tim Thomas or Grant Fuhr or Dominic Hasek wouldn't have given up that goal because they were money goaltenders. And the teams in front of them knew that.
- RickJ

Bingo, and it's what I've been saying about Emery for the last two years. And why I was not surprised when they proactively re-upped him last year.

I'm with you completely TKON. I've seen plenty of "bad goals" in my life and that was not one of them. Like I said yesterday, if that were a Hawks winner we'd be talking about what pin point, thread the needle shot it was. But since the Hawks lost, it was a softie by Crawford.

Not buying it...
- ArlingtonRob

Nicely put, a refreshing take and a great analogy. Nice to see there are Hawks fans that give their opponents at least some of the credit. Wild played as hard and as good as they probably could and still needed OT to win. Personally I thought Crawford played phenominally, seems like he stone walled the Wild on at least a half dozen, maybe more, chances that looked to be sure goals.

I wrote it today ...Saad looks out of gas.

Chicago Blackhawks get deserved loss to Wild 3-2 in OT - MY FOX CHICAGO; http://bit.ly/18pnVwV
- Al

Could be, lack of stamina or lack of will? Tough call. Could be a little of both, kid's only 20.

Either way, the Salad Days maybe upon us.

Sedin should be suspended for that. Also a really cheap elbow later on.

That team needs to be blown apart.
- tredbrta

Been saying the same since 2010. The chemistry is wrong and there is a total lack of leadership in the room. A bunch of punks.

I'm not going to blame Crawford for the loss - but, a 'money' goaltender doesn't allow that goal early in OT. He finds a way to freeze it, do whatever it takes to keep his team alive.

I also saw Luongo give up the game tying goal in Game 2 on a puck he thought he had covered in the last minute of the game. Boom, lose in OT, series over.

Bettman's NHL stats kept by a bunch of stat geeks who never played the game are meaningless to me, I don't give a crap if the save % is .950 or .825 - Battlin Billy Smith or Tim Thomas or Grant Fuhr or Dominic Hasek wouldn't have given up that goal because they were money goaltenders. And the teams in front of them knew that.
- RickJ

When the Hawks start to spend big money on a goalie then he will be more my focus.

Crawford should have made the stop but he also has outplayed Harding in every game.

If that isn't good enough then trouble is coming...

Chicago Blackhawks get deserved loss to Wild 3-2 in OT - MY FOX CHICAGO; http://bit.ly/18pnVwV