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.
- John Jaeckel

Presure can also cause fatigue...

Except for Hossa Saad and Toews can be better.

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

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

That's why there were players who were added for depth purposes. If Saad has hit the wall in his rookie season, no big surprise to me. Put some size in the lineup who can go to the net (Hayes), dress Carcillo instead of Bollig to deal with Clutterbuck, etc. etc.

There are plenty of options available to Q unlike the case the last 2 years.

Who is that swinging the stick?
- John Jaeckel

Their "captain".

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

This for sure.

That's why there were players who were added for depth purposes. If Saad has hit the wall in his rookie season, no big surprise to me. Put some size in the lineup who can go to the net (Hayes), dress Carcillo instead of Bollig to deal with Clutterbuck, etc. etc.

There are plenty of options available to Q unlike the case the last 2 years.
- RickJ

One thing I guarantee you Carcillo will do is become a distraction for Clutterbuck, Veileux and some of the others,. Say what you want about Carcillo. He has been here before.

I also think Carcillo-Toews-Hossa and more of a dump, chase and bang "half-zone" offense could wear Suter and (especially) Brodin down big time.

Or go Sharp-Toews-Kane (as they did yesterday) and try Carcillo-Handzus-Hossa to grind em down and get a greasy goal.

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?
- dr_boloney

Don't want to rip B-52 too much because i appreciate his rise from the USHL and think he's a solid pugilist....BUT...he plays with one hand on the stick more than any NHL'r i can remember.

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.
- John Jaeckel

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

The bottom 6 warrant fair scrutiny as well though. Bickell turned that puck over in o/t...as far as i could tell. But pretty sure Bollig hasn't brought much to the party so far.

I am trying to figure which goal was soft.

Are you talking about Fleury?

Carey Price?

Luongo?

I am sure every fan of any team's goalie wishes he wassix foot five and able to butterfly and paddle down low and still be giant enough to reach the top side and be quick enough to snare all high ones.

I haven't watched every minute of every playoff game (but a lot) but I certainly have seen many goals go in and the job done across the board by all goalies is good, but these player scoring just seem to find ways to still score, just like they have through the entire history of the sport.

The hawk board comments about the Wild team not competing proves that going home, having that face-off advantage and nothing to lose by throwing yourself into the action... does get the team that is down going….similar to when the hawks went on the streak…it begins and becomes a underlying reason to give the effort 'til it hurts.

I think that we hawk fans may be entitled to a few more alarms going off in the heads of our players in game four, because now they reach their first fork….when it takes what YOU do to make a difference.

Not ready to think that 15 of those Hawk forwards are gonna look to rely on teammates to push them to the next level...

I wouldn't be surprised if they do one forward substitution....

Fair enough and valid points. To me, that's how all goalies these days play the behind the net situation and that play happened so fast he had no time to even get up and hug it. Who knows...if he was standing they could have gone low glove side.
- TKON

If he is in the correct position and gets beat... So be it. I think he lost the puck. What will tell you what you need to know... What position will he be in in similar circumstances in upcoming games. My guess is he will have the post well covered. And hopefully the 3 guys down low can take care of business before a shot gets off.

Hossa has been poor, like he has been for the Hawks in the playoffs. If not for Kane's great feed in Game 1, he has nothing to show. His passing, shooting and defense have been off.

He was responsible for the first Minny goal on Sunday - messed up at the blue line, then loafed as his man scored.

In 35 playoffs games for the Hawks, Hossa has 6 goals (3 in 2010) and 17 assists.
- KingB

Takes a lot of guts to even think about criticizing hossa here. To many he is the real Jesus not Saad. I admit he is such a great 2-way player but we can find someone under a million to play great d. We need him to produce.

- DarthKane

Bad luck Jesus, I love that meme!

Seriously though, and I called it from game 1, Saad is not ready for playoff hockey. He didn't look bad the first 2 games but he also did not look good.

If JJ is right and G-Salad comes to play on that top line then I am all for that. Just hoping the increased intensity of the playoffs doesn't provoke Carcillo to do anything retarded.

Takes a lot of guts to even think about criticizing hossa here. To many he is the real Jesus not Saad. I admit he is such a great 2-way player but we can find someone under a million to play great d. We need him to produce.
- tomcat24

No argument, he looks to be pressing.

I am trying to figure which goal was soft.

Are you talking about Fleury?

Carey Price?

Luongo?

I am sure every fan of any team's goalie wishes he wassix foot five and able to butterfly and paddle down low and still be giant enough to reach the top side and be quick enough to snare all high ones.

I haven't watched every minute of every playoff game (but a lot) but I certainly have seen many goals go in and the job done across the board by all goalies is good, but these player scoring just seem to find ways to still score, just like they have through the entire history of the sport.

The hawk board comments about the Wild team not competing proves that going home, having that face-off advantage and nothing to lose by throwing yourself into the action... does get the team that is down going….similar to when the hawks went on the streak…it begins and becomes a underlying reason to give the effort 'til it hurts.

I think that we hawk fans may be entitled to a few more alarms going off in the heads of our players in game four, because now they reach their first fork….when it takes what YOU do to make a difference.

Not ready to think that 15 of those Hawk forwards are gonna look to rely on teammates to push them to the next level...

I wouldn't be surprised if they do one forward substitution....
- wiz1901

I'll help you out, 2 OT game winners in round 1 last year, 1 OT game winner yesterday. The guy with the Indianhead on his sweater.

Stupid to put it all on him. But he has a bad habit of bad goals at bad times and it is undeniable. Maybe he can change it. I'd say he needs to because there will probably be more OT games . . .

One thing I guarantee you Carcillo will do is become a distraction for Clutterbuck, Veileux and some of the others,. Say what you want about Carcillo. He has been here before.

I also think Carcillo-Toews-Hossa and more of a dump, chase and bang "half-zone" offense could wear Suter and (especially) Brodin down big time.
Or go Sharp-Toews-Kane (as they did yesterday) and try Carcillo-Handzus-Hossa to grind em down and get a greasy goal.
- John Jaeckel

The NHL great experts I hear like EJ Radek and a few others all say the Hawks can play any game their opponent wants to play. I'm not so sure of that but definitely agree on the half court game. Dump the puck in, make the Wild D turn and play as much as possible in their own zone along the boards pursuing Hoss and Stalberg and Kane - guys that can hold onto the puck.

Playoff hockey isn't about highlight reel goals - its about wearing down the opponent any way you can.

Would rather see Handzus kept to about 12-14 minutes and specialty work, I don't think he's got the stamina for more than that.

That's why there were players who were added for depth purposes. If Saad has hit the wall in his rookie season, no big surprise to me. Put some size in the lineup who can go to the net (Hayes), dress Carcillo instead of Bollig to deal with Clutterbuck, etc. etc.

There are plenty of options available to Q unlike the case the last 2 years.
- RickJ

Q was waiting for a loss to get Car Bomb back into the lineup.

Handzus couldn't have played any worse....There will be some flip flopping also.

Today's article:http://t.co/zxImaGEXb4

- DarthKane

ANY attempt to scapegoat 20 is B U L L SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIT

I'll help you out, 2 OT game winners in round 1 last year, 1 OT game winner yesterday. The guy with the Indianhead on his sweater.

Stupid to put it all on him. But he has a bad habit of bad goals at bad times and it is undeniable. Maybe he can change it. I'd say he needs to because there will probably be more OT games . . .
- John Jaeckel

...And if Crawford plays as he has the past 3 games, in total, and we are still talking about OT saves etc...Then the team is not constructed correctly and there will be big changes this summer.

Crawford has been about what he has been all year....There are quite a few players that can't say the same.

Today's article: http://t.co/zxImaGEXb4

If so, my apologies.

Just saying, if Emery can't be #1, then the FO made a HUGE error re-signing him over any of a dozen or so available bacjkups because #1's get hurt, go into funks, etc all the time.

If he can't handle the job (and aside from the recent injury, there's been no indication he can't), then shame on them.

I have NO IDEA how his hip is or if he'll be able to play. But I have seen nothing this year (at least) to tell me he can't play and play well if he's healthy.
- John Jaeckel

No need to apologize, I didn't take anything personally.

I agree that Emery has shown this year hes still a #1 goalie, and I don't think the gap between him and crawford is that large, I just believe crawford is better. Plus, we have no idea what his health situation is like you said. I think the team has a great shot to win the cup with either goalie in the net, if the skaters on the ice are producing. I would argue that three games into the playoffs, the goalie situation is the last thing on Q's mind.

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.
- MnGump

I think a lot of people here give your team credit. The shots told it all. A couple lucky bounces and some more bad timing by Crow and it will be a toss up series. That was a great shot by Zucker - he is going to be a good one. Coyle really showed up yesteday too.

A shame Coach Meow had to turn it into a "hate" thing. Turned some good hitting into a bunch of cheap shots - Falk and Clusterbuck in particular- even Suter. That's the playoffs though. At least you haven't entered Canuck land yet.

I think the Hawks will respond to the physical stuff Tues. Not sure if they will be capable though when it comes from up and down the lineup like the Sharks, Blues, or Kings can bring it...

I picked the Hawks in 7 games at the outset of this series and I still am. I know one thing is certain, the Hawks played good for five minutes yesterday, and that was it. That is totally unacceptable in the playoffs. The scary thing is as bad as they played, they still lost in overtime. The Hawks will be better in Game 4, but Minnesota is playing in front of their fans, and now have confidence that they can beat the Hawks. Crawford is key. He is at times very weak mentally, here is hoping he blocks out that awful overtime winner out of his head very quickly. Past indicators tell me he won't. I am picking Minnesota 4-1 tomorrow night. 2-2 going back to the Madhouse.

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.
- John Jaeckel

It shows through every time they are losing in the PO. Almost the whole team starts trying to hurt the opposition. Final period had attempts to injure by both Sedins, Burrows, and Bieksa, Lapierre and Weiss from what I recall. Sharks just kept calm and kept grinding. They are looking very good. Will see if it carries over to round 2.

I think a lot of people here give your team credit. The shots told it all. A couple lucky bounces and some more bad timing by Crow and it will be a toss up. That was a great shot by Zucker - he is going to be a good one. Coyle really showed up yesteday too.

A shame Coach Meow had to turn it into a "hate" thing. Turned some good hitting into a bunch of cheap shots - Falk and Clusterbuck in particular- even Suter. That's the playoffs though. At least you haven't entered Canuck land yet.

I think the Hawks will respond to the physical stuff Tues. Not sure if they will be capable though when it comes from up and down the lineup like the Sharks, Blues, or Kings can bring it...
- tredbrta

Still wonder why there was no call when Falk threw Shaw head-first into the glass - certainly seemed like a very dangerous move on TV - he just grabbed Shaw by the collar and flung him into the glass.

No argument, he looks to be pressing.
- John Jaeckel

I don't know why, either. This is a deep team with all 4 lines capable of chipping in. He doesn't need to be pressing. It will come. But we do need that line to contribute a little. Kane, frolik, and the 3rd line can't do it all

Still wonder why there was no call when Falk threw Shaw head-first into the glass - certainly seemed like a very dangerous move on TV - he just grabbed Shaw by the collar and flung him into the glass.
- StLBravesFan

they did call that