After game two of the Blues and Hawks series; allot of
people (not myself) were writing off the defending champions. Going back to the
Madhouse on Madison down 2-0 and without Brent Seabrook for three games, the
fact remained you had a team in St. Louis who in the past cannot seal the deal when up 2-0,
and the Hawks who like LA are best with their backs against the wall.
With a few lucky bounces going their way, better goaltending
and playing their game not the Blues; the Hawks have now taken a 3-2 lead with
a chance to close out the series on Sunday. One cannot even compare performances. Kane
& Toews have been 150% unreal in the past few games; while Oshie &
Steen have been just ok. Miller has let in a few soft ones here and their;
while since game two; Crawford has been rock solid.
Any way you want to play it
The Hawks mistakenly have been perceived as a soft team. The
current series with the St. Louis Blues are proving that simply is not the
case; if you want to play a skilled game like we’ve seen or a back alley nasty
affair; they can and will play it anyway and be successful. I think Chicago is
much like the Cup winning Red Wings from the late 90’s; except they’ve got better
goaltending in Crawford. Both teams
had/have superior, skill, leadership but were sneaky tough. To compare in the
toughness/aggression department; the Wings had Mccarty, Shanahan, Konstaniov and
Lapointe; nowadays the Hawks have Brookbank, Shaw, Bollig and Bickell.
The key thing is this; without Seabrook the Hawks have
started to play their skilled, puck moving game compared to matching the Blues
hit for hit like in the first two games. Prime statistic to prove Chicago is
now playing their game; first two games Blues had 25 minutes on the PP; last
three games under 20 minutes for STL on the PP.
No Phase 3 if the Hawks win it all.
The previous two times the Hawks won the Stanley Cup they
had huge turnover in the off-season because of the salary cap. IF they win
their third cup this year, that won’t be happening this go around. Phase 1 was massive; Adam Burish, Ben Eager,
Brent Sopel, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd & Kris Versteeg all were traded;
(all salary related). Phase two seen Dave Bolland be moved out; a bigger part
of the team compared to anyone within phase 1. This year; the only two UFA’s
are Sheldon Brookbank & Michael Handzus; RFA’s are Jeremy Morin & Annti
Raanta; very likely all could be back.
Finally
Just for the record I’m first a Maple Leaf fan, secondly a
Kings fan. But quite honestly as the Blues vs Hawks series has gone on; I’ve
been going more and more for the Hawks. My opinion the Blues are doing allot of
hit and runs. What I mean by this; allot of crap after the whistle (Ott, &
Lapierre especially) or hitting a guy 4-5 seconds after getting rid of the
puck; but only standing up for themselves once the linesman comes in; or getting
in there when the Hawks big boys are not around.
That being said; whoever wins this series is likely to
coming out of the West. In the Pacific it will be a grueling round two 6-7 game
series; where the Blues or Hawks will play a beat up or Av’s or a Minnesota
team whom on paper don’t matchup well.
Will the Hawks shut the door; or will the Blues finally
reach their potential; I like others will be sitting at the edge of my seat.
