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Judging by the reaction (mostly from Blackhawk-operated entities) on social media, Hawk rookie Brandon Saad's first NHL goal ranks up there with Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Again, I have no issue with Saad at all. In fact, I am impressed with his tenacity and the relative speed with which he is adapting to the NHL game. It does continue to seem to me that the Hawk marketing types (and maybe a few in the blogosphere who've gotten a bit caught up in the hype) have tried to make him the next Wayne Gretzky. But, whatevs.

So Saad has a goal after 8 NHL games.

What is more impressive to me is how he got in position for the goal, fighting through a Justin Braun check (and leaving Braun on his derriere) and getting to Antti Niemi's doorstep. Later, Saad led a few impressive rushes up ice. To his credit, he is quickly assimilating to not just NHL play but the flow of first-line NHL play.

As for the, ahem, actual game . . .

Seems the big story in San Jose this morning is the major penalty assessed to Andrew Desjardins for a big hit on Jamal Mayers. Before dissecting the hit, let me say the collective whine, er, lament arising from Northern California over this might seem more justified had the Hawks scored on the eventual 1-minute power play. They didn't.

The San Jose argument seems to be: well, we might have taken the lead or regained momentum if the bad call weren't made. Maybe. But maybe not. Even if the Hawks took the only penalty for Duncan Keith going after Desjardins, the Hawks also have the best penalty kill in the league and they had the momentum most of the night.

Another way of looking at this is, the Sharks certainly got the better of the tradeoff, losing a 4th liner versus a top pairing defenseman.

But it's all speculation.

Seemed to me that the Hawks were a step faster than the Sharks and getting contributions from all their lines after the first period. So if the Sharks and their fans want an excuse, point to the compressed schedule and the previous night's road game against a tough Anaheim club.

And that's also why Hawk fans shouldn't get too high about this win or dismiss the Sharks altogether.

The hit? The only issue I had with it is Desjardins skates seemed to leave the ice. When a player launches himself, it seems an intent to injure argument can be made. Can be made. It doesn't win the argument. It just means there is something to discuss. And you can see why the linesman might have made the call.

Bad call? Probably. But those go both ways over the course of a season. A game-deciding call? Probably not.

I love writing blogs in the aftermath of wins—there's a lot less need to tease apart the game summary and find the problems.

The Hawks had to overcome a sloppy (first half at least) of the game from Patrick Kane and Corey Crawford. At one point, it seemed Crawford would get pulled for Saturday Night's Hero, Ray Emery.

But it was also clear the Hawks had their legs and pretty much all their lines were clicking. Bryan Bickell had a great game. If Joel Quenneville and staff can flip his switch for big games like this one as they did (or he did) last night, the Hawks are going to be a tougher team to beat throughout the year and the playoffs. Bickell's physicality alone almost seemed enough to set the Sharks back a bit after they came out hitting everything in a white sweater.

Marcus Kruger and Michal Frolik combined to kill penalties and get a goal. The Hawk defense, overall, was pretty good, especially from the forwards on the backcheck.

And I will just say, Hawk fans, if all we have to argue about is how great (or good or pretty okay) Saad is, this could be a very fun season. This is a very good team.

It might still, and probably does, have a hole or two that you hope can be filled by early April. But this road trip, within the context of 10 road games out of 12 total to open the season, is showing that this is the best Hawk team since the Spring of 2010.

The next test comes tomorrow night in Glendale. I'll be back with a preview tomorrow afternoon.


JJ

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