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The blame has been spread for last night's 4-3 loss in Game 2 of the SCF. And it has landed on Corey Crawford and Patrick Sharp.
Accurately.
So there's not much more I can add here.
You can't give up a goal like the one Crawford did to Tyler Johnson and expect to win a road game against a very good team in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Sharp's back to back penalties were unfortunate. The first he could be blamed for moreso than the second. But back to back, at that point of a road playoff game to a really potent club. Ugh. You knew it was coming on the second penalty.
One last lament, everyone is waiting for the real Patrick Kane to please stand up, please stand up. But as we all know, "slow" starts to playoff series are nothing new for him. Still, any time Kane wants to dispense with cutesie passes into the other team's skates and going 1 on 3 at their blueline, fine by me.
And there, you have to give credit to the Lightning. They played well. They had to. And they did. On one goal, they exploited one of the Hawks patchwork third tier defensemen, Kyle Cumiskey. They know what they're trying to do and they did it there. That story will be one to watch.
Still that's where the silver lining is for Chicago in the cloud of Game 2. The Hawks also still played well enough to win. They outshot Tampa Bay and destroyed them in the faceoff dot. And they took advantage of some of Tampa's lesser defensemen.
The Kruger line contnues to give Tampa serious problems in their end (which is not where Tampa wants to be dealing with them). Reuniting Marian Hossa with Jonathan Toews appears to have that line going again, especially on the cycle, while Kane figues it out with his linemates for much of a successful regular season, Brad Richards and Kris Versteeg.
The Hawks come home tied 1-1 with home ice advantage over the remaining best three of five.
Mission accomplished?
Hardly. The look on Jonathan Toews' face at the end of regulation said it all. The Hawks know they could have walked out with a 2-0 series lead. But that's also taking nothing from the Lightning. The Hawks didn't because that's how a competitive hockey game is.
But the Hawks have some positives they come home with, including a win in the other building. And Joel Quenneville's matchup task becomes a lot easier the next two games with last change.
I'll have more tomorrow.