Tanners in his mom's basement eating Cheetos and typing up tomorrow's blog talking about how the coyotes are going to still be tops in the Western Conference. Analytics guys. They dominated the Stars.
- glennjpawlak22

I see Tanner as Steve Buscemi from Billy Madison, without the cool shot at the end, the scene where he's putting lipstick on in the basement, dying for a phone call from any living soul.

Yea, we need someone on the bottom line who can control the puck down low and create some O. Martinsen played 6 friggin minutes tonight. Talk about (not) rolling 4 lines.
- kwolf68

No point in playing Hayden 6 mins either... competely on Q. Put Hayden out there and roll 4 lines. Double shifting Kane in game 1 already. At least Toews looks like he can skate again. Defense was a dumpster fire. How many times did Ottawa players took leisurely skates right down the middle to the net? Yikes. Also very over the Rutta experiment. He might be softer than Gustafsson.

They will be as bad or worse than last year when it's all said and done. Watching STL and WPG during intermissions demonstrates how far both OTT + CHI are from being Cup Contenders...still nice to see a win and see the big boys make it happen with goals from Toews, Seabs and Kane
- EnzoD

Remember last year’s 10 - 1 win over the Pens to start the season? Talk about a misrepresentation of things to come. No such delusion tonight. Agree it was good to see 19, 7, and 88 score. 12 too! Loved how he used the defender as the screen. Ward got better as the game progressed.

I think this rear will be a half tank. Not full on obvious tank / rebuild, just one more year of a top 5 or top 10 draft pick, sell some guys at the TDL, get through next year’s lockout, then add some pieces and try to win again.

Hawks are 43-0-0 in their last 43 when Kane and Toews score a goal in the same game

*NEW* blog up: https://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=95125

The good and bad last night...

Good

- 2 points
- The offensive dynamos up front were offensive. (19/88/12)
- Shot Advantage 43-25 for the game.
- Jokiharju was decent for a 19 year old playing his first game in the NHL.
- Ward held up when it came down to 3rd, but also the team only allowed 5 shots in the 3rd and none in OT.


Bad
- turnovers and puck management. Not just the young guys, but the vets and "puck control" guys like Kane were coughing it up too. What stands out to me were the drop pass to nobody on the PP. And the couple instances where guys just flat out lost the puck, like Seabs did in the middle of the ice.
- Gus had a really up and down night.
- Rutta seemed to be having issues. Probably his worst game since he came to NA that I can recall.
- Did I mention the turnovers?
- Ward was not composed for the first half of the game. Seems like Ottawa just wanted to throw everything at the net because Ward looked uncomfortable.
- Maybe not a major deal for one game, but Toews was great at the dot, AA was 50% and well...the rest got dominated hard. Schmaltz 21%, Kruger 25%, Johnson 17%.

How exactly was that a goalie win? Shots were 43 - 25 Hawks.
- HawkintheD

Ward came up big when necessary, Ott coulda been up 4 after the 1st