It Was Close...While It Lasted: 32 Seconds!

 

It was close for a while, as the Hawks were only down by one goal at second intermission, but after a 32 second breakdown by the Hawks early in the third period they found themselves down 6-2. At this point it was game over as the Lightning coasted to a 6-3 victory. There's a reason the Lightning have won the last two cups and if I was betting, I would put the mortgage down for a third. Last season, Tampa Bay took 15 of 16 points from the Hawks, so clearly they are over matched. The score again reflected much hasn't changed since last year.

Observations:

• When I say close, I mean the Hawks could have been up more than the 1-0 after the first period. Some grade A chances, as the Hawks were buzzing on the fore check and held the Lightning to limited chances. An early save off Kirby Dach with the butt end of his goal stick set the tone for the night Andrei Vasilevskiy would have. "You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good"...or something like that. A save off Patrick Kane in third might just be the save of the year. Wow! Vasilevskiy has yet to lose a regular season game to the Blackhawks in his career! (see above)
  

• The three goals the Lightning scored in 32 seconds set a Tampa Bay record for three fastest goals. the previous record was 42 seconds in 2008 against the New York Islanders. 
• Turning point: Even before those three goals, I thought the turning point of the game was later in the second when the Hawks were up 2-1, they had back to back power-plays and didn't score. They could have made it 3-1, but instead, the Cat took a penalty and seconds after they killed it off, Hedman scored to tie it. A minute and a half later, they scored again and ended the period up 3-2. Giving up goals in bunches are killing the Hawks this season and quickly swings the momentum. From this point on the Lightning controlled the game and the three quick goals in the third clinched it. Again, the score sounds worse than how the Hawks played, apart from the two major lapses, they kept it close...-ish.
• Erie linemates: The Hawks, Dylan Strome, Alex DeBrincat and the Lightning's, Taylor Raddysh all scored a goal. They were linemates on the Erie Otters in junior and the trio put up incredible numbers together. Strome was drafted the highest at 3rd overall in 2015, while the Cat went 2nd round (39th overall) and Raddysh 58th overall, both in 2016. This might be the first time all three scored in one game together in the NHL.
  
• Frustrated: After Fleury gave up the fifth goal to Corey Perry, he took his frustrations out on the goal post. Nights like this I wonder if Fleury has second thoughts about saying he would like to stay in Chicago. He must be thinking how less frustrating it'll be playing on a contending team. I'm sure in the upcoming weeks or days, they'll be more rumours and trade talk. Stay tuned!

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• International Women's Day: Was celebrated early at the UC with the ceremonial puck drop from Chicago area members of the Olympic silver medal women's hockey team. Upstairs, Caley Chelios handled colour in the booth with Pat Foley. Chelios spent the last five years working colour/reporting on the Lightning broadcasts, before returning home for the Blackhawks broadcasts. She's been a bright light for the broadcast crew all season with her insightful analysis. Hear Caley's message.
  

Up next: Hawks vs Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday 7:30 pm. I'm going to the Jets/Lightning game the same night, so I won't be watching the Hawks game live, hopefully the highlights are worth watching!

Disappointment, Redemption And Jubilation: Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad!

First of all, congratulations to the 2022 Canadian Women's Olympic Hockey team for their gold medal win last night! As usual, an amazing game and this time the Canadian women regained their status as the best in the world. It was a big day for hockey for our country and my city and as I said in the title, 2 out of 3 of those games went well.

Disappointment: The Canadian men's team didn't fare as well as the women and their games ended the same day as the women (at least in my time zone) with a loss to Sweden in the quarter finals.

•  Did we really think the Canadian team (and the US) had a hope in winning gold? Without the NHL players, the European teams had a much larger pool of talent playing in their leagues. There are still a lot of really good players that haven't come to North America and it sure showed in the depth of their lineups. Former Hawks, Marcus Kruger and Lucas Wallmark were in Sweden's lineup with Wallmark scoring the winning goal against Canada. The medals will be won by a European country, just like the old days.
  
• Please don't attack or blame the players online after the loss! It wasn't their fault they were thrown into this mess and they gave a valiant effort. Keep your snide comments to yourself and move on. The NHL season is starting to ramping up so there is lots of exciting hockey happening. 
• During the broadcast, as Canada was losing, the camera showed Shane Doan, Canada's GM, "he's not used to losing..." I had to laugh out loud because he played for Phoenix/Arizona, right? This was followed with "as a member of Team Canada" Oh...ok.
  

Redemption: The Jets redeemed themselves, at least temporarily with a convincing win against one of the top teams in the league, division rivals, the Minnesota Wild 6-3. This reinforces the theory that the Jets seem to play to the level of their competition beating the better teams in the league and losing to the bottom dwellers (Chicago, Arizona, Philadelphia, Buffalo etc.)...oh oh, the Kraken are in town tonight!

• Good news for the Jets, Mark Scheifele is starting to finally heat up. A hat trick last night and goals in his last 5. If Scheifs and Wheels can stay hot their chances look pretty good. A much needed shot, the Connor's can't do it themselves.
  
• This was the first game of increased capacity and about 12,500 fans showed up. What a difference with more fans in the building and the atmosphere seemed to be more pumped up than previous games. Still a lot of empty seats, but a more accurate measure of the fan's warming up to returning will be this weekend against the Oilers. It'll be interesting to see if True North will stay with current restrictions once the proof of vaccine and mask laws are lifted or if the unmasked anti-vaxxers will return. Yuck! Stay tuned!
  

 

Jubilation: What can be further said, the games between Canada and the US seem to go either way, but this year the Canadian's had a much more dominant Olympics than the Americans, crushing the competition. The Americans barely beat the Czechs and Finns in the quarters and semis and I wasn't convinced they could beat Canada in the finals. I think goaltending was a major factor for both wins against the Americans, as the Canadians were out-shot (quite badly in round play) and Desbiens clearly outplayed Cavallini with the Canadian's scoring timely goals. Too little, too late for the US.

Up next: Jets/Kraken and Hawks/Blue Jackets