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Game Time: 7:30 Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NHL Network, WGN 720
Opposition Blogs: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Don't Forget: Your SPG Picks

So far in December, the Blackhawks are 5-2-0... We've all had our fun beating up on the Blues and Lightning but now with the Hawks welcoming the Bruins to Chicago, the schedule gets a bit harder.  The remaining games this year are against teams that are at or near the top of their division, except for the Stars - they're stuck in 4th in a very competitive Pacific division, actually, their 39 points would put them ahead of Boston in the Northeast.

And speaking of beantown, things are a little shaky as they're preparing to skate in this year's winter classic.  They've dropped their last two games and have fallen into a tie with Ottawa for second in the division by Buffalo.  Injuries are a fairly big problem with Milan Lucic out a while longer with an ankle problem and Mark Stuart is out over a month with a broken sternum - which sounds quite painful.

Other than injuries, the Bruins seem to have inherited the Blackhawks' goalie controversy.  Tim Thomas is having a bit of a letdown after his Vezina season last year.  He's currently 18th overall in SV% while rookie Tuukka Rask is second behind Ryan Miller.  The two Boston goalies have split their games fairly evenly with Rask playing in 14 games compared to Thomas' 19.  I'm not sure who will be starting this game but either goalie is capable of stealing a game.  Sounds like Rask may get the nod though since Thomas has dropped 3 straight and this is the first of a back-to-back for the Bruins.

For the Blackhawks though it'll be Antti Niemi in the net.  Niemi looked strong against the LIghtning and with the Hawks playing 8 games in 14 days to end the year I'd imagine we'll see Niemi get a good number of starts.  Although he's only played in 8 games, Niemi has the same sv% as Ryan Miller.  It'll be good to see the Finn get some more starts to see just how good he can be.

Word is that Hammer has the flu (no word if it's swine or avian related though) so he's sitting out this game allowing Hendry to get more ice time in his natural position rather than as a winger.  Our guess is that the defensive pairings will be:

Seabrook - Keith
Barker - Campbell
Sopel - Hendry

That fourth err... third pairing isn't exactly the biggest confidence boost but Sopel has been solid lately and just got himself a fancy new +1 rating in the Tampa Bay game and Hendry will be interesting to see matched up against a skilled Boston team.  Sopel's only averaging about 14 minutes a game... so there's that.  The Hawks seemed to break out of their scoring slump with the 7 goals in two games.  Don't expect the power play to take off the clown shoes and put on their big boy skates though - Boston has the strongest penalty kill in the league.  I haven't watched many Bruins games this year but I'm guessing their kill mainly consists of Zdeno Chara standing in front of the net blotting out the sun, stadium lights and any hope of a player getting a shot off without him tearing your head off.

UPDATE:  According to Mirtle and the official Blackhawks Twitter - the Hawks have recalled Bryan Bickell from Rockford.  Hope his I-Pass still has money on it..

Lets Go Hawks

Lets get this out of the way early - there are two big complaints about this game.  The first is the general douchebaggery of the Tampa Bay Lightning, notably Todd Fedoruk and Matt Smaby.  Fedoruk had a late hit on Niemi with under 2 minutes left in the game - it's a damn shame that Niittymaki had a killer save to keep the Hawks from putting up a nickle for the night.  Smaby was guilty of a trip on Kane that caused him to bang his head off the ice when he couldn't get his arms down to support himself - not too terrible as those things happen.  Later in the game though Smaby delivered a late and high hit on Toews that could have taken the captain out again if he wasn't able to brace himself.  This also caused Toews to get up and take his wrath out on Matias Ohlund... lucky for him though Toews' wrath consisted mostly of some pushing and probably a few more weird faces..

Don't confuse this with a general complaint of another team targetting our stars - that's to be expected.  Smaby just played like a punk with a -17 career rating and a desperate need for his face to be rearranged.

The second major complaint is the fact that for some reason Jim Belushi was allowed anywhere near the Blackhawks.  Does anyone in the world like this guy?  We all know John Belushi was the shit but he's dead and the last thing we need is some no talent schmuck doing a second rate impersonation of the guy... Jim Belushi is quickly becoming Second City Hockey's public enemy #1.  Please never allow him in the building again.  Seriously, fuck that guy.

Ok.. now that that's out of the way, lets focus on the good for tonight - and there's plenty of it.

I don't think this was exactly what Sam had in mind when he begged the team to just score in the preview but it was pretty close.  Kane's goal almost 8 minutes in was something we've been dying to see for a while.  Kane grabbed a pass from Keith and brought it towards the faceoff circles.  I saw all lightning players being drawn toward the puck (a common occurrence as we'll see) and screamed for him to hit Keith with the puck as the flash was drifting towards the center of the zone.  Instead Kaner ripped a quick as... well.. lightning wrist shot that beat Niittymaki clean.  I'll take that too..

The Hawks continued the theme of dominating a game with little to show for it until about halfway through the second when Hossa chased a puck into the corner behind the Bolts net.  Our dear old friend Big Country Matt Walker and another defenseman were again both confused as where to go and both weakly chased Panda, leaving Ben Eager streaking towards the net without a defender in the same time zone...  Hossa grabbed the puck and wasted no time hitting Eager clean on his tape to take a 2-0 lead.

Not to limit himself to simply pretty passing - Hossa decided to show off hands a bit later, scoring one of those goals where you have to turn to the guy next to you and ask if what you saw just actually happened.  In this case, yes, Hossa did actually grab a puck out of mid-air and smack it into the net before it actually hit the ice.  He's good.

The third period was again all Hawks as Toews finished off the scoring with another goal that resulted from skating hard towards the net and being ready for a rebound.  It was also nice to see Toews lay a big hit on Smaby followed up by drawing a hooking penalty.  Toews finished the night with 4 recorded hits..

Random Thoughts:

• Just about every Hawk had a great game.  I wrote notes mentioning seeing both Brian Campbell and Brent Sopel winning battles along the boards. 
  
• If you can, re-watch the game and notice the great stick-play of the defenders, especially Seabrook.  The Hawks' d-men are just playing textbook defense, taking away any passing or shooting lanes from the other teams.
• Eager had a good showing with a nice physical game when he was needed.  Zenon Konopka leads the league in fighting majors but if a player like Eager can drop him that easily he might want to re-think his career plans.  Hockey Fights voters only have Konopka winning 3 of his 13 fights this year... soon to be 3 out of 14.
• It's obviously poor form to throw punches at a player while he's on the ice - but what is the ruling for a player throwing punches while he's the one on his back?  Eager seemed to get a shot or two in after he lost his balance and fell on his back.  From the comments section, it seemed like the Bolts announcers had a few problems with that move..
  
• Antti Niemi has played in 8 games this year and has a SV% of 100% in three of them - with another one that was close.  I don't really have much to add - that's just pretty damn impressive

Player of the Game:

Another game where it's hard to choose - Niemi got the shutout, Hossa had two beautiful plays and was a force all over the ice, Eager was an assist away from the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, Toews solid all over the ice..

I think I'm going to go with the Happy Panda though - feel free to disagree and tell us who you think is worthy of the prestigious title in the comments..

1 Goal, 1 Assist, +2, 3 SOG, 20:27 TOI - and check out those shoes..

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Game Time: 6:30 Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN 720
Opposition Blogs: Die By The Blade
Don't Forget: Your SPG Picks

For some reason that isn't all that clear - the Blackhawks have had some trouble finding the back of the net when skating 5-on-5.  I guess it's good news then that the goalie with a 1.82 GAA and .938 SV% will primarily be concerned with opening and closing the door to the bench tonight.  As per Kuc's report from earlier today - Ryan Miller is getting the night off in favor of Patrick Lalime who will face his former teammates.  This squad has very little in common from the 07-08 season though when Daydream Nation were rookies and Andrei Zyuzin and Sergie Samsonov actually suited up for a combined 55 games (and 9 points). 

Lalime hasn't had a great time since leaving Chicago - he's only played in 27 games and in his 3 games this year has a .836 SV% on a Sabres team that has been surprisingly strong.  They're only one point behind Boston for the lead spot in the Northeast despite having played two fewer games.  Miller obviously has a lot to do with that since the Sabres are 20th overall in Goals/Game.  Like the Hawks, they have no players with a double-digit total in goals (Kane, VERSTEEG! or Buff could change that though if they get one in tonight).

There's three other stories going into this game though, two of them are getting plenty of press so far so I won't bother them much other than to mention that yes, this is Patrick Kane's first game in Buffalo since he and his cousin let out their wrath on a cabbie over a few missing dimes.  Will Buffalo turn on their favorite son over this incident?  Maybe now that he's signed to Chicago for 5 more years thereby ending their dreams of him playing for his hometown squad they won't treat him quite so fondly. 

As Blackhawk Up points out too - this is also Brian Campbell's first game back in The Queen City (I just learned that's Buffalo's nickname).  I'm not sure what the feeling is in Buffalo, but if it's anything like the ridiculousness in San Jose - Campbell is going to be hearing a lot off boos again tonight.  In an odd way, I do hope Buffalo ends up booing Kane and Campbell.  Those two hold onto the puck for so long that any moron booing will pass out by the second when they forget to inhale.

Finally - there's the small matter of Drew Stafford.  Last year, Stafford delivered a big hit to Duncan Keith which kept him off the ice for two weeks (and could possibly explain his less than stellar post season).  The hit on Keith was legal but questionable.  I don't think it was overly dirty but in the game against Pitt we saw Keith take exception to another hard hit and take some revenge.  It'd be shocking to see Keith go out of his way to run Stafford but I wouldn't put it past someone like Eager who got out of the penalty box and immediately went after Stafford after the hit. 

With Miller out this is a very winnable game for the Blackhawks.  If the Hawks play anything like they did against the Rangers it shouldn't be too hard as Lalime is a far cry from Lundqvist in everything except for an alphabetical roll call but we here at SCH have an uncanny ability to call someone out only to have them play the game of their career.

Lets Go Hawks

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Game Time: 7:30 Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN 720
Opposition Blogs: Blueshirt Banter
Don't Forget: Your SPG Picks

When I was a kid, I had a ton of favorite baseball players - so many that it really didn't make sense to call them "favorite" because there were just so damn many.  Now, I only have a few players outside of Chicago that I actually pay attention to - and Curtis Granderson was one of those players, and now I have to despise him.. great.  I hate New York.  This trade obviously means absolutely nothing for today's game and even less for the actual players on either side - but it sure would be nice to see at least one New York team get its ass kicked. 

Rangers fans are feeling a bit of deja vu this year - last year the Rangers won 10 of their first 13 games, then they cooled off quite a bit and ended the year 7th in the East and were knocked out in the first round by Washington.  This year, the Rags won 7 of their first 8.  They've lost 14 of the past 21 though and are actually tied with the Islanders for overall points. 

Here's another shocker - the Rangers aren't scoring goals.  They're 17th in the league in Goals/Game despite Marian Gaborik's league leading 21 goals.  The problem is that once you go beyond their Marian, no one has more than 6 goals.  The Blackhawks by comparison have 6 players with 7 or more (though none with a double-digit total).  The Rangers haven't been an offensive dynamo team for a while though.  The Ranger's plan is to play solid and conservative defensive hockey and simply let Henrik Ludqvist carry them.  

That's not exactly happening this year though as Henrik is showing he's mortal.  He's 19th overall with 2.64 GAA and 17th in SV% at .914.  Granted - that's pretty damn good but it's not enough to overcome the Rangers offensive shortcomings the way it has been in the past.  King Henrik had a 6 game stretch where he gave up 3 or more goals 5 times.  He's turned things around a bit in the past two games, giving up only 3 goals in two games against the Sabres and Red Wings.

It's an Original Six game, which are always fun, so lets see what type of game the Blackhawks are looking to play.  I'd hope to see Tomas Kopecky watch another game in a press box as the fourth line seemed to finally be effective for the first time in a while with him not on it - though Jordan Hendry is hardly a solution.  We should also pray to see Buff play on a line with Madden again as the big man only seems to give a damn when playing with a checking center who constantly works his ass off.  While we're wishing for things, lets also throw in a new HDTV, Fugazi to go on tour again and a cure for hangovers (that doesn't involve not actually drinking).

From the official site - here are tonight's lines:

VERSTEEG! - Toews - Hossa
Brouwer - Sharp - Kane
Byfuglien - Madden - Ladd
Eager - Fraser - Kopecky

Second City Hockey fully supports these lines

Lets Go Hawks.

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

13 days ago: Chicago Blackhawks' Kris Versteeg (32) falls to the ice after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, center rear, and Tyler Kennedy (48) in an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009. The Blackhawks won in overtime 2-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Setting:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Melon Arena (aka The Igloo) Section B12, December 5th, 2009

Cast of Characters:

Matthew - A Blackhawks fan in a sea of black gold and powder blue. 

Nicholas - Pittsburgh native, Penguins fan, all around good guy.

Monkey - Nicholas' roommate, fellow Pittsburgh native.

Alana - Attending her first ever hockey game with Matthew, Nicholas and Monkey

Unnamed Blackhawks fan - Originally from Chicago but now living in Harrisburg, happens to be sitting next to Matthew

Grandfather #1 - A surly old man

Grandfather #2 - Not quite as surly as #1, but no less of a prick

Granddaughter - A cute young girl with a giant stuffed penguin.

Continue reading this post »

by Jeff McIntosh - AP

I don't think it's possible to take a picture of Toews on the ice without some stupid look on his face

View full size photo »

We've covered the Olympics on here a few times before and it's safe to say we're all a little concerned about them.  All of the SBN Hockey blogs have once again teamed up though to give everyone a good glimpse at who on the teams they cover could be heading to Vancouver for two weeks in February to play for their countries. Please check out the other sites info on this page - it's a good read

We here are SCH are already pretty late with this preview so here we go..

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

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In the history of Second City Hockey, we've probably had some pretty terrible game recaps - this might be one of them.  McClure and Fels are obviously still over at the Whirlaway plowing down drinks and eating whatever delicious food Maria has made for the horde that made it out to the bar.

Meanwhile, I got back to my parent's home just in time for the second period to watch the Sharks game go absolutely down the toilet.  Of course, I had to watch the game on a shitty internet connection and Yahoo's feed kept fucking up so I don't have any great insight as to how the game actually went - as if I ever do anyway though, eh?  I've had several Yuengling's though - so I'm good to go.

Since the feeds out here sucked, all I've really got to go on are the stats and the game thread... and by the way the game thread had over 700 comments - I'm very fucking proud. 

There are two things that obviously stand out - the Hawks scoring 3 short handed goals and Hossa netting two goals in his return to the ice... Honestly - I'm not sure which is more impressive.  Short handed goals are always a mix of great play and a bit of luck.  Due to the poor feed, I can't remember who but I remember seeing Sharks D-men falling down allowing at least one of the shorties.  It was almost the bizzaro version of the game against the Flames where the Hawks scored their goals on the power play.  This time they got them with a man feeling shame in the box - word is Brouwer, Sharp and Hossa all grew goatees too... Regardless - awesome.  Hossa immediately making his presence felt, that could be even sweeter.  This team is scary good at the moment, hopefully it's this fun for a lot longer.

Hossa ended the night with 2 goals on 4 shots in 16:35 minutes of ice time - Quenneville obviously didn't have any problems pushing Panda (alliteration!) tonight, only Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews had more ice time among the forwards. 

On the Sharks side of things - it didn't look too good.  Danny Boyle, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thornton were all -4 tonight.  Patrick Marleau had a team leading 4 shots (one less than John Madden and a few other Hawks) on goal but was still -3.  Speaking of shots on goal - The Sharks only managed 11 through the first period, though they did more than double that total in the third once the Hawks foot was clearly off the gas and settled into cruise control.

Scoring a touchdown (the extra point is good!) on the road is good - doing it against a team that hadn't lost in regulation at home, that's better.  If you read the Power Rankings post I had yesterday, you saw that this was had the potential to be a statement game.  These are two of the best teams in the NHL - and the Blackhawks absolutely dominated the Sharks.  Happy Fucking Holidays. 

Don't know how the other two are going to be feeling tomorrow but if they're not too annihilated they may have a few more thoughts before settling into a traditional American food coma.  If not, let this be the Second City Hockey message to all of you saying we're very thankful to have all of you as readers and we hope you have a great day.  Enjoy.

Player Of The Game:

Once again, this could have gone to a lot of players.  Troy Brouwer had a goal, an assist and two hits.  Duncan Keith had another 3 assist game. Both Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook had goal and assist games - Biscuit also had 5 hits.  Cristobal Huet had another great game - he came out with only a .917 SV% but deserved better since the Hawks got sloppy in the waning moments.  I think we've got to go with the new guy though. 2 goals on 4 shots in just over 16:30 minutes TOI.

Thanks again to GMH for the image - which is slightly terrifying but awesome at the same time.

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

27 days ago: Edmonton Oilers' Dustin Penner, left, Patrick O'Sullvan (19) and Gilbert Brule, front, battle Chicago Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet (39), of France, Blackhawks' Patrick Sharp and Niklas Hjalmarsson, right, of Sweden, for a flying puck during third period NHL hockey action in Edmonton, Alberta, on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. The Blackhawks won 5-2. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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I skipped this last week because it fell right at the same time as the hullabaloo over the announced possible maybe kinda sorta deals for The Big Three - I didn't want anything to detract from all of us playing GM - but with 7 in a row, the Hawks are big winners this week.  So lets take a look at this week's rankings:

SBN Power Rankings:  Last week, I was the only one of the SBN writers to put the Blackhawks at the top spot in the Western Conference...  This week plenty more followed my lead.  Not only are the Hawks the top in the West, they're top in the league.   

The Hockey News:  Still not enough for the Hawks to overtake the Sharks for the top spot - we'll see what happens tomorrow though.

TSN: Ranking behind the Sharks once again at 2nd overall - but jumped up 6 spots overall. 

ESPN: The World Wide Leader knows what's what.  The Sharks are rightfully in second place behind the Blackhawks.

NHL Fanhouse:  6th would be upsetting if you didn't notice that the post was published Friday, before the back-to-back victories over the Oil and the Nucks.  Just unfortunate scheduling I suppose.. 

League Wide Stats:

The Hawks have actually dropped in shots per game - after putting up 61 shots in a single game, the Maple Leafs are up at number one for shots per game - but it's a positive gain in every aspect. 

Points:  At 32 points, the Hawks are tied Washington and Pittsburgh at second overall.  The Sharks are at the top with 36.  It's worth noting though that the Hawks have played 3 fewer games than the Sharks, and 2 less than the Penguins and Capitals.
Goals/Game:  6th Overall (3.09)
Goals Against/Game: 1st Overall (2.14) - goalie trouble?
Shots/Game:  6th Overall (32.0)
Shots Against/Game:  Top of the Pops x5 (23.8)
Faceoff %:  2nd Overall (53.6) - only the Sharks are better at the dot.
Power Play:  9th Overall (22.5) - thanks Calgary!
Penalty Kill: 1st Overall (85.7)

Another dominating, entertaining and impressive effort from the Blackhawks.  The team opened up the scoring early on as Toews pestered Ladislov Smid (which is just a great fucking name) behind the Oilers net, Patrick Kane came in to tap the puck away and Toews picked up firing two shots, the second goes bar and in.  It was a perfect corner shot and it looks like Toews was fond of that area.  Jeff Drouin-Delorean never stood a chance.

The Oilers didn't wait long to even it up as Sheldon Souray was credited with a goal that Cam Barker helped in.  The Oil must have felt guilty though.  Brent Sopel fed a pass to Kris Versteeg who the Oilers convientely left all alone in front of the net.  When Kris wasn't able to bury the shot, Souray punched it in while trying to clear the puck away. Thanks guys but that kind of sportsmanship isn't really necessary.

From that point on it was almost all Blackhawks who seemed to do whatever the fuck they pleased with the puck.  The passing in the Oilers zone was simply a clinic on puck possession.  I remember one game last year where the Hawks were able to completely change lines while holding the puck in the other teams zone... this was close to that level of dominance. 

Outscoring the opponents 12-3 so far on the circus trip is a damn good sign but the Hawks will have to keep it up as they face the Canucks tonight. 

Quick Thoughts:

• Patrick Kane's goal was almost as pretty as the Hawks puck possession.  Once you saw him get the slightest bit in front of Liam Reddox and lower his shoulder you knew it was going to take an act of god to keep the puck from the back of the net.
• Madden scoring is always a welcome sight. 
  
• Toews' second goal might have hit the exact same spot on the post before going in.  Worth mentioning too that the Hawks now have two games in a row with a forward getting multiple goals.
• Another power play goal too - that's also two games in a row with those.  Don't look now but they've moved into the top 10 in the league with the man advantage.   Going 5 for 7 in the last two games still relatively early in the season will do that.
• Lets hope Bryan Bickell isn't hurt too bad.  He's actually been playing well the past few games but he looked scrambled after hitting his head on the ice following a hit on Dustin Penner. 

Player of the Game:

No poll on this one - Two goals and an assist makes it easy:

Its become something of a tradition around these parts - but every time the Blackhawks absolutely dismantle the Flames we get an appearance of a vastly under-appreciated Simpsons character

That my friends, was a paddlin' indeed.

During the first period it seemed like the Hawks were having a bit of trouble getting things going.  They grabbed the lead when Troy Brouwer was left alone in front of the net on the Hawks first power play but it didn't seem like somthing you'd want to rest on.  It was obvious the winning team would need more than just one goal that resulted after an even first.  The shots on goal were tied and if not for a few great saves by Huet, it could have been tied.  Then the Flames started the second on a power play and wasted only 14 seconds before Olli Jokinen snuck the puck past Cristobal Huet.  With the game tied we started to settle in for nail-biting close game.

And then Hammer absolutely ruined Rene Bourque. 

We'll set aside the fact that Niklas Hjalmarsson may have left his feet to make the hit (haven't seen a good enough replay of it yet) because this was the breaking point in this game.  Nigel Dawes came to defend Bourque (who didn't really skate again after the hit) and was given 2 minutes for roughing.  Shockingly, the Blackhawks scored on that power play too and didn't look back.  Even Dustin Byfuglien decided it was just about time for him to do something again to keep himself from getting benched and had a nice takeaway and goal.  Don't expect to see him again for at least 6 more weeks.  After Hammer's hit the Flames wilted and died - We didn't see anything close to the game we were expecting.

How good were the Hawks in the second period?  They finally fucking scored on a 5 on 3... that's how good.  They were something like 0 for 5 with the two extra men but had continually been shut down until tonight.  The Hawks exploded for the most goals of any period this year, got their first player with a multi-goal game (VERSTEEG!), were 80% on the power play, and finished with 13 players getting at least a single point... There's just about nothing poor to say about the men of four feathers in this game.  Everything went as well as you could hope. 

Well - I guess Seabrook could have made Dion Phaneuf bleed.  That would have completed the night.  In case you needed any more evidence that this frankenstein is one of the biggest shitbirds in the league, look no further than picking a fight with someone while wearing a visor.  Even the zebras called bullshit on that move and gave him a phantom 2 minutes for roughing.  So VERSTEEG! followed it up by scoring his second of the night.

Oh, and as is being pointed out - Hossa is almost ready to make the Blackhawks even more dangerous.

Other Thoughts:

• The Flames ought to be ashamed for leaving Brouwer alone on the crease for so long.  It's one thing to ignore a player while the puck is being cycled around the zone but I think Troy got three shots off before netting the final one without so much as being breathed on by a Flames player.
• Seabrook was a force all over the ice tonight.
• Has Colin Fraser ever won a fight?  Dude, you're a center and I think we've seen the end of the Ebbett experiment - I think your spot is safe at least until Dave Bolland comes back. 
  
• This was the first game of the year where the Hawks were outshot but still won.  They also lost the face off battle (EDIT:  Just kidding - they actually won 53% of the faceoffs, I misread)

Player Of The Game:

Fuck.. how do you choose?  Duncan Keith had three assists and was the usual monster in the Hawks end.  Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist on his 21st birthday (first carbomb is on me, kid).  Kris Versteeg had 2 goals on the power play.  Patrick Sharp added two points.  Hammer changed the tempo of the game with a huge hit on a player I'm quickly growing to hate (and added an assist). And of course Cristobal Huet had a brilliant game making big stops to keep the Hawks in it when it was close and stayed focused when it got out of control - this was also his best SV% (.964) in a non-shutout game.

So we're going to let you pick.  Time for the first poll in a while.