It seems like just yesterday that the Hawks stunned the crowd in Boston to win the Stanley Cup. My, how time flies when you're waiting for hockey to come back. The Hawks opened their season against an always-stacked Washington Capitals club looking to continue the streak of Stanley Cup champions who lose on the day of their banner-raising. The result was a heck of a game.
While the ceremony itself was beautiful, the game itself was pretty intense. It was a tight, back-and forth game for much of the game. In the end, the score read 6-4, but that was a very indicative scoreline. At one point, the Caps lead 4-3 over the Hawks before three third-period goals saved the team.
Brandon Bollig opened the scoring for the game, season and his career in the first period, before Alexander Ovechkin evened the score showing just how good he is. But Patrick Kane scored an equally-impressive goal that put the Hawks up 2-1 just 24 seconds later. Michael Grabovski took advantage of an out-of-place Duncan Keith to pull the Caps even, but Brent Seabrook, who was left all alone, put the Blackhawks back ahead.
The Caps tied the game again on the PP (seems to be a pattern) but Brandon Saad scored on the Power Play to keep the Hawks in the lead. The Caps eventually took a 4-3 lead, but the Hawks came back and won. Johnny Oduya scored what would be the winning goal on his 32nd birthday!
As for the Hawks play, I thought it was impressive considering how emotionally jacked up they must have been. Considering how the NHL is trying to increase scoring, I thought they responded well each time the Caps scored. Heck, they had a comeback, for cryin' out loud!
The Power Play seems to have improved. Saad's PP goal came on fantastic pass from Marian Hossa. Heck, their Penalty Kill was pretty impressive, aside from the PP goals the Caps (who are the best PP team in the league) scored. The Hawks managed to kill a 5-on-3 Penalty late in the third period and Corey Crawford stood on his head to stop the Caps.
The offense of course, was phenomenal. Brandon Bollig is not known for scoring, but the St. Louis native scored his first NHL goal in a most-fitting way. Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, Brent Seabrook and everyone who scored did their part.
It's only the first game, but I like what I saw. This is still very much the team that won the Stanley Cup in June and they're looking for a chance to repeat. Whether or not they will is in question, but judging from what I saw tonight, they'll be pretty good this year.
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