NHL: Game 2: What Was That?

I'm beginning to wonder if these Hawks really are suffering from Stanley Cup Hangover, or maybe I'm just overreacting. Either way, I am not happy with that third period against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Or that performance, for that matter. At the same time, you may just have to give the Lightning credit.

The first period between the Hawks and Lightning went completely scoreless, even though the Hawks completely outshot the Bolts 11-0 in that first period. Lightning goalie Ben Bishop kept the Hawks off the score sheet rather well.

But come the second period, the Hawks seemed to find their offense. Patrick Kane jumped on a loose puck about a minute into the period and flipped it into the goal mouth to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead. About ten minutes later, the Hawks went on the Power Play for hooking. Nick Leddy tried to get the puck on goal with Bishop out of the net, but Brandon Saad took advantage of the empty net to knock it in from the left side.

But the Tampa Bay defense and Bishop ended up tightening their grip after that. Despite a horrid offensive performance, Tampa Bay were able to stay in the game and eventually, Tampa Bay captain Martin St. Louis beat Corey Crawford with a backhander with 9:52 left in the game on a Power Play... seems to be familiar. Then Teddy Purcell scored almost 2 minutes later to tie the game.

The Hawks could not find a way past Bishop and a late rush on goal turned up empty for the Hawks. They could not break through in overtime and in a horrid show, did not score once on Bishop in the shoot-out. The only goal in that shootout came from a former enemy in Valterri Filppula.

Honestly, I'm not sure what happened here. I understand that in a long season, losses are inevitable. Still, if you're gonna lose, I'd rather it be because the opponent were simply better that night instead of you just being bad. The Hawks gave up both goals on the power play and then failed to score in the shoot-out. Look, I know there will be losses, but come on. I'm holding this team to a fairly high standard and the penalty kill needs to be improved and fast.

Of course, on the other hand, I do have to give credit to Tampa Bay. They have a good defensive team and even though they were 0-1-0 coming into this game, they didn't play like a bad team. I expect them to be contenders in the new Atlantic Division in the NHL.

So tonight it was a combination of bad play by the Hawks and good play by the Lightning. The Hawks will need to fix the penalty kill soon, otherwise defending that Stanley Cup will be hard. The Hawks next game is this coming Wednesday at the St. Louis Blues.