I am pretty much praising Niemi right now. after the 44 saves the other night and his wonderful performance again tonight, I am all about our rookie goalie. This was another amazing hockey game, and while both teams played well, the Hawks had a definite advantage just as they did in game 1. the phrase "track meet game" kept getting thrown around during the broadcast, and I was trying to figure out what they meant by that, and I came up with a general idea.
The track meet game means it became a game of closer distances to the net, like a 200m dash or something like that compared to taking shots from far away. this in my opinion was a reference to the fact the Buff has been right by the net, because of the fact that him being on the line with Captain and Kaner allows him to do so. I really like this line, because it works very well strategically. Everyone focuses on Kane and Toews, and in the meantime Buff goes in front of the net and can get a good poke in, because nobody sees it happening. On the contrary, if the Sharks are on to the placement of Buff, they might pay more attention to him and let the young stars own Nabokov. So basically that line is a win-win situation, and I really like how it's turning out for us.
Captain continued to play tough tonight. I love the fact that he took the most shots. It felt like he wanted Nabokov to know that he was in deep trouble. Going up to the net and taking these shots was a sign of leadership, conveying the message: "Look, just go up and shoot. They are playing so desperately, not wanting to lose the first 2 games, let alone at home. We can get past these guys." And they did.
Byfuglien is definitely a key to our success, as i saw a stat that said that we are some kind of crazy record like 17-1-3 when Buff scored at least 1 goal in the regular season. I also think that Hossa's performance has been overlooked, as although he hasn't been the scoring machine, he has helped his line out alot by making the plays needed. The pregame guy on VS said that Campbell has been overlooked, and while that may be true for the rest of the country, it is not true in Chicago. Ever since he got owned by Ovechkin (another big name not in the playoffs hehehe), Hawks fans have realized what an asset he is to this team. I really think he helps out alot too. Amoung all of the things I just mentioned, plus Niemi being a goalie god, I am feeling very good about this series.
I know not to get "too cocky", however, because I know how we play at home. Sucks for me since those are the games I actually get to see live, but I don't care where they win, really, as long as they just win. I'm hoping for a good game on Friday, and maybe they can take the intensity they have on the road and bring it home. All I know is, I hate that we have to have 2 days in between games. Hopefully it will go by fast. ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment