tshilton

We are lucky to be 3-0 on the circus road trip but will take it, the Leafs came out flying after being off for nearly a week and had a little added enthusiasm from what was a moving pre-game ceremony for Wendel Clark. Again Khabby held strong in a first period where, we were out shot and out chanced badly, we easily could have come out of that down 2-0 or worse.

Plus’s +
After struggling through the first period Joel Quenneville took Taser (Jonathan Toews) off the first line and replaced him Patrick Sharp, the second that happened we started to pick it up, Sharp got the first two goals for the Hawks and threatened every time he touched the puck. Also Marty Havlat picked up his play when paired with Toews getting on the score sheet with an assist and creating several other chances.

Late in the game our play down low offensively resulted in two goals, we pressured the Leafs into mistakes and capitalized a change for our offense that often relies on a transition attack, great to see a solid forechecking effort it was really the key to this comeback win.

One area where this team has struggled is discipline, although we came out flat and got out worked for a period and a half we turned the puck over signifigantlly less than our opponents and stayed out of the penalty box for the most part.

Minus’s -
Again we struggle with a consistent effort this time taking a period and a half off, we cannot expect Nik, to save us every game and the comeback attempt easily could have came short tonight.

The pairing of Brian Campbell and Cam Barker still have some growing to do as a unit, on the powerplay or in the offensive zone they are scary as both possess great vision and shooting abilities. But in the defensive zone tonight their communication was a problem. The first instance came in the first period, Brian Cambell started the rush and circled back towards our blue line under a solid fore-check threw the puck back at Barker who was on the same side of the ice, Cam being pressured had to make a quick decision with the puck and tried a cross ice pass that got picked off and created a 2-on-1 for the Leafs. That normal spacing that defenseman should have to keep lanes open to move the puck of being spread about wing to wing apart wasn’t there and we nearly got burned.

As a team we still have a bit of bad tendency to chase the puck in our own end, through two periods I counted 8-10 times our team had too much puck support to the puck or one side of the ice. The Leafs had only through the puck cross ice to create a chance to score. This is no doubt a result of our youth but something we definetly have to get a handle on before the playoffs.

Quote of the Game
A picture says a thousand words



Three Stars
1. Patrick Sharp, he played great a couple of goals a beauty on a 2-on-1 his parents were in he crowd just a great night for a great kid.

2. Dave Bolland, game winning goal in overtime add an earlier assist just to big a game to leave out of top three.

3. Patrick Kane, added a goal but played well throughout created a lot of chances and easily could have heard his name more than coming thorugh the announcments.

Moving Forward
We get a couple days off before heading to San Jose to face the Sharks, this will be a great game after the close one last time we have some unfinished business with the Sharks.

Rumours
First, Dustin Byfuglien is a healthy scratch then he has a mysterious injury? by the new NHL rules a team does not have disclose what the injury is but most often do up until the playoffs. Interesting that Tallon has put a gag on this injury?

Dave Tallon spoke on the recent Nylander rumours mentioning he didn’t know how “Dustin’s name came into it but came short of denying the Sopel rumours. It’s quite simple how Dustin’s name came up the Capitals asked for him to be included in the deal, in fact sources tell me this deal was all but done until Tallon refused to part with Byfuglien.

This is a potentially bad situation for Tallon as some of the Blackhawks brass believe that Tallon may have taken this team as far as he is capable and wouldn’t have minded being rid of Dustin Byfuglien at 3 million per season for three years his deal is certainly based on potential rather than production; again a deal Tallon made.

As it stands now the Blackhawks want Nylander and the Capitals want a puck moving defenseman, the problem is we want to move Sopel and not Barker or Byfuglien until a compromise is made there will be no deal.

Personally I would have made the deal as it was and parted with Dustin Byfuglien and looked to use my small amount of new found cap to sign Brendan Shanahan and hope the draw of playing with my skilled youngters would be enough to pull him from New York.

Last quick note, some talk coming from Ottawa about Sopel they are looking for a puck moving defneseman with some experience. Brent Sopel fits the bill and presently the talk is Neil, Vermette and Schupert are all available.

Sorry one more thing, there still is some talk about Khabby mostly from Ekhlund he just started his third consectuive game and is 7-1-4 with a save percentage of 92%, look for him to start again in San Jose, and again in Anaheim leaving Huet’s first start in ages coming against the Kings on the 29th of November in the second game of a back-to-back.

I don’t like to come out against someone else’s rumour but I am not hearing anything toward that end, I have cautioned people on my last post that he is our starting goalie and the opinion among managment is that he could be our best chance to make the playoffs. At this point a team would have to be willing to give up an awlful lot for Khabby and I can’t think of a team willing to part with what Tallon would want in return and take on Khabby’s contract.

I’ll post updates as they develop on the rumour front and of course be back on Wednesday until then

GO HAWKS GO!

Any Questions, Concerns or Comments

terryshilton@sportstalkbuzz.com

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