Game 3 Ruminations

Wow. What a game. This series is really shaping up to be a good one. After some conversation with the Witch Doctor, we came to the realization that this series feels just like those between the Pistons-Bulls in the late 80s and early 90s. The Bulls were young and Detriot was the established powerhouse. The Bulls pushed the Pistons and eventually got the better of them after a few years. Now, that's not to say that I've given up on this season for the Blackhawks (I actually think that we've proved we can definitely play with them and beat them), I just think that IF we don't beat the Red Wings, it shouldnt be viewed as such a shortcoming.

Anyway, here are some other thoughts/reactions about Game 3:
- Joe Quenneville has a great mustache
- Niklas Kronwall is a punk and deserved the 5 minute major he drew for his hit on Martin Havlat. Though, I'm not so sure that the ejection was the correct call.
- On that note, I truly hope that Havlat is okay and can play in Game 4. He led our team in points during the regular season (77) and is important to our offense.
- The Hawks played great during the first period and first 4-5 minutes of the second period. They played with a lot of energy, got good shots, and played good defense. Plain and simple, good hockey.
- The last 10 minutes of the second quarter looked like a totally different team was playing. The Hawks got complacent to just dump the puck in the Wings zone and skate back on defense. We were lucky then they only scored 3 goals that period.
- Still not sure what happened to Nikolai Khabibulin and am sort of sick of hearing this "lower-body injury" b.s. I hope that he is okay, but I felt that at least 1 of the goals scored on him should have been stopped. I really didn't mind the switch to Cristobal Huet. I think that he is just as capable and should seriously be considered to start Game 4.
- Patrick Sharp's OT goal was all solid fundamentals. He did a great job of positioning himself, corralling the puck, and executing on the shot. Nice.
- West End is a great place to watch a Hawks game. Everyone there is intense and watching the game and it gets rowdy when someone scores a goal.

Overall, could have done without those last 10 minutes of the 2nd period but thank goodness they ended up with the W anyway. Can't wait for Game 4...