I might be one of the few people in the Chicagoland area that isn’t sick of – and will NEVER be sick of- Chelsea Dagger. Play this song until my ears bleed, I don’t care, this is the sweet dulcet notes of a Blackhawks victory.
If you can’t tell by the title, we are celebrating the Blackhawkstaking lead of their series against Oilers – one more win to eliminate them in their own barn. The game tonight was gritty, it was a battle and that’s why I loved it. I don’t really care who “deserved to win”, the drama of not knowing is what makes live sports what they are. In this game, the Hawks kept at it, they fought off Edmonton, and they came back to win it. So Siri, play Chelsea Dagger.
The Hawks started out hot, they put up 2 in the first period. Olli Maatta was the surprise first goal. Edmonton tied it up quickly after that but it didn’t stay that way for long. Our Captain Jonathan Toews had the craziest “no look” goal to get us back in front. Seriously, watch this:
Luck? Hockey Gods? Skill? I don’t know but I’ll take it regardless.
Early in the second, Draisaitl tied us up again at 2 and before the period was over they got another one. In between periods, I like to think the Captain gave a speech. Said “hey let’s keep our shit together, let’s score some more goals. Crow, for the love of God(s) stay in the fucking net. You stress everyone and their mother out when you do that.” That’s what I like to imagine but even if he didn’t, the team still came out with that energy in the 3rd.
In true dramatic Chicago fashion, they made us wait for it. The posts really strut their stuff here. I can’t find exactly how many damn posts were hit in this game but it had to have been at least 3 shots. Before long, we got even. Highmore redirected a shot from Slater Koekkoek for a tie game. Our last goal of the night came from Mr. Connor Murphy (tipped in by Tazer) with this beauty:
Toews, Matta, and Draisaitl were elected the Three Stars of the game but, in all honesty, I had another third star in mind.
Overall, it was a greasy game. I vowed vengeance on Yamamoto and Archibald for some hits they had in this game (and I stand by that). I do hope Tyler Ennis is okay, he took a bad hit from Dach and it looks like he messed up his right knee. Other than the scary hits, we did see tempers flared, there were some near scraps. I do love to see Tazer going toe-to-toe with James Neal’s horse-lookin self. The Cat nearly got into it. We just saw some good, angry hockey and that’s everything I’ve wanted out of these playoffs.
I’ve been loving the Kirby Dach we’ve been seeing. He’s cranked his game up to 11 for this series. Dach played 24 minutes tonight, he had an assist, 2 hits, 1 block, and a shot on goal. He’s played in all 3 games and has 4 assists in that time. He’s been aggressive on the puck and right where we need him. I love what he’s been doing, he’s definetly taking pointers from Keith and I’m so on board with it. He’s going to be a star in this league one day. (already is but I digress)
I said the other day that this is the most entertaining series in the bubble right now and I was right about that. We’ve just got to get one more win. I’m a firm believer in “we’ve done it before, we can do it again”. Throughout all of high school, it was my motto for sports. It’s manifesting repeated success and I will live and die by it. Keep the game simple, fix up the power play, and keep the ball rolling. So 5:45PM CT Friday, be there or be square and we’ve done it before, we can do it again.
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Featured Image: NHL but altered by Shortman Hams
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