An Original Six Matchup

Watched Hawks-Habs tonight.

Of course I was pulling for Montreal (want that Western Conference team to come home empty-handed!), but I still gotta say I feel great about the rise from the ashes by the Chicago Blackhawks this year. Over the past few seasons, there hasn't been any story around the league (except for the lockout itself, I guess) quite as dispiriting as the reports of half-capacity crowds in an Original Six team's building. Suddenly--almost in the blink of an eye--the Hawks are back. The United Center is full again, or nearly, anyway (the place seats over 20,000).

Certainly the fantastic young talent in Chicago has a lot to do with this. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are both nineteen-year-old rookie phenoms, and Minnesota's own Dustin Byfuglien is a great young defenseman. Toews is hurt at the moment (although his extraordinary goal against Colorado earlier this year has become the centerpiece of a Blackhawks promo, I see), and Kane didn't have the greatest game in the history of hockey tonight, but newcomer Jack Skille (former teammate of Shark Joe Pavelski at the University of Wisconsin), in his fifth NHL game, scored his first NHL goal and added an assist later, so the hits just keep on coming. As you might expect from a team this raw, their performance has been up-and-down, but watch for them to get scary-good sooner rather than later.

Canadiens 4, Blackhawks 3, OT. Chicago gets a point for the regulation tie...oh, well.


In Related News...

In a previous post, I noted that Montreal rookie goalie Carey Price had a bad game against the Capitals the other day. Apparently, that made a few tough outings in a row for the kid...today Canadiens GM Bob Gainey sent him down to the minors.