Hawks Embarrassed in Edmonton

The Chicago Blackhawks skated with the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton Saturday night.  Chicago got off to a start reminiscent of the disaster in Calgary Friday night.  A turnover in the neutral zone followed by Steve Montador whiffing on a hit  led to Ales Hemsky walking in alone and beating Ray Emery for a 1-0 Oilers lead.  Ryan Smyth went off for hooking at 2:07 and the Hawks made Edmonton pay on the power play.  Patrick Sharp cashed in with helpers from birthday boy Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith to tie the game at 1-1.  At 5:47 it was Ryan Jones beating Ray Emery for a 2-1 Oilers advantage.  It was a sharp angle shot by Jones that trickled through Emery and those are the type of saves that have to be made.  After another Hawks turnover led to a Ryan Smyth goal at 7:31 and a 3-1 Oilers advantage, Ray Emery got the early hook from Joel Quenneville.  With Duncan Keith off for boarding in a play that will draw the attention of league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan, Taylor Hall, who Keith victimized, made the Hawks pay on the power play for a 4-1 Oilers advantage.  And the nightmare continued as Jordan Eberle added a 5^th Edmonton goal at 15:40.  The Hawks got a much needed power play chance with under 4 to play in the pathetic first period.  The power play was as horrendous as the first period defense and did not convert.  Edmonton out shot Chicago in the disastrous first period 16-12. 

Ray Emery was back in goal for the Hawks to start the second as Corey Crawford didn’t play any better.  The second period started with a Shawn Horcoff penalty for holding Jonathan Toews.  In the must convert power play situation trailing by 4 goals the Hawks failed to score but did manage 2 shots which was better than the zero on the late first period power play.  Patrick Kane got a birthday spanking from the ref at 3:20 when whistled for a double minor for high sticking.  To make matters worse Dave Bolland took a holding penalty to give Edmonton a 2 man advantage for a full 2 minutes.  Tom Glibert made it 6-1 on the two man advantage.  The Hawks miraculously killed off the remaining penalty time.  Bryan Bickell took a dumb delay of game penalty halfway through the period when he threw the puck up in the air and into the high dollar seats.  Edmonton got their 3^rd power play goal of the game and Taylor Hall his 2^nd of the game after slapping in a rebound off the boards for a 7-1 Oilers lead.  Former Hawk Ben Eager went off for hooking shortly after and Dave Bolland was able to score for the Hawks to cut the lead to a meager 5 goals.  The Hawks added a 3^rd goal but Carcillo was called for goaltender interference and the goal was waived off.  Patrick Kane got an unsportsmanlike call for telling the ref he sucked after the ref missed a blatant high stick moments earlier.  And of course Edmonton converted for their 4^th power play goal of the game and an 8-2 lead.  It was Shawn Horcoff with his second of the game.  The Hawks went back to the power play as if it mattered when Hossa was high sticked.  The Hawks were outshot 10-8 for the period but outscored 3-1.

The Hawks started the third period with 1:22 of carry over power play time.  Edmonton easily killed that off.  The Oilers got a power play of their own when Jamal Mayers went off for tripping.  The Hawks finally killed a penalty and kept it an 8-2 game.  Taylor Hall added the hat trick half way through the third when he ripped one through Steve Montador’s legs and over the shoulder of Emery for a 9-2 Oilers lead.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added his 5^th assist of the game on the scoring play.  The goal elicited a chant of we want 10 from the Oilers faithful.  The fans wouldn’t get their wish as the game ended with a 9-2 Oilers win. 

The Hawks fell to 1-2-0 on the Circus Trip.  The Hawks flew to Las Vegas to forget about the last two games after the game.  They don’t play again until Wednesday night in San Jose where they best play better or they will get smoked again.