***Lets be clear about Saturday’s Blackhawk 5-4 overtime win over Nashville. It was one of the more exciting finished of a Chicago Sports event ever,and a nice win which puts the Hawks into position to wrap up this series at Bridgestone Arena Monday Night. It was also very LUCKY! The Predators had a 4-3 lead and with a minute left got a power play when Marian Hossa picked up a five minute major penalty for boarding. That meant that the Hawks were shorthanded for the rest of regulation time. Nashville only had to run out the clock,and their Coach Barry Trotz confirmed that he told his team that they “already had enough goals to win the game”. In other words,he told them not to do anything stupid. The Preds had the puck in the Blackhawk zone with the clock ticking. Marty Erat,who had scored two big goals for Nashville, forgot what his Coach told him and with about :30 left, instead of keeping the puck behind the Hawk net and allowing the clock to keep ticking, he got cute and attempted a very STUPID centering pass in front of the net. The Hawks stole the puck,got out of their own zone, got to pull Antti Niemi for an extra attacker(in effect giving the Hawks five skaters to match Nashville’s),and got it into the Preds zone. That led to Patrick Kane’s miracle tip in past a sprawled Pekka Rinne to tie it with :14 left. The major penalty carried over into overtime,but the stunned Preds had nothing left. The Hawks killed the rest of the penalty,and Hossa scored the game winning only :10 after getting back on the ice.
Again, great and exciting win for the Hawks, but lets call this like it was……they were the recipients of an gift wrapped with ribbon on it Christmas gift some seven months early!
***The Bulls, after grabbing a nice game three win against Cleveland last Thursday night, got smoked Sunday and likely will be eliminated Tuesday night on the road. The Bulls had never lost a playoff series to the Cavaliers in the five previous meetings(1988,89,92.93 & 94). It’s a new age however,and if(when) Cleveland wraps this series up,it could be call “CRAIG EHLO’S REVENGE”. Ok, not really.
***Both the Cubs and White Sox limped into their weekend series, yet both got unexpected sweeps-the Cubs from the Brewers in Miller Park and the Sox from a hot coming in Seattle team on the South Side. Yet both teams are still relying too much on the home run ball.
***Carlos Zambrano’s first appearance out of the bullpen Saturday was OK. He did give up one run,but the Cubs had a huge lead.
***Considering that the Bears started drafting in the third round this past weekend, they did OK. They got a safety,a defensive lineman and a backup quarterback. All needed. But it does not fill all needs. This should be an interesting Mini Camp later this week in Lake Forest.
LES