Rough, rough road trip. I really don’t know where to start on this one.

The boys left here on a 6 goal high. Bryzzie subbed in for Telly and didn’t let in a single goal so his confidence shoulda been at least in the chill zone if not high. We were a game over .500 again and had won 4 of our last 5. So what happened?

In St. Louis we were overconfident and didn’t play the whole 60 minutes. We got started on a seriously physical note. We didn’t sustain it though. We let the Blues stay with us. Then we let them get ahead of us (okay flukey goal off the D but it counted as the GWG).We never turned on any serious heat until the last desperation 2 minutes of the third. We lost. I can”t say it was a horrible game, but it was definitely winnable and we let it slide right through our gloves.

We went into Chicago already broken. IDK what happened. We hit the ice already broken. This wasn’t some kind of meltdown, it wasn’t a total goalie issue either. NOBODY came to play a game at all, much less a 60 minute game. Carcillo tried to set the tone early with extreme predjudice. The first shot Bryzzie stopped told the tale of how confident he was feeling (he stopped the puck but started looking behind him in uncertainty). The first goal was not pretty… the second goal was on the team mostly…after that its a tossup of who looked worse the goalie or the team. By the time the 4th goal went in I was hoarse from yellin at the screen for Telly to be put in. Then Panger and Heeter casually threw out this lil gem…(wait for it… its ugly) … Goalie Mikael Tellqvist has a bruised foot, he won’t be subbin in… So did we just go out on the road with a single, mentally unbalanced goalie? We couldn’t have one of the SA kids come meet us in CHI, just in case what happened, happened? Color me stupid and put a bow on my head…Highlight of game? Enver ‘Feivel’ Lisin. Enver was sooo NOT leavin Chicago on a goose egg. David Hale was the only defenseman NOT a minus… fairly pitiful as highlights go ain’t it?

There were more fights and jawing than any real playing going on from our side (please… dont anyone bring up … ‘if McGrattan had been on the ice’, or I may have to resort to some violence of my own). JeebusMerryandJehosophat DC FOUGHT! JOVO FOUGHT! HALE FOUGHT! KT FOUGHT! was there anyone who didn’t fight? and guess what? we still lost … 7 – 1 …

Everyone sucked. Even my beloved Z had a horrid game. I’m going to stop right there… no use in beating a dead horse unless you just want tired arms. Sooo… we sucked in these first 2 road games… yeah we did… but what happens now? How we play Dallas lets us know if this team can bounce back or not. If this team is a collection of guys on skates or an NHL team. I’m not neccessarily talkin about a win in Dallas either… but we better tighten the straps on the hard hats, step into some steel toed boots and bring the work ethic back.

We get the Joker back on Wednesday. There will be a bit of a shake up. Who rides the pine? Who stays in? I don’t know what its going to take for Breeze to get his act together, he’s gotta be feelin like shit, but he has to get his head right. Telly said it best, 21 guys, all have to play their best, all 60 minutes, thats how we win.

We haven’t had a horrible run. This was just one game out of 82. How we choose to respond both Wednesday AND the next time we face the Hawks is the real story. Until we are mathematically eliminated from a playoff berth I consider us contenders. So let’s ALL pull up our socks, put this one behind us (not forgettin it) just learn and move forward. It’s hockey people, not life or death. We play again on Wednesday and hopefully we can take our disappointments out on the Stars.

Last word on the Chicago game…if Versteeg doesn’t get a minimum of 1 game suspension the NHL should declare its rules a joke and disband. 2 game misconducts and an instigator at 19:58…automatic suspension

I really gotta get my ‘What a Lil Bitch’ list back up and running so I can add Sopel and Versteeg to it.

OK does it get more pathetic than this statement? “The Blackhawks have won four straight and six of seven against the Coyotes, including three in a row at home by a combined score of 11-2.” This has simply GOT to stop, Sheesh these games are sooo winnable. What is it about the Hawks that gets our knickers so twisted? For cryin out loud it ain’t like they are the Wingnuts or something (although when that GDT comes up.. I guess I will have an even more pathetic statement to post).

Last matchup we at least showed up respectably. A one goal game and 2 defensemen w/ 5 sogs. We need that more often so how about starting tonight? If not for a couple of reffing gaffes this was a different game, so maybe…if we’re lucky, we’ll catch a reffing break tonight and get some guys who can actually watch the game and make the right calls.
This is a game that we can’t breakdown for even a second… much less the normal 10 to 20 minutes per game we usually get outplayed. Who’s gonna be in net for us? OOOH million dollar question. Bryz wasn’t horrible last night…had some spectacular saves, pillowed up really well for the most part but he can’t save us from ourselves if we consistently parade to the box and when we continually totally cockup the PP opportunities we are given. Face it… a Nabby/Lundy/Backstrom clone couldn’t save us from ourselves some nights. But does Breeze need to start against the Hawks (his perennial nemesis) the second game of an ugly back to back road set? I say no but hey, what do I know. I only want the best for Bryz, I don’t know if that means he needs to start and be reassured that TPTB still believe in him or not though. But then again I really want a win and Telly has been hot as hell for us. My vote is Telly. I guess we’ll see.

We’re 4-8-1 on the road goin against the Hawks 7-1-4 home record…ughh.. Khabby has been a real pain in our butts (maybe we shouldn’t practice with him in the summer any more?) But the Bulin Wall has been ailing, maybe we get to see Christobal Huet in net? Might give us a better shot at breeching the Hawk’s nest.

Patrick Sharp has been quite the Coyote killer and he scored for the Blackhawks on Saturday. He has eight points in Chicago’s last eight games, scoring six goals during that stretch. Think we need to contain him? And of course there’s the tag team of Kane and Toews to watch out for too… I didn’t check to see if Havlat was well, as that could change during the warmup and he’s out of sight out of mind for me after that ugly goal against us that shall not be mentioned.

These guys don’t seem to mind bangin around our rookies and sophs but man do they get touchy if one of theirs (Kane) gets popped legitimately. They may be a bit edgy and lookin for a bit of payback for that… hopefully Carcillo didn’t wear himself out in those Blues bouts last night. Got a feeling this one might get a bit chippy if not down right nasty.

Only an hour til puck drop. LET’S GO COYOTES

Second City Hockey and Sam asked Odie and I for the 411 on a couple of questions about the Yotes. See my answers after the jump…

Watch the game

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