Kesler on wearing down Chicago: ‘No human can withstand that many hits’

[HarryCaray]

the 1st period of game 1 and much of the first period of game 4 are the only times
the hawks have controlled play for any extended period of time. on the other
hand had outplayed the rangers more than not before game 6 last night and
that didn't work out well.

but laying the price on the hawks tonight with the way they have played so far, been
pushed around, and overused their top 4 men is REALLY INSANE. maybe harry
and i are watching different games.

if you have been watching this series closely, you should of observed
that the blackhawks are not playing close to the same pace that they
were in game 1. this is due to the games being played every other
day, the physical toll that playing a bigger team that hits and leans
on you at every opportunity takes, the fact that chicago is only playing
4 defensemen most of the time, and the quality of the ducks hits
is far more viscious than their adversaries. overall the ducks have
outplayed the hawks for longer stretches. game 2 OT the ducks hit
one post and i believe 1 cross bar before losing. the hawks only
goal in game 3 came when 2 ducks collided. the hawks first goal
in game 4 came when a linesman interfered with a ducks dman
causing a breakaway. in the first OT of game 4 the ducks outshot chicago
17-5 inc the first 10 shots. to me, the hawks are incredibly fortuitous
to be tied in the series and their play has deteriorated from game 1
due to the physicality and lineup limitations that have occurred
so far. the ducks are trying to beat the hawks in the same style
the kings used. what the hawks have is mental toughness and
experience going for them. will that be enough to win this series,
IMHO no way.

out of 170 total minutes for dmen in game 4, timo and cumiskey played about 23.
that leaves 147ish for the the other 4 dmen. oduya is 33, keith 31, seabrook 30,
and hjal the youngster at 27. the ducks have 4 competent dmen under 24 years
old, although depres made some weak and good plays in game 4. when you look
at this series objectively, it doesn't look promising for the hawks, not hopeless, but
not favourable.

No it wasn't well said, it was horseshit from a homer poster from southern California. The Hawks have not slowed down game to game nor period to period.

The Ducks are out-hitting the Hawks by a wide margin, that is true. But it hasn't manifested itself in slower game play.

And we can't play the "if this shot had gone in" game, or isolate the stats of one overtime period (in fact, he didn't even isolate one OT, he isolated one STRETCH of that OT lol). It's hockey, it sits how it sits.

The Hawks win tonight and finish Anaheim off in game 6. And I like Anaheim I really do. But experience will win out IMO.

Just serving a little bit of crow this morning for certain posters to chew on.

Yeah the physical play of the Ducks really slowed us down. Did you see how slow CHI looked in games 6 and 7? (rolling eyes)

Good series. Don't ever count out these Hawks though, seems like they have a knack for finding a way.

Skill prevailed in the end. Hawks got better in every game as they figured out how to exploit Anaheim's over-aggressiveness.

BTW what happened to Andersen? He got worse and worse.

 

[niltes]

hawks won, anderson imploded, but the over won handily.