Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hawks Will Win Game 7 and the NHL Missteps Again

The Chicago Blackhawks will win tonight's game 7 against the Detroit Redwings; and they will win going away.  Detroit has looked spectacular at moments but has generally been made to look better by the outstanding play of goaltender Jimmy Howard.  Now it appears the Hawks have figured out Howard, and have gained a ton of confidence over the last two games.  If you are a Wings fan you try and hold onto the fact that Corey Crawford can give up a soft goal and put his team in a tough spot.

Often times is looks like Chicago is playing at an entirely different level from Detroit.  Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is once again proving his value as the leader of this team.  His toughness and tenacity has created multiple scoring chances and put opposing players on their heels when on offense.  He will once again lead the Hawks and secure a ticket to the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings.

Two game 7's in two nights is huge for the NHL.  The creates the question however, why is game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals not starting until Saturday?  Yes there is the Saturday time slot on NBC that the NHL ovviously wants to fill with east coast teams.  THAT COULD BE GAME 2!!!  There is some good momentum being built with such great games being played in the second round.  Coworkers that don't even watch sports were tuning into the Sharks/Kings game.  The Conference Finals needs to ramp up right away and keep the interest maximized!  The Kings and the Hawks/Wings can play Friday night and Sunday.  Those are the breaks when you have to play 7 games to win your series.  It is overly disappointing that the NHL has once again missed the boat on televised games.