Game 60: Hawks 5, Thrashers 4 (SO) - Mel is getting really sick of this

Every time I hear the words "Thrashers" I am transported back to my freshman year of high school and my love of Metallica and all things metal. Those were the days. To think if I tried to bang my head and body slam into the pile like I did then I'd be in traction. Don't mind me waxing poetic - I turn 34 at the end of the month so there'll be some obligatory "how did I get old so quick" moments here and there.

In any case, I had been looking to find a couple tickets to this game on the secondary market all week as I had nothing to do last night. The cheapest I found was for one ticket in the 300 level for $35 about two hours before gametime. I didn't want to go by myself, so I watched from the comfort of my apartment. I have tickets to one more game (versus Vancouver on 3/5) but I'd like to see a couple more before the playoffs start. But if it's going to cost me a kidney I'll just stay home thankyouverymuch.

So the Hawks followed an all too familiar script last night: Come out in the first period like gangbusters and take a multi-goal lead. Look like you drank a gallon of Ny-quil during intermission, and give up said lead. Opposing goalie stands on head and looks like a member of Cirque-du-Soleil but miraculously come back to tie in regulation. Give Mel several heart attacks during OT. Go to the skills competition - flip a coin. Heads you win, tails you lose. Thankfully we got a heads this time and Toews buried his league leading 7th SO goal past goalie-whose-name-is-hard-to-spell-and-I'm-too-lazy-to-look-up and Niemi did the rest. One more game this afteroon before the Olympic break and Mel goes batshit crazy for the US Women's Team.

- Glad to see Bolland score his first goal since the injury. Got to work on that -2 you had though kid.
- The Hawks have been outscored 7-0 in the second period the last five games and 11-5 in the last ten. Whatever these guys are doing in between periods needs to stop. Playing like that is going to see us enjoying golf this spring way earlier than I'd like.
- Hope Sad Panda is ok - he got his bell rung pretty good last night. I doubt he'll play today as a precaution. I hope they don't let him play in the Olympics if he's not ready. Call me selfish, but Slovakia is a bronze medal contender at best and the Cup is much more important.
- Niemi looked average last night - at least one of those goals were soft. Hopefully this will quiet the folks who insist on a goalie controversy. I doubt it though - pretty soon they'll be clamoring for Crawford to be brought up from the Ice Hogs.
- Thought the Hawks/Wild trade on Friday was a good move. Barker has a lot of potential, but with the money we were paying him it didn't make sense to keep him as a third D pairing. His best value is on the PP, and since Q's been playing Buff and Sharp on the point lately, that's all you need to know on his performance this year. Kim "NEW GUY" Johnsson had a goal last night and seemed much more defensively sound, so I think this will be a trade that benefits us immediately. I wish Cam the best in Minny and wouldn't be surprised if he's a top 2 defenseman someday. Poor kid could never live down getting drafted behind Ovechkin and Malkin.

I'll probably be flipping between the Hawks game this afternoon and the end of the US/China game. I expect the US women to duplicate what Canada did to the poor Slovakians last night as China is ranked 7th in the world. Glad to see Cammi Granato in the studio - she'll always be my favorite after winning the gold in '98.