Stanley Cup Finals, Game 5

I would have posted this earlier, but Blogger was having some issues for most of the day. Here's things as I saw them:

1. What was going on with that awkward pregame? I was hoping that Pierre would get snowed by JR or Milbury.

2. Quenneville continued switching the lines around like he did in Game 4, and came up with some great results. Changing things up a bit gave the Hawks their energy back and jump-started the star players.

3. Speak of being jump-started, welcome back to the playoffs Dustin Byfuglien! He was creating some great scoring chances as well as taking down any of the pylons he could find. I could watch highlights of the hit he put on Pronger every day for the rest of my life.

4. Chicago, with the exception of a few short moments of the game, completely dominated Philly. The Flyers' defense looked abysmal. I think Pronger went and kicked some puppies after the game to try to make himself feel better. That was by far one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. I love how the Hawks were able to put him off his game by using some of the same tactics that he himself had used earlier in the series. They really seemed to be getting under his skin.

5. Dave Bolland, Patrick Sharp, and Dustin Byfuglien all played amazing this game. Hopefully they can keep it up next game.

6. Philly has their whole team to blame for this loss. It wasn't just Leighton, it was everybody.

7. Niemi made some key saves after completely fucking up on Philly's first goal. Even if you think you have the puck, you should at least take a very quick look to make sure.

8. Why couldn't the 2nd Philly goal have gone in off of Hartnell's face?

9. Speak of Hartnell, what the hell did he think he was doing when he almost took Kopecky's head off with his elbow? Then again, it's Hartnell, I don't think he's capable of thinking about anything.

10. Some people will look at the penalty that Seabrook took for closing his hand on the puck and think it was a stupid move. It was really the only thing he could do in that situation. He kept the puck out of the net, but wasn't in a good position to just drop it in front of himself.

11. I will never understand why linesmen don't have jurisdiction to call penalties if the blind frickin refs don't see them. They should have been looking right at Campbell when he was high-sticked. Incredible that they missed that one. Stevie Wonder could have made that call.

12. And of course during the 2nd intermission we get to hear JR and Milbury talk about how someone needs to get in a fight.

13. The Hawks need to keep up their physicality on Pronger, not just because it's fun to watch (and it really, really is), but it seems to be very effective.

14. Briere's cut was stitched surprisingly fast. It's like Philly has a surgical pit crew.

Everyone rest up and enjoy the off day tomorrow. Game 6 is going to be huge. Hopefully Ohio is done getting destroyed by storms. I'm getting kind of sick of the rain.