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Random thoughts while wondering how much more room there is today on the Chicago Blackhawks bandwagon than there was before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals:
Miss Finland 2009 Essi Poysti likely would cheer countryman Tuukka Rask, the Bruins goalie. Credit: Miss Universe
* With the Boston Bruins winning 2-0 Monday (June 17) to take a 2-1 series edge and Game 4 on Wednesday in Boston, the Hawks don’t have much time to try to fix their anemic power play. Then again, after going 0-for-5 in Game 3, they couldn’t fare much worse — unless the Bruins commit more penalities or the Hawks manage even fewer than the four shots on goal they managed during those power plays. After a quick consult with the mathemeatical calculation department at elliottharris.com, we feel fairly certain that the numbers say that’s not even one shot per power play.
* Hockey minds greater than mine (which is to say just about anyone on the planet) say it’s very difficult to score without taking shots on goal and very difficult to win without scoring. Hey, where else can you get insight like this?
* Better to take an imperfect shot than wait to take the perfect shot that never materializes. Someone please tell Hawks defenseman Duncan Keith, among others.
* Of course, teams don’t have to score on power plays to prevail. In which case they have to score some other time — either at even situations or short-handed.
* Face facts. Or faceoff facts. The Hawks just might need to do better on faceoffs than they did in Game 3 when the Bruins held a 40-16 advantage on puck drops. For the Hawks, Michal Handzus went 0-for-10 and Dave Bolland 1-for-7. Jonathan Toews was 8-for-19. Boston’s Patrice Bergeron was 24-for-28 on the draw, including 8-of-10 against Toews and all eight against Handzus. Once again, I have no idea what any of that means other than the Bruins retain puck possession. And it’s extremely challenging to score without the puck.
* For those scoring at home (or elsewhere), you’re doing better than the Hawks have been recently on the ice. The Hawks have gone 122 minutes, 26 seconds (pretty sure that equates to slightly more than two regulation games) without a goal.
* Speaking of not scoring, it appeared for a while Monday night that the Cubs also would be 2-0 losers to the Cardinals in St. Louis. The final score was 5-2 with the Cubs scoring a run in the eighth o a Nate Schierholtz single and one in the ninth on Darwin Barney’s home run. Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro — the future of the franchise — are hitting .241 each. Rizzo has 53 strikeouts in 261 at-bats and Castro 54 in 286 at-bats. Meaning the future sure seems like it will look like the past.
* The bright side of Chicago baseball (about the same wattage as a refrigerator light bulb) is the White Sox winning 4-2 at Houston to end a four-game losing streak with three of those to the Astros. Dayan Viciedo had a bases-loaded triple — his second three-bagger in two days. Meaning — with two triples for the season — Viciedo has two more than shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who has played 20 more games.
* Hey, if the Boston Celtics are willing to trade Kevin Garnett, rather than send him to the Los Angeles Clippers, couldn’t they trade him to the Bulls? Even at his advanced age, Garnett would be a tremendous addition for coach Tom Thibodeau for a season or two. And Thibodeau came to the Bulls from Boston, where he was an assistant under Doc Rivers. who may replace onetime Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro as Clippers coach.
As we have been doing around here during the Stanley Cup finals (thanks to the sage advice of a creative fellow — which means he is not affiliated with elliottharris.com), we have paid tribute to Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask by featuring fetching females from his native Finland. All of them have been Miss Finland. In that running the photos and videos of these lovely ladies has absolutely no impact on the outcome of any contests, the editorial and video staffs around here agree we might as well continue running them. Today we are happy to have Essi Poysti, the 2009 Miss Finland, adorn this space.
And here is where we go for our daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks, as always, to the editorial and video staffs at elliottharris.com for their efforts and for having no clue what “gratutious” — among many other words — mean):
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