Are you watching the Blackhawks yet? For the last time: you should be.
If you are, you'd not only get to see a very entertaining team play on a nightly basis -- not to mention the team most likely to bring Chicago a title in the near future -- you would have seen last night's insanity, which was not to be missed. After spotting the Calgary Flames five goals, the Hawks managed the most improbable of comebacks, the biggest in franchise history, on their way to a 6-5 overtime win. Feel free to pencil it in for Game of the Year already. It will be hard to top this.
How does a team accomplish such a feat, go down 5-0 and somehow come back? By being two very different teams at two very different times: For the entire first period, the Hawks were sloppy, careless, slow to the puck, and soft defensively. The allowed the Flames to do anything they wanted in the offensive end, and they put on no pressure of their own. Combine that with poor goaltending -- only one of Cristobal Huet's allowed goals was egregious, while his replacement Antti Niemi, allowed two softies -- and you get a 5-0 deficit in barely one period of play.
But just as quickly the Hawks began to look like a high-flying title contender again. The second period saw Chicago add four goals -- led by Patrick Kane, who scored one and made a beautiful backhand pass to Dustin Byfuglian on the other -- before eventually tying it up in the third period and winning the game on Brent Seabrook's tricky overtime wrister. Just like that.
Those that missed the game can review the highlights (one of the longer single hockey game highlight packages we've ever seen) below:
Like we said: Are you watching the Blackhawks yet? If not, why not? Please show your work.
Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.
