I’m in love and he’s in Dallas: ‘Hawks vs. Stars preview

Yeah, I’m talking about John Madden. He’s swell. Actually, it’s a song. I stole the line. Shoot me.

The last time these two teams met Oct. 17th, Dallas had Blackhawks fans showing Cristobal Huet the proverbial door. Huet played like dogshit, giving up four questionable goals and driving me to drink enough alcohol to kill the population of a third-world country.

Well, things have changed. Dallas sucks, the Blackhawks are atop the Western Conference and Huet has won over most of the meatheads. With all that being said, this could be a trap game for the ‘Hawks coming off two big wins against Nashville and New Jersey looming New Year’s Eve.

Though the ‘Hawks have been stellar after regulation this season, Dallas’ propensity to give fans extra hockey — though they’ve largely played like poop after the third-period horn — could prove to be an annoyance for the ‘Hawks on the road. The Stars are 3-3-4 in their last 10 games.

Patrick Kane has scored the game-winner in the last three games but was shut down by Dallas back in October at the UC. This is a different Kaner than the Stars saw then. He’s absolutely scorching hot and a weak and banged up Stars team doesn’t seem to have an answer for him.

Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow each practiced and are likely to be in the lineup tonight, and coach Marc Crawford has been screwing a bit with the lines lately. Loui Eriksson is coming off an eight-game points streak but was held scoreless in Dallas’ 4-1 loss to Colorado the other night.

Kris VERSTEEG! and Niklas Hjalmarsson are still questionable for tonight, but with Bryan Bickell given the I-Pass I expect to see VERSTEEG! in the lineup.

Sam over at Second City Hockey made a great point that Brian Campbell has been exciting as hell to watch over the past few weeks. He’s doing enough to make fans forget about that contract and has kept up the solid play even with Hjalmarsson out the past couple of games. So much for Hjalmarsson carrying him, huh? Maybe it’s the other way around.

Stab my eyes out alert: Coach Q needs to take Dustin Byfuglien off the damn point on the power play before I find his address and give him pink eye by farting on his pillow.

Hopefully the ‘Hawks prove me wrong in my thinking this is a trap game and come out of Dallas with a couple more points. Either way, I’ll be drinking. GO ‘HAWKS!

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