Game Recap: Hawks vs Hurricanes Feb. 19, 2024

Yeah, this is about over a day late.

Look, I'm constantly changing things around this website until it all gels together.

For the time being, Game Recaps won't be included in the Weekly Hawks Updates. I like writing about the games and I don't want to create the equivalent of thought vomit in a massive weekly post.

Also, don't expect these every game. I'll do my best, but that's because I'm a weirdo who writes for fun.

What's below is basically what was going to be in the weekly updates. It's just a bit more fleshed out.

Enjoy. (Or don't, the Hawks lost)

Feb. 19 @ Hurricanes
Hawks Lose 3-6

The Hurricanes are good.

Surprisingly, the Hawks somewhat held their own despite the onslaught of pucks.

Scoring opened with the Canes at 11:45 into the 1st period. Michael Bunting took advantage of some poor defensive work. Clip below for educational purposes. You don't want both defenders below the goal line and when you do, that low forward must cover the low slot.

Martin Necas would make it 2-0 2 minutes into the 2nd period. He attacked the slot and picked up a pass without contention before scoring.

At 8:22 in the 2nd period, Jesperi Kotkaniemi would score to make it 3-0. He sniped it past Petr Mrazek who maybe wants that one back.

Sebastian Aho would make it 4-0 at the 9:08 mark. He would wrap-around the net, hold on to the puck for a second, and shoot it top-shelf.

At the 4:37 mark, the Hawks would get their first goal when Conor Bedard passed the puck to Nick Foligno.

2:34 into the 3rd period, the Canes would be on the powerplay and Brent Burns would collect an Aho rebound to make it a 4-1 game. The rest of the period was entertaining for Hawks fans (finally). The Hawks started to get more shots on goal, but this can be attributed to the Canes protecting a lead.

Bedard would get a goal overturned, third time this season. It was a beauty and his reaction to goalie Spencer Martin was hilarious.

At the 13:00 mark, Bedard would get a goal anyway to make it 5-2. The pass from Philipp Kurashev was nice, and although he had no shots on goal, he was playing very well. It's great to see their chemistry spark.

Tyler Johnson would make it 5-3 when he redirected a pass from Bedard. That would make it a 3-point game for Bedard. Which is wild.

The game would finish 6-3 with an empty net goal to kill any hopes of a comeback. The Hurricanes are a great possession team and they made it child's play against this Hawks team. Mrazek posted a ,878 Save Percentage, which is bad but the Hawks defense was pretty awful.

Next game is Wednesday at 6:30pm CT vs the Flyers.

Let's go Hawks.