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Pronger’s goal adds to Blackhawks’ frustration

It’s no secret that I’ve been extremely critical of the the Chicago Blackhawks lately; they are a great team and are in prime position for a Stanley Cup run but I’m one of many that is convinced their goaltending is not good enough.

After today’s loss to the Flyers, I’m not certain whether my concerns have been validated or proven wrong.

On one hand, I thought Cristobal Huet played well enough. But the Blackhawks were felled by even better goaltending on the other end. And while their team defense has been touted as the best in the NHL all season long, it was a critical mistake in the final seconds that led to Chris Pronger’s winning goal.

So will the exceptional offense of the Blackhawks be able to overcome their shortcomings elsewhere? Today it wasn’t. But perhaps today was just an example of a team getting beat by great goaltending -- it happens all the time and it’s certainly nothing to get worried about in the long run. If it was just once.

I will say that Huet’s reaction to Pronger’s goal was alarming. Goaltenders get angry all the time, but his slamming and breaking of his stick on the goal post spoke of an underlying frustration that has to be eating at Huet from the inside. This is certainly not what the Hawks need to be dealing with, especially with a big game coming up tomorrow against
Washington.