Pictured: A total badass. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

The second game of a back-to-back is never all that pretty, but at times, this looked as awful as whatever animal is hiding out under Mike Smith‘s helmet this season.

Ray Emery‘s rebound control was nonexistent until well into the third period. Duncan Keith looked like Drunken Keith, and Brent Seabrook looked like he shared the bar tab with Keith.

However, there were quite a few bright spots.

Niklas Hjalmarsson looked like the Hjammer we knew back in 2010, throwing the body around and not being afraid to do so. Nick Leddy quietly had a good game of his own, with two assists on the night. Michal Rozsival has (hopefully) put any of Q’s doubts about him to rest and sent Sheldon Brookbank to hang out in the press box with Daniel Carcillo. Then there were the two guys we heard the most from: Dave Bolland and Marian Hossa.

Bolland is fitting in nicely on the second line, even if he’s terrible at faceoffs. (I still say someone needs to force Patrick Sharp to take a draw or twelve.) He’s found new playmates in Shane Doan and Mike Smith, baiting the former into taking a penalty and causing the latter to do this after his second goal of the night:

And, of course, there was a pointless fight between two pointless players, Paul Bissonnette and Brandon Bollig:

Why.

Alright, let’s let the guys talk about the game themselves.

Hossa:

Jonathan Toews:

Bolland:

Joel Quenneville: