Something About Dogs and Days.... Hawks 2, Panthers 1

Here are two more cliches that make sense tonight:
Timing is everything.
Go with the hot hand.

Richard Panik hardly looked any different than he has the last three or four weeks but, today, he found himself on the right side of a bounce and, later, made the most of a rare opportunity.  Panik corralled an optimistic, wobbly pass from Dennis Rasmussen and put a sweet move on Roberto Luongo to get the scoring started.  It wasn't until early in the third, with Panik in the penalty box, that Jaromir Jagr did some garbage picking to tie things up. The remainder of regulation time and the overtime frame solved nothing, and it was in the shootout that Panik, who has, as far as I can recall, never taken part in shootout since being in Chicago salted away the win by wiring a shot over the glove hand of Bobby Lu, who was probably 100% convinced that Panik would try the same move that fooled The Panthers' goalie earlier.
It was all offense tonight, with both teams cresting 30+ shots with plenty of end-to-end action.  It wasn't pretty, though, as neither team did much with the plethora of chances they created, with a lot of late and inaccurate passes and guys just being a little too deep or a tad too wide to get ideal shots off.  Who wants Bits?
All Four Hawks Lines had their chances, with Motte, Hinostroza, Hossa and Panarin getting good looks that came to nought.  Kruger's line had a strange night, as they created an unusually high number of opportunities but also found themselves penned in their own end on several occasions,
Kruger was a beast at the dot tonight, winning 75% of his draws, at least giving The Hawks a chance on a night when they were pummeled in possession.
Only The Triple H Line were north of 50% in Corsi, but they were unable to parlay their slight dominance into goals, as they rarely found themselves in good shooting positions...yet shot anyway.
Forsling seriously pissed me off during The Hawks' first power play, bobbling the puck and then showing zero urgency to track down the shockingly quick Derek MacKenzie.
Corey Crawford was pretty terrific, making more than a few A+ saves throughout the match.
Anisimov looked as if he would stick around after taking a shot of his foot, but couldn't manage it. Here's hoping that's nothing serious; it'll be a big ask to carry on without him if Toews isn't ready to go for the next game, either.
Was Luongo the only person at The UC who thought Panarin was going forehand?  I kinda knew it was gonna be backhand all the way, for some reason.

Coach Q has been playing hunches the last few weeks...not a lot, but every once in awhile he seems to just get a feeling. Well, those feelings haven't added up to much, really, until tonight when he gave Panik the nod in OT.  Something-something about a broken clock...

Relief.

Shortest Pre-game Thing Ever

BUT infinitely longer than all the pre-game posts I DON'T DO.

Important News:
1) Toews is still dizzy, will not suit up tonight.
2) Scott Darling will start.
2) Jordin Tootoo will also sit this one out.  Behold - 

Tracey Myers ‏@TramyersCSN  2h2 hours ago

Jordin Tootoo walks out of the locker room in a walking boot. Well, that explains not playing much last night. #Blackhawks

Oh, Tracey, dear, earnest Tracey...Tootoo may be hurt but I'm not sure that explains him not playing much last night   #badathockey

Back To Plan A, Then? Hawks 3, Ducks 2

Yes, Plan A, in which The Hawks get outshot, outhustled and walloped in possession, yet still win.
I can't explain it, but after coming up empty in the last two games, which were decent efforts in many ways, I'll take it.  How about some Bits?

With Toews out The Hawks' lines hit the blender before the game even started and we saw two completely new units.  The Hinostroza - Hartman - Hossa trio was quite unexpected and were a lot of fun to watch.  They were disorganized, slightly out of control and The Vin Man cannot win a draw to save his life, but all that storming around amused me to no end. Hartman actually potted his goal while skating with Kruger and Rasmussen, as Jordin Tootoo had exceeded his alloted 4 minutes of ice time, but I liked the TRIPLE H line just fine. They had pretty soft assignments, but Hino and Hartman were the only Hawks forwards north of 50% possession.
On the other end of the stick, Schmaltz - Motte - Panik were, apart from a couple of isolated looks, pretty bleh.
Patrick Kane rejoined The Arthurs, of course, and they were The Hawks most dangerous line, naturally, accounting for most of the offense during The Hawks one truly dominant stretch, the middle of the second period.
Corey Crawford bounced back with a convincing performance, just as expected.

With two points and a superior effort in Toews' absence, Saint Stomare has agreed to spare Patrick Kane from any imminent apocalyptic situations.

Good thing you didn't blow THIS kid off there, Kaner.

At The Quarterpost

Let's spend a few moments reviewing the state of The Blackhawks' union, now that we've passed the one-quarter mark of the regular season.

Overall (B)
13 - 6 - 2, 28 points, First in The Western Conference
I have to say that this is unexpected.  With all of the untested players in the lineup I assumed that The Hawks would be in third place in the Central Division or duking it out for a Wild Card spot with Dallas and Edmonton.  As it is, Edmonton's renaissance is a little ahead of schedule, Dallas has had no end of injuries to their top-six and The Predators, who I really thought would be leading The Central at this point, were miserable out of the gate.
People may point to The Hawks' remarkable run in late October - early November, in which they posted a sterling 11 - 0 - 1 record, and mistake that form for what The Hawks really are, but let's remember how they got that streak done; winning close, winning late and winning largely on the backs of Anisimov's and Hossa's hot hands.  That twelve game stretch could just as easily have resulted in a 6 - 6 - 0 record.
But it didn't.  Players get hot, their teams win games they probably shouldn't have, just as they'll have games in which they just cannot score, or cannot kill a penalty to save themselves.  That's what we've seen during the last week.  It's just the ups and downs of a team that's not quite complete.
The goaltending has been a large factor in where The Hawks find themselves: Crawford has won more than a few games pretty much on his own, while he has lost only one, maybe two games in which he was chiefly responsible.

Forwards - The Old Boys (B+)
Four out The Hawks' Top Five have delivered as expected, plus a little more.  As mentioned, Hoss and Large Arthur enjoyed a few weeks in which they could do no wrong, with Panarin and Kane performing solidly, as well. With the big guys sporting identical 22.9% shooting, though, the personal stats and the overall record flatters to deceive; as nice as it would be they're not going to maintain that level any more than Richard Panik was going to be a legitimate first-liner. You take it when you get it and you hope it continues. Only Toews could perhaps be rated as disappointing, with a mere 12 points in 21 starts and, perhaps more startling, is only +2, playing in what is ostensibly a scoring role. He's been hampered by a rotating cast of left wingers, which is not ideal, but he's Johnny Effing Toews and he's supposed to rise above that kind of chaos.  And now he's hurt, and it's likely his noggin, so we'll have to wait and see how that shakes out.
Marcus Kruger has been....Marcus Kruger. The stat line for Krugs often fails to tell the whole story, as he faces the opposition's top six almost exclusively, rarely starts a shift in the offensive zone and often gets pummeled in possession (as arrived at via shots attempts for vs. attempts against). Kruger's version of success doesn't even necessarily involve a scoring chance as the endgame; if he can get the puck to center ice and into the opposition's end before he tags up with Toews or Anisimov he's done his job.  Apart from taking more penalties than usual, Kruger has delivered magnificently.

The Guys (C)
I've liked Dennis Rasmussen for the most part.  Yeah, he's had a couple of nasty, evil games, in which everything he touched turned to mud, but I think he's worked hard to improve and genuinely applies himself as best he can.  The problem is...he's not terribly skilled.  His skating has certainly improved and his positioning has been above average, but his hands are not great, his shot is ordinary and, for a biggish guy, one wishes he was better at protecting the puck with his body. Still, the role he's settling into is as a complement to Kruger, shutting down the other guys' top lines and getting the puck to the other end of the field.  He's being used more and more as a primary penalty killer and, despite The Hawks' struggles there, he's done an alright job of it. The more of that kind of duty Moose can soak up, the less Toews and Anisimov need take on, and that has a lot of value.  Still needs work on faceoffs, though.
Richard Panik was sure fun to watch in the first ten or so games but the honeymoon's over.  I think he's still quite a capable agitator (and not a dirty player, either, which is kind of odd) and dislodger of pucks, so I feel like The Hawks are getting what they paid for.  I wouldn't mind seeing Panik buddied up with a couple of the The Young Ones, kind of in a Bickell / Stalberg sort of role.  But with worse hands.
Desjardins - incomplete, as he's played only a handful of games, but I see Rasmussen as the better choice between the two.
Tootoo has been a waste of time and money and I hope we never see him again.

The Young Ones (B-)
Better than I had expected, but still not enough.  That's not a criticism of Schmaltz, Motte, Hartman and Hinostroza, as I don't think anyone expected any of these fellas to storm in and solve The Hawks' depth issues right away.  Honestly, I figured on only two of these guys sticking with the team this long, and the fact that Coach Q has exercised unforeseen levels of patience with them is encouraging beyond words.  I almost put money on Hartman being punted to Rockford in favour of Brandon Mashinter.
These four have been given a ridiculous amount of leeway and I'm all for it.  Maybe this approach will cost The Hawks a place in the standings, maybe not, maybe more, but they've never paid much attention to any kind of legacy plan before, the attitude being something along the lines of "Stan will fix it up at the trade deadline", so I find this kind of refreshing.
I read something last week in which an unnamed NHL GM rated our four new forwards and, I dunno if the guy gleaned his observations strictly from highlights packages, but I think he really sold them short.  In his assessment he rated Schmaltz as a "possible" top six guy, Hartman and Motte as bottom six complementary-type players and Vin Hinostroza as a marginal NHLer, at best.  I don't disagree with his reckoning of Hartman, but I believe he'll emerge as a damn fine third-liner, as he's gritty, decently quick and has okay hands. Schmaltz is harder to peg, as he'll have a good game where he shows flashes of creativity and puck patience, but follows that up with a game in which he wanders or is frightened away from the puck far too much.  He'll swing from being impressive to awful on consecutive shifts, some nights.  I think there's a lot more in him.
Motte has been a pleasant surprise, suggesting a great deal more of a nose for the net than advertised. His audition on Toews' left did not go especially well, though, so his destiny may not be the top six, but I still like what I've seen.
Hinostroza has had 1½ great games.  He's given us a taste of what he might deliver if he takes the frenzy down a notch and takes a look around once in awhile. If he can relax, long term, we could have an actual scoring fourth line.  If he can't settle himself down a bit, well, there's always The AHL.
Still, these four lads have a combined 9 goals and Hartman, quite unexpectedly, leads them with 4 markers.  That's good, isn't it?  Sure, we just need more.  I enjoyed the Hino- Hartman - Motte combo vs. San Jose and wouldn't mind seeing them together for a few more games, at least.

Defense (B)
I thought this was the one part of The Hawks' lineup that was sorted. There was even the unexpected gift of TVR being unavailable for several weeks, yet...something just doesn't feel right.
Keith, Seabrook and Hjalmarsson have all been generally steady, although the first two have made very occasional catastrophic mistakes that, arguably, led directly to losses.  Still, all in all, no seriosu complaints about these three.
I haven't been mad about Campbell; he's not been awful but, apart from isolated events, hasn't been the breakout artist I expected.  He hasn't seemed especially comfortable alongside Forsling and I wonder if they play too similar a style to be paired up. Does he not trust Goose?  Is he unsure what he should be doing vs. what Goose plans to do?  Does anyone know what Goose is trying to accomplish?  Anyway, Soupy just seems....tentative.  He was better with Keith, but Q seems unwilling to stick with that duo, for some reason.
Kempny and Forsling....the new guys, have been okay. Kempny, I think, has been pretty much as I had hoped & expected; unspectacular but mostly competent.  Forsling...I just don't know.  At first, I thought he had the biggest balls in the West, skating himself out of numerous unenviable situations, but now I wonder if his confidence is greater than his speed, as he's been chased down quite a bit, lately.  He's nearly worthless in front of the net, standing alone far too often while the opposition shoots & scores, and he needs to study Hjalmarsson's active stick technique.  The skill seems to be there, but he sure lacks the size and strength for real d-work, and I'm unconvinced that his speed will make up for his physical shortcomings. I could really go either way on this guy.

Goal (A-)
As mentioned, Crow has outright stolen some games for The Hawks, but he's had a few real stinkeroos, as well.  All goalies have them, it's going to happen, but Crow is smart enough and not so vain that he won't reflect on what went wrong and make a genuine effort to make corrections. No worries here.  

That'll do.  Let's go Duck hunting.

Same - Same: Sharks 2, Hawks 1

Yup, there were a lot of similarities between last night's loss in San Jose to the beatdown in Alberta a few nights earlier.  Practically all of The Hawks were north of 50 in possession and, in fact, at evens they all were.  Otherwise, the match felt fairly even and, if not for a goal that arose from a slightly ridiculous pair of...not even errors, more like decisions that just didn't pan out, The Hawks could have exited with one or two points.  Of course I'll mention a few things that went wrong!
The Winning Goal started with a clearing attempt that Seabrook, in retrospect, should not have gone all-in to try to corral, which led to Old No. 7 huffing and puffing after the much faster Joel Ward. Not to take anything away from Ward's goal, but Crow shoulda coulda had that one but, by his own admission, he hesitated and found himself in no-man's land by the time he finally committed. Ward's shot-fake wasn't even that devious.
Toews' Injury sure didn't help, with him being their one true all-situations forward.  His absence threw his line and both special teams into disarray for half of the game.  Coach Q reported this AM that The Captain is day-to-day and questionable for Friday.
Shot Selection was an issue, just as it was in Edmontonstone, although it was less of a block party than against The Oilers.  Martin Jones is a big fella who robs the bottom part of the net and is nearly impenetrable from the dots-in. The Hawks failed by not doing enough to make Jones move side-to-side, or were prevented from doing so a lot of the time.

Enough.  We'll try again on Friday.

I Laughed Until I...Actually, I'm Still Laughing

Regarding the NHL Expansion Draft to populate The Las Vegas Golden Knights' (*smirk*) roster:

The Cream of the Expansion Crop
Specifically:

Here are the Top 10 players projected to be available, according to TSN Hockey:

10. Trevor van Riemsdyk, RD, Chicago: Just two years ago, van Riemsdyk was hurried back from injury to help put the Blackhawks over the top in the Stanley Cup Final as a rookie. He earned coach Joel Quenneville’s trust by pulling down 20 minutes per night last season. With so many pillars to protect with no-move clauses, the Hawks will be hard pressed to keep the 25-year-old.

He's in there somewhere.

Oh my, would that Knights GM George McPhee is having the same fever dreams that the usually-reliable Frank Seravalli is clearly experiencing.  I'm loathe to put the horse before the cart but that would sure be...convenient.

Just in case, though, please join me in my new campaign to smear, denounce and devalue Marcus Kruger, in a clumsy attempt to dissuade Vegas from even looking in his general direction.

Marcus Kruger has bad breath.

About Last Night: Hawks: None of the Goals, Oilers: All of the Goals

I would have been sorry that I waited to watch this hot mess, except that I had some really good soup while I watched the game, so that's something.

Despite outshooting The Oilers and "winning" the possession game, The Hawks simply could not get anything going in this one.  The only line that was consistently creating chances was the Hartman - Hino - Panik trio, but even they failed to hit the net very often and, let's face it, those three have to work twice as hard to generate offense than The Hawks' top two lines.
Forsling had another horrible night.
Keith somehow got a few shots through, to go along with the dozen or so that were blocked or ricocheted off a teammate's leg. The Oilers were credited with a whopping 21 blocked shots, so The Hawks' failure to get anything substantial going may have been at least partly down to not being judicious when choosing to shoot.
Crow was dogshit; he knows it, and he'll know how to bounce back from that.

Worst of all, I had to listen to those jackanapes on The Oilers' broadcast team say "Jarmalson" about a hundred times.  

                              It's all in there, guys, even JALL-MAR-SON.

Monday Morning Mockery: NHL "News"

Canucks Walked Away From Potential Trade for Evander Kane
Apparently, the deal involving Kane in exchange for Bo Horvat and All-You-Can-Eat Sushi for life was blocked by the Greater Vancouver Restaurateurs Association.

Is It Fair to Compare Marner to Kane?
Patrick Kane, in this case.
No, it is not.
Two months ago the Toronto hacks still believed Marner was too small, and played even smaller than that, not quick enough and, given the wealth of young talent on The Leafs' roster, highly unlikely to displace Matthews, Nylander et al for the few spots available for untested rookies. Good for Marner for rising above being constantly measured and found wanting.
But Patrick Kane he is not and it's a silly question to consider only 20 games into Marner's career. Facebook isn't the only source for Fake News, I guess.

Johnny Gaudreau Addresses Broken Finger
"Hullo, broken finger."
(Apologies to Art Carney)

One Out of Three is Quite Enough (If You're In Vancouver): Hawks 4, Canucks 3

              I do this for all the little people.  And also that guy behind me.

These recaps during the Circus Trip are all going to be late 'cos, once The Hawks went full-left coast, it's all happening way past my bedtime. I'll try to be brief since this is old news to everyone except me, apparently.

Vancouver has been awful and only the even-worse Flames and Coyotes separate The Canucks from the bottom of the West Standings.  Their scorers aren't scoring, their defense has been a mess while Chris Tanev has been hurt (file that under "You Know It's Bad When...") and their goaltenders have been feckless by committee.  The Creepy Twins are showing signs of winding down and there's not a lot below them to supplement what little scoring they are providing. Also, their fourth line have awkward names.
Yet, these Canucks played a pretty even first period against The Hawks and even took the early lead on a typical Loui Eriksson goal, one in which he won a Swipe Madly at The Puck duel with M. Kempny.  Emboldened, perhaps, Vancouver buried The Hawks in the second, particularly late in the frame, and popped another two goals, the first with considerable assistance by a too-lazy Brian Campbell and another off a diabolical pass and a shot that probably should have been stopped. It should have been in the bag for The Canucks, right?

Nope. Suddenly, The Hawks, who actually hadn't been that bad, just not very good, got serious, while The Canucks....well, they went back to being The Canucks.
Small Arthur began the comeback with a typical quick-release from the left circle, followed moments later by Vinnie Hinostroza, netting his first NHL goal on a nice individual effort.  Then in the last five minutes, Panik knocked Alex Edler off the puck, leaving a loose puck for Hinostroza.  It looked as if Hino was going to get the puck back to Panik, charging downrange, but instead spotted Hartman trailing the play, and laid a perfect pass for his linemate to one-time a blast past Jacob Markstrom. The Hawks continued to pressure Markstrom and Co. but this one was concluded in OT.

It was in extra time that Scott Darling earned this win, as all but the Horvat goal looked quite savable. Five saves in OT, including a stunner off Eriksson, kept The Hawks in it after their own apparent winning goal was called back after a Coaches' Challenge.  After another minute of exciting end-to-end play the man of the moment, Marian Hossa, potted yet another game winner, this time off a hard shot through a screening Alex Edler.
The Bits
The Roster had me pumped up right from the get-go, with Motte back in and no sign of Tootoo The Incredible Five Minute Man. The third and fourth lines looked promising and, as good as he's been generally, Forsling sitting in favour of Rozsival felt like a good call after Forsling's rough outing in Calgary.  It took over 40 minutes for them to make good on this promise, but whatever.
Schmaltz had his finest game as a Hawk and it's a shame he didn't manage to get something for the back of his hockey card in the bargain. More of that, please.
Keith had a series of miscues, once again.  What's going on with him, lately?
Kruger took no draws, which could mean nothing, as we know that Coach Q likes his centers pulling the puck backhand to the boards-side, but it could also indicate issues with Krug's hands or wrists.
The Fourth Line played only about ten minutes and started no shifts in their own end, but they absolutely slayed their opposition.  Speaking of...

Nine out of ten Stormares agree that Vinnie Hinostroza is deserving of recognition for this game.  He not only scored his first NHL goal but tallied two helpies, as well.  Didn't I say that Hino would start clicking once he got that first goal over with?  Well, I never get tired of being right, 'cos it so rarely happens....

Didn't Deserve to Win, But Didn't Deserve to Lose:Hawks 3, Flames 2

It was a game in which both teams played well enough to win and also badly enough to lose.  Both sides had stretches in which they couldn't do much right, and then it would flip-flop, with their opponent making a mess of things for awhile.  That said, The Hawks took more of these "turns" than they should have.

The Hawks kicked off the scoring with a wonderful goal that began with Anisimov hitting Ryan Hartman with a 100-foot pass just as Hartman had come on the ice, springing the rookie on a rush in which he shrugged off Dennis Wideman, expertly corralled a hopping puck and fired a hard shot over Chad Johnson's glove hand.
The Flames actually held the balance of play for much of the first period and rode that momentum into the second frame, scoring twice to take the lead, before Brent Seabrook threaded a point shot past Johnson to even things up.  A fairly even third period followed, typified by what I mentioned earlier - several minutes of Flames domination followed by a superior shift or two by The Hawks.  It's a new spin on end-to-end hockey!
Late in the third Artemi Panarin launched a hard shot, that Johnson merely struck with his glove rather than catching it, and Marian Hossa outfumbled Johnson and Flames d-man TJ Brodie, shoveling in his 10th goal and putting The Hawks ahead for good.

Dismal Night: A few Hawks had forgettable performances in this match, namely Forsling, Kane and Panik. Forsling was guilty multiple times standing between two Flames forwards but not covering either of them at all.  Kane had some nightmare shifts, with a bobble that first led to a Flames rush followed by a confused attempt to make amends which only amounted to getting in Corey Crawford's way while Sam Bennett scored for The Flames.  Later, Kane would tap a puck out of the air and toward the gaping net, only to accidentally strike it a second time and away from the twine. Probably just one of those nights, for Kane.  As for Panik...he was just everywhere yet nowhere that he needed to be, and his non-contribution did not not go unnoticed by Coach Q, as Panik played less than ten minutes and bounced through three different lines as the game progressed.
Possession is Nine-tenths of The Law and The Flames earned the legal high ground in this match, with Sean Monahan's line soundly putting the boots to Toews' line.  The Hawks' bottom six struggled as well, although I'd hang on asterisk on Kruger & Rasmussen, which I'll get to in a sec.
Outstanding Efforts by Large Arthur's Line as well as the duo of Seabrook and Kempny helped immensely.  Sadly, these were the only five Hawks players with possession stats north of 50.  That was Kempny's best game, thus far, and he even picked up his first NHL point in the bargain.
Special Teams That Were Actually Special were key to The Hawks, as well, with the PP and PK units both being perfect on the night.  Kruger and Rasmussen did the lion's share of PK duty, with both of them logging season-high minutes and Moose logging more time than all Hawks forwards, save Toews and Kane.  So there's the asterisk for Krugs and Moose: of course they got their usual helping of tough assignments, but they also spent a load of time on the PK.  At even strength these two broke even in possession, which is about as much as one can ask for from your shut down guys.

                                       Wonder Twins Power...activate!

So, really, half the forwards had pretty great games and the rest were anywhere from meh to awful. The Hawks were denied two near-goals, one by Mark Giardano's quick stick and other by Kane's double-tap so, despite being outshot and out-chanced, this could easily have been a 5-2 laugher.  It didn't hurt that Chad Johnson, after two great games for Calgary, went back to being Chad Johnson, with rebounds a-poppin' all over the place.

Hartman's tally was a beaut and you gotta love Hoss being Hoss when it mattered most, but with Old Number 50 making save after save while most of his D in front of him kinda flailed, Corey Crawford once again receives the steely gaze of Stormare.

I Don't Do Game Previews, Yet... Hawks vs. Flames Notes + Other Things

My car is being repaired and there's freezing rain outside so, really, what else do I have to do?

Tonight:
As already stated everywhere, Johnny Gaudreau won't take part in tonight's tilt, or any game for a month or more, as he broke a finger during The Flames 1-0 win over Minny on Tuesday. Undaunted, the Prairie Oysters turned around and defeated Arizona 2-1 the following night.  Both wins came with backup netminder and heretofore mediocre 'tender Chad Johnson in the cage, so we can presume that it'll be Johnson getting the nod tonight, as well.
For The Hawks it would appear to be status quo for tonight's lineup as it's expected that Vinnie Hinostroza will be available and, since no one has offered any explanation about Marcus Kruger having missed the last half of Tuesday's match in Wpg., he's probably okay, too.
There's a specter of dumb looming large for the last half of this Circus Trip, though, as it's reckoned that Trevor van Riemsdyk could be available to play by the time they reach California.  With the roster loaded and The Hawks receiving decent service from the seven defencemen currently in situ, it will be interesting to see what they choose to do. It could be as simple as flipping Tyler Motte to the disabled list or it could mean someone gets going to Rockford.
But, let's be real...TVR will play, maybe even as a forward.

News! News! News!

Sabres' Kane Takes a Shot at His Teammates
This is not all on TSN, either, as other news sources made similar judgments on Kane's frank breakdown of how awful The Sabres have been, lately, the most stirring soundbite being "if a team scores twice against us they'll probably win".  And it's not an entirely fair parsing of Kane's intentions as, while he does condemn their effort, Kane is at least consistent in referring to "us" and "The Sabres" and never "those guys" or anything at all like that.  He's owning this funk, as well.  I'm no fan of Evander Kane - I think he's a bit of a goof - but I really don't believe he was separating himself whatsoever from his team's struggles.  I guess it's fashionable for the hockey media to jump on Kane at the slightest provocation based on the host of meatheaded things he's done and said in the past, but this time they got it wrong.

Leo Komorov...what have you done?
Gotta grow that moustache back, fella.

                                                                      NO!

                                                                Oh my, yes!

Off-day Silliness and Fake Rumour Reporting

Yay!  More uninvited editorializing of sometimes  harebrained articles that probably didn't need to be written in the first place.  How sad is my life?

Is van Riemsdyk on the Trade Block?
Relax, not that van Riemsdyk - this is the good one they're talking about.
All the guy did was score a hat trick last evening, so of course The Leafs need to consider dealing him.
Ladies and gentlemen....the Toronto Sports Media.

Islanders "Trying Hard" to Acquire a Forward
Wait...what?  Why didn't they "try hard" to re-sign Frans Nielsen or Kyle Okposo?  What's that? They needed the cap space to sign....Andrew Ladd and Dennis Seidenberg?
Sorry, you don't deserve another forward.

Tortorella to Avoid Over-coaching
I fully agree with this plan.  The less influence Torts has on the players the better, it would appear.  I wonder how good the 'Jackets could be if Torts just stopped showing up at all?

The the Brightest NHL Minds Cannot Agree on what Constitutes an Illegal Hit
Combining the words "brightest", "NHL" and "minds" in the same sentence constitutes an unsolvable paradox.

About Last Night: Jets Many, Hawks None

Yeah, a crap effort, but the real story here is below, waaaay at the bottom.
But first, The Summary, and then The Bits.

The Hawks didn't make Connor Hellebuyck work very much for his first shutout of the season, not testing him very hard at all by managing to strike him within inches of his Jets crest with virtually all of their shots.
They failed to get to the gaps didn't bother making any adjustments after being closed off and shut down by an aggressive forecheck.  The five-on-three power play was a wasted effort as The Hawks chose to stage a revival of their impotent, stationary power play of years past.
There was also a lack of finish, and not only around the net, but all over the ice; if something didn't work right away they often simply gave up.

The Big Call Out: Kempny was on the wrong side of the inch all game, out of position or in position but in the way.  Rasmussen had an awful time of it and had certainly the worst shift of his NHL career midway through the second.  Finally, Schmaltz infuriated me on three occasions in which he made a nice keep or a steal, and then stood around admiring his work instead of getting to a gap or even just being ready for a return pass.  I see the skill, now and again, but I question whether the lad is ready to play at this level just yet.  I realize I've been bringing this guy up in nearly every post, so I think I'll pump the brakes on that until something changes.
Chris Thorburn: Am I imagining this or does score every time The Hawks and Jets play each other?  Does he only score against The Hawks?  WTF is happening, here?
Four Lines Good, Three Lines Bad: Every highlights package included Hollywood of Hinostroza being devastated by Morrissey late in the first while the broadcasters were apparently oblivious to the fact that Marcus Kruger did not play the last half of the game, either.  Yet, the first question at the post-game interview with Coach Q is whether or not a guy with ZERO points EVER is going to be okay.  Kruger's health, folks, is our greatest concern in the wake of this nightmare voyage to Canada's worst city.

Enough. On to Calgary on Friday.  Get well soon, Krugs.

Coulda Been Better, Coulda Been Worse: Hawks 3, Canadiens 2

Fun game, except for the part when The Hawks KEPT GIVING THE PUCK TO THE HABS.
Seriously, when have there been this many completely unforced, just not-paying-attention giveaways?  Panik had two or three in the first period alone, while Seabrook and Hartman each had a couple of dandies. It's nothing but carelessness, it's getting ridiculous and it has to stop.
Hey, maybe that good Canadian ice will help, later this week.

Anyway, apart from half the team appearing compelled to just get the puck away from them ASAP, regardless of who they give it to, there was still some good stuff  in this match.  Behold!

Keith was much better tonight after a pair of yippy games.  Unfortunately, Seabrook took up the the torch where careless play is concerned.  Hjalmarsson and Kempny were both excellent, though, I thought.
After seeing Hartman on the ice in the starting lineup I immediately wondered how long that would last.  Nothing against the kid but slotting him onto Toews' line makes as much sense as Shaw being there in recent years, and Shaw is better than Hartman.  I assure you, though, there's no satisfaction in being right when you see Hartman, on the ice with two of the finest players in the game, take weak shots from crap angles, put himself offside several times and give the puck away when not even under pressure.  He was much better after the first period, skating mainly with Schmaltz and Moose.
Schmaltz: I think he'll be a pretty fine second or third-liner, someday.  For a fella that slight, playing a rather lightweight game, his feet are not yet quick enough and he takes a little too long to conceive his plays. That said, I like him on the point during power plays; with that little extra time & space we get a glimpse of the potential Schmaltz holds.
Hinostroza was certainly better than Hartman alongside Toews & Kane, but he needs to dial 'er back about 20%, as he's doing that full-speed-don't -know-what-I'm-doing thing again, resulting mostly in chaos. I feel as if once he notches a point he'll be able to calm down a little.  Both Hinostroza and Hartman look tight and like they're trying too hard once they get bumped up the line chart, and so much more loose when on the third or fourth line.
I liked that line of Desjardins - Kruger - Panik, even if Panik did have a rough first period. I'm not sure how much offensive potential this trio has, with Panik being the only one of them with any kind of hands (and only from <1m).  I would expect The Hawks' defense to do most of the actual scoring when this line is out there, and that's just fine, as this trio began nearly all their shifts in The Hawks' zone yet were soon down the ice and consistently creating chances.
Nathan Beaulieu's remarkable long con continues.  It's unreal how long they've persevered with this guy for whom every decision he makes is basically a coin flip.

I considered bestowing Stormare's Seal of Approval upon Coach Q strictly for scratching Tootoo, but for all I know he's slightly injured or ate some iffy shrimp.  So, surprise - it's Kane, and not only down to his highlight reel goal, either. Okay, mostly that.

About Last Night: Capitals 3, Hawks 2

Well, we were never going to keep winning forever.
Still, this looks like a strange result when one ignores what they saw and scans the data surrounding the game.
- The Hawks won eight straight games after being outshot in most, possibly all, of those games (I cannot be arsed to verify that) yet lose on the night that they DO outshoot the opposition.
- The Hawks' PK has been near-perfect the last two weeks and last night they weren't even asked to kill any penalties, which sounds like a sure-fire recipe for success. Unless you're allowing shorties, of course.
- The Hawks crushed Washington in possession and zone starts...like, it wasn't even close.

So how did this go sideways?  Let's see...
- The Caps were extremely opportunistic; any game in which Jay Friggin' Beagle scores twice is likely going to be a Capitals win.  Practically any shortie is a gift, so there's that, and on Beagle's second tally, the wrap-around, Crawford stops that play half the time and Beagle loses the handle halfway through the maneuver most of the time.  That's just the way it goes, sometimes.
- The winning goal - oh my.  Disaster loomed when the Caps player, Oshie I think, slipped in behind Hinostroza but we caught a break when Oshie fell down, right?  Nope, 'cos Hino, our last man back, for some reason, managed to fall over Oshie, springing The Caps on a two-on-one.  A bit ridiculous, a bit unlucky, but there we have it..
- What was the idea with having Hinostroza out there in OT, anyway?  I know I've been grinding away about giving the youngsters a chance in these situations but this decision just makes no sense; the guy was healthy scratch for four straight games and all of a sudden Coach Q is gonna...I don't know what...play a hunch?  Odd choice there.
- Duncan Keith: despite what the stats line says he did not have his best outing, struggling with some keep-ins, topping the puck on a few pass attempts and making an absolute mess of things leading to Beagle's shortie.  He also stopped skating while in pursuit of Beagle, which is totally uncharacteristic and just adds another layer of weird on this game.
- Kruger on the second line: again, the stats look positive but the reality is that Krugs failed to cash a couple of times where a center with better hand skills would have; create all the chances you want but you have to finish those chances.  Kruger is awesome at what he does, among the very best, but placing him between Hossa and Panarin is not unlike buying a Camaro and asking them to put a Toyota Corolla motor in it; that Toyota will run reliably forever but it's not gonna win any races or pull any chicks, etc.
- The other option for Line Two would have been, I believe, Nick Schmaltz, with Panik then slotting back into his familiar, if inappropriate, spot on the top line.  Well, given that Schmaltz was again nearly invisible I guess Q selected the lesser of two evils deploying Kruger as he did.  Schmaltz has the whole lurking-in-the-weeds thing going on, but for that to work he has to pop out of those weeds now and again, call for a pass, get into position to make a play.  As it is, he spends a lot of his shifts obscured behind opposing players.
- The Second Line is a House of Cards: okay, hyperbole, but Large Arthur missing one game and The Hawks booting the game perhaps indicates some fragility in the forward corps.  It was a peculiar game, though, and we've got a long way to go so it's probably nothing...
- Jordin Tootoo; why do I have to type that name after every damn game?  Well, in this one, he managed to miss a wide open net and then doubled down with the softest pass back to the point that I've ever seen, a pass so weak that The Capitals player who intercepted it had to wait for it to reach him.
- I did not like Campbell and Forsling's reunion at all.  They were running around in their own end far too much and neither of them seemed very sure of what the other was doing.  I can only guess that Q chose to shuffle the pairings in order for Keith and Hjalmarsson to shut down Ovechkin et al which, excepting Keith's aforementioned gaffes, actually worked pretty well.
- Goaltending: Holtby was near-perfect for The Caps, Crawford was a little less good than that.  It was reported that Crow's trip to the dressing room was for a skate repair but I'll wager he had to poop, 'cos a comfortable Crow makes a save on Beagle's wrap-around. Never trust Tex-Mex food prepared north of the Mason-Dixon line, at least not on game day. Scott Darling made only one save but what a save it was.

Still, it wasn't a total nightmare, and it was a game The Hawks coulda shoulda won.  Hossa was fantastic, even if it was pretty fortunate that Small Arthur's speculative wrister somehow reached him to create the tying goal.  Kempny had, I think, his best game thus far.  We'll get 'em next time.

Finally, send some positive vibes in the direction of former Hawk and occasional playoff hero Bryan Bickell.  Bicks announced yesterday that he's been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, which goes a long way toward explaining the cliff that Bick's play fell from over the last couple of seasons.  Get well, fella.

Update on The Arthurs, Large and Small

Per Coach Q, late last night, Large Arthur is day-to-day and "he'll be alright."

It just occurred to me moments ago that Small Arthur quite unexpectedly reeled off a Gordie Howe hat trick last night.  Who was the last Hawk to even do that?  Chelly?  JR? Al Secord? 

Images: nhl.com/blackhawks

Couldn't Bear to Watch, Couldn't Look Away: Hawks 2, Blues 1

A lot of this game was hard to watch.  No flow, too many pucks run up the boards or down the ice in a panic and some pretty tired-looking guys in the third period required even a viewer to grind this one out.  There's really only one big story here, but here are a couple of Bits:
Large Arthur is indicated as day-to-day with a something-something body injury.
Kempny: I now only notice him when things go sideways for him, which happens less and less all the time.  It's easy to forget he's there and, for a guy playing the style of game he does, that's ideal. This was not one of those games; I saw that thing he did there, falling on his ass...
Nick Schmaltz got another look on the top line...for awhile.  He was absolutely invisible, replaced by Panik mid-game, and only re-entered my consciousness during a lackluster power play late in the game, one in which he was included because The Arthurs were unavailable for various reasons. Still, I get that Coach Q was dealing with a tight game vs. a divisional rival, as well as a shorter and shorter bench.
Jaden Schwartz: So he really does exist.
Small Arthur, well rested after cooling his heels for five minutes after sparring with Upshall, threaded the puck through three bodies and Jake Allen for the win.  Oddly enough, this wasn't even that hard a shot, especially for Mr. Quick-Release, just exceptionally well placed.  He was buzzing late in the game, having clanked one off the crossbar, earlier, so it was little surprise that he managed to cash when it counted most.

No Crow, no win.  Crawford made several excellent saves but none more timely nor as spectacular as the toe save on Tarasenko in the third.  Once again, Stormare smiles upon The Hawks`All-Universe netminder.

Off-Day Shenanigans

It's time once again to enjoy the manufactured hockey "news" that somehow keep dozens of otherwise unemployable people afloat!

Little Mistakes Plague The Canucks

But why sweat the small stuff, though, when there's ONE big mistake that really matters: their lineup.

Teams Around the League Aren't Surprised by The Habs' Start

Of course they're not surprised, and nor will they be surprised when The Habs drop sixteen straight games immediately following Carey Price's next inevitable injury.

Will Trouba's Teammates Welcome Him Back with Open Arms?

Of course they won't; The Jets like being a -7 team.  Seriously, though, rumour has it that if this Trouba contract thing dragged on any longer The Jets would have activated Jim Kyte.

One Hundred Greatest Leafs

Hey, this list only goes to 63!

Tortorella: "I'm Going to Protect My Players"

"Because it's MY job to publicly demean them and throw them under the bus."