It certainly feels like January now, does it not?
After a pretty decent first period it all kind of slipped away. The Hawks continued to roll up the shot count but, apart from a few quality chances (Hinnie, Hoss, Kane, Kane and Kane) there was often no support, no screen, or no one around for rebounds.
Individually, a few Hawks looked troubled: Hoss appeared tired, Keith was yippy again and even Panarin, though he kept his feet moving, was just slightly on the wrong side of it all night. Crawford looked like he was putting together a nice bounce-back game, particularly after the bang-bang by Granlund & Zucker, but that goal by Stewart...not so great.
The coulda won it, but were just 10 or 15% off their Max Potential, and that's what made the difference.
Coach Q got a bit bold, dressing only eleven forwards (THANKS NBC TEAM FOR SO SUBTLY INFORMING US OF THAT 38 TIMES) and filling that blank spot up front almost exclusively with P. Kane. It ain't the worst idea in the world - certainly preferable to Tootoo or even Dez - but if this is going to be a thing, now, he's gotta spread those extra few minutes out between Kane, Panarin, maybe Hoss....or Kane is going to be ruined by the time playoffs roll around.
Midwinter blahs. We'll get 'em next time. Probably.
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