Read One, Get One Free: Hawks Sweep Weekend

Since I watched both tonight's game and last night's game today I'm rolling this all into one post.  It's sort of handy, then, that both games felt sort of similar to me, with The Hawks performing well in spurts, not so great other times and, even when they were controlling the play, often just slightly out of sync.

It's not surprising, though, what with the chaos written all over their lineup cards, with injuries and illness forcing some guys to draw in and others to be bumped up in the lines. The solutions were not perfect, really, but good enough, which indicates something about the depth The Hawks enjoy.  I'm going to struggle to separate my thoughts for each game so it'll be straight to The Bits.
- Scott Darling hurt himself during practice, evidently, and will be out for approximately three weeks. One hopes, then, that Coach Q is willing to give Crawford a break now and again as, with playoffs starting in just over a month, he'll be playing a lot of hockey from here on in.  Jeff Glass is ostensibly the backup at the moment but, unless he is outstanding, I expect that Lars Johansson will be summoned at some point in the coming weeks.
- Anisimov missed Friday's game but was back for Saturday's.  He needn't have bothered, as he was slow and not at all sharp around the puck.
- After four games with Tomas Jurco I've seen enough.  He's the most brittle 6'2" 188lb I think I've observed.  Maybe it's a center of gravity thing, but it's remarkable how many times per game he is sent spinning after incidental contact.  I see now why he washed out in Detroit.
- Not to get after Ryan Hartman, 'cos I mostly like what he brings, but Toews & Panik missed the creativity and finesse that Nick Schmaltz has been providing, lately.  They played well enough, but would have been better served with Schmaltz rather than Harts.
- Despite somehow finishing the weekend at +1, TVR always seemed to be standing around whenever The Hawks were scored upon.  I swear, if hockey pants had pockets in them TVR's hands would be in them all the time.
- Never mind cherry-picked zone starts and favourable match-ups, Rozsival and Kempny were the possession kings of the weekend.
- Crawford was mostly very good after missing a couple of games with a jippy tummy or something, with only the third Nashville goal being a softy.  
- On that tack, I really hate, hate HATE when The Hawks cough up a goal in the final minute of a period, which is something they've done alarmingly often this year.  In motorsports they say "race back to the line" and "the race ain't over until the last lap is run." Yes, do that.

It was about time that Artemi Panarin got back to business, as he seemed to forget to come back to work after their week off.  On Friday we saw Panarin shooting more, although he still struggled to reliably hit the net from his usual shooting area, as even his goal was not exactly from his Happy Place.  It's starting to come together, though.

Every dog has his day and, tonight, Jordin Tootoo was a doberman.  His seemingly pointless tilt with Cody McLeod actually kicked The Hawks into gear after they were thoroughly dominated for the early part of the first period, and he drew the penalty that led to Kane's PPG ten minutes later.  He drove to the net consistently, very nearly orchestrated a goal by Kruger and, finally, potted his first goal as a Hawk when he scooped up some loose trash in the Nashville slot.  It pleased me that his teammates were so excited for him, and even the Nashville crowd seemed briefly happy that Tootoo scored again in the building where he played the first zillion years of his career.

The Hawks get another mini-break, not playing again until Thursday, which gives Hjalmarsson, Oduya, Anisimov and Schmaltz ample time to get healthy, as well as an opportunity for Crawford and Keith to get some rest.  Hopefully these days off don't set Panarin back like the last break appeared to.