The Good
Well, snapping an eight-game losing streak was pretty good, and in grand style, too.
Why go all-in like that, though - scoring seven goals in a rare offensive outburst during a drought in which they could rarely score more than two in a game? We'll get to that.
Possession Domination - both WASH and LA were buried in attempts-against, even if The Hawks only put forth their best effort for one period vs. The Kings.
Key Forwards Emerge From Hibernation - Saad hasn't played this well since October. Hartman logged two solid games, scoring an absolute beauty vs. The Capitals and gelled well with linemates Sharp and DeBrincat. Toews looked something like his old self for awhile there and even Anisimov got off his arse.
Tell me Who Is Carl Dahlstrom to Claim Your Five Pounds - after a stinkeroo against Anaheim young Carl bounced back with a solid effort vs. The Capitals and a gem of a game against LA, single-handedly breaking up two odd-man rushes and being one of the few Hawks d-men who were able to consistently push the puck north. His gutsy pinch and interception that led to Sharp's goal was mighty impressive, too. SO, that's great for Carl and probably good news for The Hawks...
Vinnie Hinostroza Is The Man. That is all.
The Bad
Patrick Kane has disappeared in recent games. It happens, but it cannot happen for much longer. Also note that as Kane goes, so goes Schmaltz to a large extent.
Carl Dahlstrom was, at best, the eleventh d-man out of training camp and appears to have nailed down the D-5 or D-6 spot, for the moment at least. When a guy rockets up the depth chart like that you have to wonder if it's his improvement that enabled that or merely a desperate "I'll try anything at this point" attitude where Stan Bowman and the coaching staff are concerned.
Possession Domination Ain't Winning Games - during this six-week funk The Hawks have, more often than not, destroyed the competition in shots and possession, yet have only won four of the last eighteen games.
I'm Still Not Sure What Lance Bouma is For.
The Ugly
Jordan Oesterle is a bad defenceman. Love his nerve and his offensive instincts, but he is just flat-out bad at playing defence. On top of that, his good qualities are often compromised by....I don't know what...brain fade? Lack of concentration? He gacked four breakout attempts in the first period alone vs. The Kings, all but one of which was 100% down to simply not putting enough oomph behind his passes. Do that once, you take note and you adjust. Do that twice and you should be sitting with the backup goalie. Four times, though? That's as much on the coach as on the player.
I Think Adam Burish Might Be Right. Sweet Jeebus, that was hard to type, but Bur said some stuff about The Hawks being able to run a bit wild on wide-open teams yet struggle against the slightest back-pressure....and I think he's correct. The Hawk's biggest wins this season were against teams that don't emphasize defence and tend toward a fast, wide-open style....sorta like The Hawks on most nights. The Penguins, Senators and Capitals were all dispatched rather easily and The Hawks managed to stick with The Golden Knights for two periods before losing the plot, yet they cannot maintain a net-front presence if the other side resists in the slightest, and they are paralyzed by any gumming up of the neutral zone.
Not sure if a solution is at hand, immediately. The Hawks have a lot of small forwards who are critical to their success and, unfortunately, the few physical players on hand either lack the full package (Kampf, Anisimov, Hayden, Bouma) or aren't applying themselves fully (Saad, Hartman to some extent). Even if two or three of these "physical" players were to up their game would that be a difference maker? I like to hope so, 'cos I'd sure like to see what Schmaltz, DeBrincat and Hinostroza can accomplish in the long run, but that's a lot of small forwards, along with Kane, to go to war with. Unfortunately, you almost need a Ryan O'Reilly or *ahem* a Brandon Saad alongside each of those small, skilled guys....
Any idea where we could find some guys like that?
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