Whatever Works: Hawks 2, Senators 1

Okay, so it was another game in which The Hawks were outshot, albeit not as badly as the last couple of games, and were batted around like a cat toy in the possession department.  While that's a little worrisome, they're getting away with it, by dint of superior goaltending and the guys who need to be great being great at just the right time.  I doubt that this model is sustainable on the long-term but, for now, it's working. I guess that, even though The Hawks have failed to play to their potential this week, there's always the fact that this is The Hawks underachieving and still winning.  When and if they get their asses and heads back into gear they could be a steamroller.
If the goaltending holds up.
Buckle up for ya Bits.

Meet John Hayden, who The Hawks signed this week, presumably on the proviso that he get into some games this season, thus using up one season of his entry-level status.  He's sure big, not terribly quick but not a slug, either.  Could be just A Guy but that's what I thought of Hartman during his first audition, so who the hell knows?
I'm happy to say that no Hawks player was especially bad tonight, although Seabrook's two unforced giveaways late in the match were not ideal and Panarin struggled to complete a pass for the first half of the game .  On the flip, though, none of the skaters really shone, either.  It was kind of a beige effort, overall, as they played just well enough to win and not an iota more.  Sure, a few guys had some great shifts, but even the usual go-to guys had extended quiet periods.  Just another Thursday night in Ottawa...
Have we seen the end of Tomas Jurco?  More to the point, does anyone care?
The forward lines were in constant flux tonight, with Toews skating with almost every other forward at one time or another.  That's going to happen when the coaches are cherry-picking zone starts for Hayden and Tootoo.  Kruger & Kero started a lot of shifts and beetled off the ice right after the face off which scrambled things up even more.
Schmaltz played mainly 2C in Anisimov's absence and was fine, I thought, except for his faceoffs. All of the Chicago centers struggled at the dot tonight but Schmaltz was glaringly ineffective and clearly needs to spend some time with Yanic Perrault, ASAP.

I'm still not sure what I think of the swapping around of the top four D.  I cannot point to any instance in which Seabrook/Oduya failed in any significant way, and the Keith/Hjalmarsson duo is a known quantity, but I kind of envisioned Oduya and Hjalmarsson assuming the shut-down role that they performed so well in days of yore, allowing Keith & Seabrook to face weaker opposition and maybe run a bit wild.  I expect we'll see more experimentation in this area but, for now, this feels like a missed opportunity.
I don't care how nice a guy Jamal Mayers may be - he has to stop saying "Jarmalson".

One Hawks player was not beige tonight.  Scott Darling wasn't tested much in the first half of the game but he earned his keep and then some in the early part of the third period alone.  No Darling = no win tonight, and the best backup in the league keeps rolling...