Once all of the inevitable Saad / Panarin chatter died down we saw an entertaining hockey game, got a result and perhaps got a little insight into this year's Hawks team. Let's go.
Nick Schmaltz was out of the game within two minutes, the victim of a greasy Malachi Crunch between two large CMB defenders, and will not travel to Canada for the games vs. TOR and MTL. Not to pin too much emphasis on Schmaltz's absence but, after that and the line-shuffling chaos that followed, only the Toews line was a consistent offensive threat.
Best play of the game and he didn't even touch the puck.
Yeah, but the Toews line was fantastic and, all slumps, funks and potential injuries aside, could well tear The NHL a new one this season. Interestingly, I hardly noticed Toews out there: he won the draws, disappeared into the weeds and reappeared later to take a pass or pounce on a Saad or Panik rebound. Saad was great and Panik had one of his finest games as a Hawk, forechecking and getting after loose pucks (leading to his third period goal) choosing his shots wisely (no tries from the goal line in this one) and, best of all, perfectly executing a search & destroy mission on Seth Jones to create the Toews goal.
The shots-against and Corsi numbers were not especially flattering, but that often happens when a team has a three goal lead by the halfway point of the game. Crawford did make a handful of sparkling saves but all credit to The Hawks' D, as there were precious few second attempts available to the Blue Jackets. Let's not forget that Crow was a hair's breadth from a shutout, if not for an unlucky bobble through Hartman, sliding into the crease.
On The Hawks' D, it was a mostly-good effort. Seabrook was swallowed up a couple of times by swifter CMB forwards (I guess that would be all of them, actually...) and Kempny had another one of those basically solid efforts, tarnished slightly by a WTF moment or two. I thought the best pairing was Rutta and Forsling, which is as unexpected as that pairing even being a thing. I barely noticed Connor Murphy which, given how much I noticed him flailing a week ago in the preseason, is probably a Good Thing.
The Line Shuffling and what failed to come from that, as mentioned above, could signal something significant....or nothing at all. Once Schmaltz went down and the revolving door opened, with Sharp, Anisimov, DeBrincat and Hayden all filling in on Line 2, the only offense The Hawks received beyond Toews' line was on the power play and on an audacious 50-foot backhand saucer pass from Kane to Rutta, in which the other players on the ice were irrelevant.
So, was this an indication of how brittle The Hawks' lineup is, and that the loss of one top-six forward can throw their entire effort into disarray? Maybe, but I kind of think Coach Q took the opportunity, what with an early lead and all, to try some stuff, specifically to see how DeBrincat and Hayden performed when elevated up the lineup. With special-teams duties, Kane double-shifting with Bouma and Wingels and the occasional insertion of Sharp & Anisimov, though, I'm not sure if anything concrete was learned there. Hayden's barge up the middle in the first period was fun but he didn't do much else, and DeBrincat wasn't particularly noticeable, aside from clanging the post late in the game. Hartman did not have a super game, either, but was inserted at center for much of the game which is still an unfamiliar position for him at this level.
We are thin at center, and being without two of the usual pivots is going to be tough, but I'm confident that if the game was at any time in question Q would have popped Anisimov into 2C and left him there, with the remains of the bottom-six being rearranged as the situation demanded.
Yeah, but The Hawks beat up on a couple of backup goalies to start the season. True enough, but they also didn't press all that hard after zooming out to early leads, AND they managed these wins with only two actual centers for the majority of both games. That feels like a push to me.
Toronto is next and it proves to be interesting game, as The Leafs are essentially Hawks 2.0, seven or eight years along (but with even more dire and immediate salary cap problems in their future). Anyway, The Leafs have also potted fifteen goals in their first two games, but did not encounter much resistance from the feckless Jets goaltending nor the ghost of Hank Lundqvist and the imposter known as Ondrej Pavelec. The Leafs have also allowed seven goals in those two games, and I'm unconvinced that Freddy Andersen is a bona fide NHL starter, but I guess we'll see about that.
Expect to see Crow start in Toronto and Anton Forsberg to debut vs. the less-scorey Canadiens on Tuesday.
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