How To Play Ten Minutes of Decent Hockey and Get Away With It: Hawks 3, Coyotes 1

There's no way that a game between The Hawks and those chicken-stealing miscreants from AZ should ever be this close.  It was a largely crap effort on the part of The Blackhawks and they were fortunate to get the W as, with the number of chances they were giving up, they were just a deflection or an eephus away from The Coyotes getting back in the game.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, some really quick Bits.
* The majority of The Blackhawks had a pretty indifferent game, top to bottom.  Only one guy was truly bad, but only one or two played a complete game.  I'm pretty sure that the only pass that led directly to a shot on net before Hayden hit Wingels there, almost halfway through the final period, was Panik to Hinostroza in the second frame.  That's pretty bad.  Kane had numerous "ehh" plays that he appeared disinterested in before he even executed them. Saad was stepping on the puck all night.  Keith fought the puck for the entire first half of the game.  Etc.

* At least the third line had some fire in their bellies, with only small factors like no hands (Vinnie Hinnie), no luck (Panik) and not much left (Sharp) preventing them from accomplishing much.  Still, they spent the majority of their time on the ice in the AZ zone, so that's something.

* Crawford was outstanding and, though I'm sad to reiterate it, No Crow = No Win tonight.
* Forsling had another good game.  Not perfect, but very good and superior to all of his fellow D-men.  Murphy had a quietly solid night, as well.
* Jordan Oesterle was very much on the other end of the stick, completely awful in all regards.  His poor passing was eclipsed only by his terrible positioning.  Given that he hadn't played in twelve games this hot mess was as much on the guys that gifted him 20 minutes of ice time as it was on him.  The Coyotes were clearly aware of this, as their forecheckers were on him like poop on a blanket, and Oesterle wilted under the pressure at almost every opportunity.  Crow was extremely diplomatic when fielding questions about Oz after the game, probably biting his tongue, actually, as he had a good view of #82 falling all over the place.
* Schmaltz was another forward who put forth a solid effort for the full sixty minutes, compromised by Kane's indifference until the last ten minutes and Anisimov being a step behind most of the night.

The difficulty level gets pushed from "Beginner" to "Novice" for Tuesday's game vs. FLA.  With a full game's effort from Kane, more of the same from the Hinnie line and Oesterle punted back to the press box The Hawks should be okay.  Probably.