Catching Up, Getting Down: Jets and Sabres Many, Hawks Few

Due to mandatory attendance at a Bilderburg Meeting I only managed to watch Thursday's hot mess on Friday and today's game tonight.  Emboldened by said Bilderburg get together and inspired by their unofficial slogan "don't mail it in, bro" I'll make an effort to make some sense of The Hawks' latest disasters.  Which is more than I can say for The Hawks.

The high point of Thursday's match in Winnipeg, Canada's Worst City™, came at the 11 second mark when Saad barged into The Jets' zone and rifled a smart shot past Connor Hellebuyck.  It was all downhill from there, however, as Hawks starter Anton Forsberg allowed a rather dodgy goal that he failed to recover from, subsequently coughing up two more soft goals before being dispatched.  Middle-inning sponge JF Berubé fared little better even if he actually played reasonably well, as the rest of The Hawks had lost whatever little wind was in their sails, eventually falling 6 - 2.
And that was the essence of that game: Forsberg comprehensively shat the bed and the rest of them simply packed it in.  There was nothing encouraging about that game, no brightsides nor positive takeaways.

Surely a trip to Buffalo, home of the NHL's last-place team, would be exactly the tonic for a demoralized squad.  Well, not if every damn mistake The Hawks would make, and there were plenty of those, ended up in their net
Outshot, outskated and well behind in the Corsi game, Buffalo nevertheless made their A+ and even B- chances count thanks to The Hawks' inability to win a faceoff in their own end, as well as the worst defensive coverage they'd put forth all season.  Spicing up this mélange of futility was The Hawks' failure to get out of their zone reliably; this went on all day but, in one five or six minute span, late in the third period with the game tied, The Hawks had nine missed or intercepted breakout passes...before I stopped counting.
The Hawks' broadcasters keep pitching these last few weeks as an opportunity for the team to put some miles on the younger Hawks, some of whom may or not be required next season, but I'm not sure about how they're going about it.  With the roster as it is there's little competition for ice time with a single "healthy" scratch and all indications are that Duclair is day-to-day with an ankle injury.  So we have the same four or five Guys out there, game after game, competing for next year's roster spots that had better not include four or five Guys.  With Keith and Seabrook winding down (despite being under contract until forever and Keith's assertion that he think he can play until he's 40) our best prospects on the back end are Jan Rutta and Erik Gustafsson, which is a scary reality.  Rutta, I think, will be fine if Coach Q doesn't destroy his psyche, but Gustafsson is another story.  For all his offensive acumen he's not really very good at playing defense.  Coach's pet Jordan Oesterle is even worse in that vein; how can a player log a team-best Corsi and still be -3  for the night and fail to make any passes?  The stats, they lie...

At this point the likes of Jurco, Hayden, Highmore, Kampf, Oesterle, Dahlstrom, Gustafsson and even Murphy are practically interchangeable and, if The Hawks are forced to lean on these Guys (or Guys like them) next season we'll be in for another long year, again.  I know that affordable, quality depth players are pretty much unicorns, now, but if The Hawks go to war with this kind of lineup again I can tell you how that movie ends without even buying a ticket.

Taking The Scenic Route: Hawks 3, Sabres 2

Yep, they took a roundabout route, but The Hawks got where they needed to go.  As in the last game, The Hawks laid waste to their opponent in terms of shots (51-28) and possession (Corsi 70-30 - oy!) and, just for good measure, let me mention that The Sabres blocked a further 31 shot attempts.  This is the sort of effort that a team that's clicking transforms into an 8-1 win.  Despite the win, however, The Hawks still aren't clicking.  Here are some Bits before bedtime.
* Sure, they finally cashed a power play goal, but the power play is still trash.  The Hawks have had more man advantage situations than any other team this season, so one would think the in-game practice would have aided them in tuning up this aspect of their game but, somehow, this is not the case.  The end of the second PP, late in the first period, sort of epitomized what a bad job they've been doing, with a half dozen passes between the two point men and Kane along the right wing but no shot until Kane took a wrister from a crappy angle to kill the play.  What the hell?
* Sidebar: while he is one of a select few NHLers who can score somewhat regularly from poor angles, why is Kane insisting on only shooting from south of the faceoff dots?  Why must he ensure that scoring will be difficult?
* Sidebar #2: Edzo quipped that Buffalo had the best power play in the league last season but are now 31st and last in that category.  I submit to you this: Cody Franson was a fixture on The Sabres PP last year.  He had no PP time this evening and The Hawks sucked in that department, again.  Just sayin'...
* Alex DeBrincat now shares the team lead in goals but it took 29 games before Coach Q saw fit to start him in the Top Six.  That it took so long for this acknowledgement is just plain stupid.
* Since Seabrook's ice time declined he's been a lot less conspicuous.  I don't know if the lighter workload has benefited his performance or if it simply allowed him less opportunity to make a mess of everything.  His final gesture tonight took the biscuit, though, being either too lazy or just plain incapable of legging out an iced puck and taking a penalty.  If Franson misses any time we'll be treated to more of this, I'm afraid.
* Tommy Wingels wins the bang-for-the-buck prize, with the game-tying shortie (on the aforementioned Seabrook penalty), five shots and 68% Corsi in a mere 7:35 ice time.  What's more, Wingels and his linemates started every one of their shifts in their own end.
* Good bounce-back game for Keith after that steaming pile on Wednesday.
* Jan Rutta was excellent.  Not perfect, but nearly so.  He and Forsling are seeing a lot more of the opposing teams' top lines, too.
I haven't busted this out for a year or more....

With the game-winner in OT, a pair of helpies and a great effort all night, The Big Boy has got to be Gustav Forsling.  It could just as easily have ended in tears for Goose when he hauled down Jack Eichel, setting up a rare overtime penalty shot, but Corey Crawford capped off his fine game, his first after missing a few with an injury, by denying The Sabres' best player at that crucial moment.  After a pretty rough patch in late Oct - early Nov Goose's confidence appears to be sky-high.  Sometimes the stuff he tries doesn't work out, but having the guts to try and fail will only help him improve and to give him a better sense of his own limits.  Big game for Goose, big win for The Hawks.

Our Guys Are Better Than Your Guys: Hawks 5, Sabres 1

The Hawks trundled into Western New York for the second half of a back-to-back after a decent yet unproductive outing last night.  After yesterday's loss I felt like The Hawks needed only to make a few adjustments and the world would be their oyster.  

With only a few small exceptions, that was pretty much true.  Of course it helped that they were facing the not-ready-for-prime-time Sabres who, despite half of their lineup consisting of really very unexceptional players, find themselves within spitting distance of the last Wildcard spot in The East. The Sabres shouldn't be as bad as they are, as they possess a handful of above-average NHLers in Okposo, Reinhart, O'Rielly and Evander Kane, when he feels like it, as well as the Truly Special Jack Eichel, but the supporting cast is deplorable, consisting of a few used-up veterans and a rotating cast of AHL-quality players.  Their defense is possibly worse, the highlight there being Rasmus Ristolainen who serves as an outstanding power play QB....but little else.  Bogosian and Franson are average, at best and, beyond them, the abyss.  The NBC broadcast team (who the hell was the colour man, anyway, and did he win his job in a raffle?) plumped up Robin Lehner rather comprehensively, only for the young Swedish netminder to cough up a furball in this one.  Anyway, it's not a complete group, by any means, and I'll get back to some of that in a bit.

As for The Hawks, it was a good effort, made to look even better by their opponents, in which I found only a few faults:
- The Toews and Anisimov lines went entire shifts in the first half of the game in which they could not break out of their own zone.  I'm putting this down to their timing still coming back to them after their week off, as well as the fact that The Sabres pitched their two top lines against their Hawks counterparts for much of the game.  On the surface this seems incredibly foolhardy, particularly at home with the last change but, just as it was for Colorado a few weeks ago, that's the best plan The Sabres have right now.  While that was happening The Hawks' bottom-six were having their way with The Sabres bottom-six and, if that's the way it was gonna be, imagine what a nightmare it would have been if those lines were deployed against The Hawks top-six?  Oh, wait - they were, in the third period, and it was a shit-show.  What's more is, even after getting their top two lines out there vs.The Hawks third and fourth units....they still didn't manage to generate a ton of chances, possibly due to being worn out from chasing Panarin & Kane around for the first 40 minutes, as well as having endured a busy couple of weeks with nine games in the last fourteen days.
- Panarin was again not great.  Better, but still not firing on all cylinders.
- Apart from a handful of botched assignments The Hawks D played a fine game, EXCEPT for one shift in the first period in which 57-Varieties-of-Bad insisted on dispatching the puck to teammates who were going the wrong way, three feet away from him, about to be struck by a Sabres player, etc.  Sometimes I just wonder what the hell goes on in his head.

Tough one tonight, as no Hawks player really ran away with the thing.  Toews had some inspired shifts but had only a junk goal to show for it.  Ditto for Hossa and, despite the result, Darling wasn't really tested much at all after the first period.  So for this one, The Surly Swede "smiles" upon hometown boy Patrick Kane who, after a slow start to the game, went a bit nuts on the aforementioned Sabres bottom-six.

Anyway, things get real again on Tuesday vs. The Wild.  Hopefully The Hawks will have worked out all the kinks from the week off and be able to make the most of this four-point game.

Just Good Enough: Hawks 4, Sabres 3

After a late night & early morning I'm a wee bit late with this, so I'll dispense with the play-by-play and get straight to The Bits.
So, Spencer Abbott got a second cup of coffee in The Show.  Good for him, but if a 28-yr-old small forward who now has a total of two NHL games under his belt is the very best The Hawks organization can conjure up....well, they'd better stay healthy.  I'm puzzled as to why he was inserted on the wing alongside Toews & Hossa, but this is also the gang that seems convinced that TVR deserves ice time, so I give up, there.  So is that it for Tyler Motte, or was he sent to Rockford simply in order to play more?
Still preferable to Tootoo, though.
Hossa hit the ground running after missing a week+.  He had no marks on the score sheet but was busily doing Hossa things right off the bat.
Corey Crawford had a game to forget, with a softie by Foligno and a failure to close a gap to prevent Okposo's goal.  He was just good enough, so let's leave it at that and move on.
Tanner Kero: not a good skater, not at all quick, no shot to speak of and plays even smaller than he is. Yet he played 15+ minutes.  See Abbott, Spencer, above.
Seabrook has had two iffy outings on the trot, now, with last night's indiscretions being a pair of unforced giveaways and, more disappointing, being unable to track down Jack Eichel who was barely able to skate after being trapped in his own end for well over a minute. Seabs was far fresher at that moment, yet far slower.  Yikes.
Kempny continues to shoot and get results.  His one-timer is working really well at the moment, so maybe he's been working on getting his body squared up for those passes, or maybe the passes have just been better than usual.  Either way, his play has been a bright spot as late.
Desjardins was an unsung hero in Kruger's absence, starting 2/3 of his shifts in The Hawks' end yet posting Corsi north of 80%.

Kane netted the OT winner, but it took Anisimov to get them to the bonus round in the first place.  With two timely goals, Large Arthur IS GOOD.

Monday Morning Mockery: NHL "News"

Canucks Walked Away From Potential Trade for Evander Kane
Apparently, the deal involving Kane in exchange for Bo Horvat and All-You-Can-Eat Sushi for life was blocked by the Greater Vancouver Restaurateurs Association.

Is It Fair to Compare Marner to Kane?
Patrick Kane, in this case.
No, it is not.
Two months ago the Toronto hacks still believed Marner was too small, and played even smaller than that, not quick enough and, given the wealth of young talent on The Leafs' roster, highly unlikely to displace Matthews, Nylander et al for the few spots available for untested rookies. Good for Marner for rising above being constantly measured and found wanting.
But Patrick Kane he is not and it's a silly question to consider only 20 games into Marner's career. Facebook isn't the only source for Fake News, I guess.

Johnny Gaudreau Addresses Broken Finger
"Hullo, broken finger."
(Apologies to Art Carney)

I Don't Do Game Previews, Yet... Hawks vs. Flames Notes + Other Things

My car is being repaired and there's freezing rain outside so, really, what else do I have to do?

Tonight:
As already stated everywhere, Johnny Gaudreau won't take part in tonight's tilt, or any game for a month or more, as he broke a finger during The Flames 1-0 win over Minny on Tuesday. Undaunted, the Prairie Oysters turned around and defeated Arizona 2-1 the following night.  Both wins came with backup netminder and heretofore mediocre 'tender Chad Johnson in the cage, so we can presume that it'll be Johnson getting the nod tonight, as well.
For The Hawks it would appear to be status quo for tonight's lineup as it's expected that Vinnie Hinostroza will be available and, since no one has offered any explanation about Marcus Kruger having missed the last half of Tuesday's match in Wpg., he's probably okay, too.
There's a specter of dumb looming large for the last half of this Circus Trip, though, as it's reckoned that Trevor van Riemsdyk could be available to play by the time they reach California.  With the roster loaded and The Hawks receiving decent service from the seven defencemen currently in situ, it will be interesting to see what they choose to do. It could be as simple as flipping Tyler Motte to the disabled list or it could mean someone gets going to Rockford.
But, let's be real...TVR will play, maybe even as a forward.

News! News! News!

Sabres' Kane Takes a Shot at His Teammates
This is not all on TSN, either, as other news sources made similar judgments on Kane's frank breakdown of how awful The Sabres have been, lately, the most stirring soundbite being "if a team scores twice against us they'll probably win".  And it's not an entirely fair parsing of Kane's intentions as, while he does condemn their effort, Kane is at least consistent in referring to "us" and "The Sabres" and never "those guys" or anything at all like that.  He's owning this funk, as well.  I'm no fan of Evander Kane - I think he's a bit of a goof - but I really don't believe he was separating himself whatsoever from his team's struggles.  I guess it's fashionable for the hockey media to jump on Kane at the slightest provocation based on the host of meatheaded things he's done and said in the past, but this time they got it wrong.

Leo Komorov...what have you done?
Gotta grow that moustache back, fella.

                                                                      NO!

                                                                Oh my, yes!

Mad About the Boy: Hawks 3, Sabrays 1 and Friday's Big Boy

Back in October I made a wager with my friend Winslow, still the only Sabres fan I've ever met, that Buffalo would fail to make the playoffs.  I know, right?  Robin Lehner was injured about 10 seconds after we made the wager and I may have made some remarks about Chad Johnson, pretty much guaranteeing the lad would stand on his head tonight.  
- 45 shots is always a fine thing.  Shooting at 4.5%, not so much.  A blip, most likely, with The Sabres being staffed with perhaps two just-okay five-man units and, as mentioned, Chad Johnson having a fine game.
- Speaking of shots, the Anisimov - Kane - Panarin trio combined for over a third of the total shots for tonight, with Kane notching a whopping nine tries.  Even though these three failed to dent twine it wasn't for lack of trying.
- Was that not a sublime touch pass by Gustafsson to Hjalmarsson?  Wasn't it?  Was that also way too many esses in only two names?  Also, when was he last time Hjalmarsson scored on a wrister?  Ever?
- Anybody notice that Evander Kane played over 23 minutes, more than any other Sabre save Bogosian.  That's a lot of trust being placed in a fella with just 13 points.
- I'm far too lazy and clueless to look this up, but how many of Toews' goals this season have been empty-netters?

The more I see, the more I like.  Phillip Danault looks poised to surpass his directive to "be like Marcus Kruger" which could lead to some hard choices having to be made next summer.  Danualt is actually reminding me a bit of Dave Bolland back when he gave a shit.  Danault is the better skater and never stops moving, but Bolland had better positioning, although I expect Danault will figure that out before long.  With his first NHL goal and fifth point in ten games, here's ya Big Boy.

                                                   Can Marcus Kruger do that? 

Just Good Enough: Hawks 3, Sabres 2 and Saturday's Big Boy

Or was it that The Sabres were just bad enough?  Taking two penalties in the dying moments of a tight game...not usually a hallmark of a successful endeavor but, then again, it was The Hawks' speed and skill that forced those misdeeds...it's a push.
- Unfortunately, this was one of those games in which The Hawks had a decent first period and then decided to mail in the last two periods.  I can't say I noticed Teravainen after the first period and that simply won't do.  Was it the early start, or a lack of urgency due to being up against a feckless opponent that found themselves unexpectedly in this game?  Hard to say, but Teuvo wasn't the only Hawk who disappeared for 30+ minutes and, while they'll sometimes get away with this vs. non-playoff teams, they'll be buried by Dallas, St. Lewis etc.
- One question: what was the idea with keeping Danault's line out for a faceoff in the offensive zone after a TV time out?  
- Not a bad effort from Phillip Danault.  He ended up -1 but did some good backchecking, kept his feet moving and did well at the dot.  No PK duty, but I expect that will come, soon enough.
- Quick - tell me which Hawk is most likely to take a penalty in overtime.  Yep.
- I'm rather liking this Rasmussen guy but I have to say that his impressive goal was tempered somewhat by his apparent belief, later in the game, that he was in a rugby game.  I don't know when I've seen so many superfluous back-passes.
- That O'Reilly guy is pretty good when he's not drunk and plowing a pickup through a Tim Horton's.  Why isn't he in jail, BTW?  Every time I do that I end up in jail.
Speaking of not being jail.

Kane was among the many Hawks who took a powder for more than half the match but managed to rematerialize when it mattered.  It took a deliciously shady pass from Panarin to set up the tying goal but, once that was done, I felt this vibe that Kane would finish the thing, as well.

                                            Hey Chad, what's feckless mean?