Aw, man, that was awful to watch. The Hawks just looked tired and going through the motions most of the time. Couldn't win a draw, vainly chasing The Isles and out of sync with each other all night long. So this is gonna be quick.
Only The Toews Line looked kinda half decent throughout the match and, even then, those three had a lot of pucks behind them, were arriving where the puck was rather than where it was going. As for the other, Kampf's line had one, maybe two good spins. Kruger's group had a pair of fine shifts including an utterly dominant one in which they somehow managed to not record a shot on goal. Apart from that one in which Kane clanked one off the post in the second Strome's trio was invisible until the third period, during which they had a few good looks, and this line was -2 on the night. Not even remotely enough.
Despite Combining For Six Giveaways I thought Murphy and Dahlstrom had a very good game, playing almost exclusively against The Islanders' lethal Bailey - Beauvillier - Barzal line. Even against these Killer Bees they notched the highest Corsi-for ratings among Hawks d-men, and by a large margin, too.
Forsling Was The Worst Hawk, by far, bobbling the puck, losing practically every battle and sending panicky "passes" to empty space. His lazy penalty late in the second set the stage for Barzal's second tally of the night. Hurry back, Hank Jokiharju....
Collin Delia, however, single-handedly stole a point for The Hawks tonight, making a whopping 48 saves, directing his rebounds somewhat better than he has been able up 'til now and done in on a couple of oddball goals - one that was bunted in out of the air and another after he'd had his stick knocked out of his grasp. My only nit-pick where Delia is concerned is that he was not handling the puck well behind the net with several iffy and/or unpredictable passes.
So, really, to leave Long Island with a consolation point is a fortunate result.
Next: Sunday vs. the Penguins who are riding a seven-game win streak. What a perfect opportunity to be the assholes who mess that up.
Robbie Dupree - Steal Away
I hoped it wouldn't happen but I kinda thought it would - The Hawks lost the focus they'd had the last few games. While they were okay in fits & starts The Panthers were sharper, more alert and better able to pounce on the opportunities that arose. The Hawks seemed tired....not physically, really, but it often looked as if they were acting on the first impulse that occurred to them and not bothering to take a second look to see if a better avenue was available.
Cam Ward didn't have his best tonight, not especially mindful of his positioning and he made a mess of things on Hawryluk's first goal, letting himself get caught in-between.
Carl Dahlstrom wasn't super sharp either, blowing a tire (maybe with some help, hard to tell for sure) on that first FLA goal and apparently unaware that McCann was heading to the net to score the decisive, momentum-killing goal.
Toews' Line Was Out Of Sorts, skating hard enough, trying stuff, but their timing was all messed up, gacking passes, whiffing on shots...
The Only Plus Players For The Hawks were Murphy and Strome which is exactly how it looked to me in real time. Granted, Strome's first assist was a right-place-right-time deal but he was there, right, and his pass to Murph was tremendous. As for Murph, a couple of points and four hits makes for a good day at the office.
Is John Hayden Hurt or did he commit some terrible mischief to be scratched in favour of used-up Chris Kunitz and shoot-first-from-anywhere Brendan Perlini? I've been generally in agreement with Coach Colliton's deployment but these two, buddied up with Nilsson making his NHL debut tonight, made for a rather weak fourth line, even by fourth line standards.
Oh well, we weren't going to win the next 40 games but it is disappointing to see The Hawks backslide so soon, and against some low-hanging fruit like FLA. I guess they just started their holiday-days-off a day early.
Next: At home vs. Minnesota on Thursday, in an attempt to reclaim their recent mastery over Central Division foes. Can't wait to see Seabrook sweating gravy.
The Cruel Sea - The Honeymoon Is Over
Wow, three in a row, and all against Central Division teams, which is mighty handy. What's more, the special teams have actually been kinda special, the PP going 2/7 and the PK a perfect 8/8 over these three wins. We're approaching uncharted territory now, folks.
I'm just catching up after watching each of these games a day late so enjoy this two-fer at no extra cost.
Thursday - Hawks 5, Stars 2
There were a few wee issues, nothing that they didn't get right eventually, and The Hawks benefitted from DAL fighting the puck a lot of the time but, ultimately, they were good enough and I'll take that gladly.
Cam Ward Was Excellent. Evidently, Wardo called the team out after the blowout loss to SJS and all respeck to the guy for walking the walk after talking the talk. He was maybe a little soft on the second Stars goal but hey, if he's the one kicking these guys into action he can have that one.
Breakouts were not as tight as against NSH but the failed attempts did not, at least, result in goals against. Keith again struggled to clear the zone efficiently, notably on the first PK when he gacked two pretty standard clears, making me wonder if he's losing his mind or if he needs glasses. It's a fair and serious query.
Some Soft Play preceded both DAL goals. I was gonna call out Dahlstrom, who I think has been a great add BTW, as he was on the ice for both goals against. On both goals Big Carl failed to contain Radulov but, hey, hardly anyone ever contains that guy. The greater sins, as it turns out, were Kane failing to cover Seguin on the first and the second goal was a weird one off a squirted-out puck. Maybe Saad had a chance to check Fedun, maybe not. Let's just say The Hawks could have been tighter in the net front.
Dylan Strome Wasn't Great, either, due more to poor decision making than lack of trying. He can and will be better, I think, and I'm sure he's gonna take the shot the next time he's on a two-on-one like the one he squandered in Dallas.
Standouts In This Match: Anisimov was making things happen all night, getting and creating chances. Sikura played his best game this season, earning an assist on a subtle little play, and I was impressed with his puck patience, never rushing and never giving the puck away. Finally, I thought Forsling bounced back well after a bit of a wobbler vs. NSH, moving his feet and playing with more determination than usual.
The Power Play is possibly stirring from its long nap. They haven't all been gems but, in recent games, we've seen more movement, faster, than we've been getting for, oh...three or four years? Gustafsson, who also played a solid game, on the first unit is going well and the umbrella scheme he, Kane and DeBrincat have been employing has been working. Sure, they got a PPG on what was essentially a gift five-on-three when a Stars guy broke his stick but they actually managed to exploit that opportunity, a minor victory unto itself.
Friday - Hawks 2, Avalanche 1
Not as close as it looks at a glance, The Hawks had the stars align for them somewhat to pull this one off. Outshot by eight but, what's this, The Hawks blocked a mammoth twenty two COL tries. Two goals that each had a whiff of opportunism, Collin Delia playing out of his head in his season debut, on the second night of a back-to-back, and against the high scoring Avalanche... I'll take a road win in those circumstances anytime.
Collin Delia doesn't always make it look easy but the kid appears to know what he's doing. Too soon to tell if he's the saviour Hawks fans need right now but I like what I've seen.
Murphy and Dahlstrom played a lot of hard minutes against The Avs ridiculously good top line and did a fine job. Their Corsi stats in this one are not pretty but they mostly kept COL shooters on the margins and gobbled up what few rebounds Delia allowed. These two are the pure-defense pairing we've needed for ages and, under the new regime, are actually getting a chance to take on some high-responsibility tasks.
Dominik Kahun is just a stupidly good passer.
Only Two Minor Beefs in this game which, as I suggested, was a great team result. First, if Brendan Perlini cannot be arsed to pick up a man, any man, fucking ever....he needs to go. I'm also growing weary of his chucking. Has he made a pass on a rush since arriving in CHI?
Second, and this is nothing new, Seabrook took all the momentum out of the Power Play after the first unit did a great job keeping the puck and their bodies in constant motion. Once ol' Seabs arrives, though, it's like watching Pong™ as he plays slow catch with the right wing and other d-man. Zzzzz.
Next: Back home on Sunday for FLA. Luke Johnson is back in Rockford in exchange for Jacob Nilsson, a guy who played for Coach Colliton in Sweden so I expect we'll see him at 4C. Whatever and whoever, The Hawks just need to keep on doing what they've been doing, keep that pedal down....
A Double Pleasure is Waiting For You....
Not perfect but good enough.
More than anything, after the news that Corey Crawford has suffered another concussion and will be out indefinitely The Hawks turned in a gritty performance, front to back, signalling that they're not prepared to just pack it in and mail in a repeat of last season.
Cam Ward was faultless. Only divine intervention would have prevented Fiala's shot from going in, so I'm very impressed with Wardo bearing down and taking control tonight. I don't believe Ward has it in him to carry The Hawks too far but if the old warhorse was going to toss in a blinder of a game he could not have timed it more perfectly.
The Hawks' D was better than usual. Not perfect, as Keith was again defaulting to just flinging the puck up the boards to no one or, worse, to a Predator and Forsling had a particularly nerve wracking shift in the third in which he gave the puck away twice. Generally, though, the D were pretty good with Murphy and Dahlstrom being especially mindful of net front activity and clearing rebounds aside. Dahlstrom logged a team high 22 minutes and it was he and Murph that got the call for that last frantic shift, so all respeck to Coach Colliton for going with the horses that got you there tonight rather than the ones that have great resumés but haven't done much lately.
Lack Of Finish Was a Little Frustrating as Kahun, who skated and battled well all night, somehow biffed all of his scoring chances, as well as Hayden and Ansimov not getting good wood (or whatever) on the puck when they most needed to.
In The End we get two points, a shot of confidence and some satisfaction from having defeated one of the top teams in The West, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Next: Thursday in Dallas, likely with Collin Delia making his season debut so as to save Ward for Friday in Denver. Colliton says Kruger has a concussion after his unfortunate collision with our old pal Ryan Hartman, so we can expect Strome to move back to center and Anisimov to draw in at 3C against The Stars.
The Supremes - You Keep Me Hanging On
Straight to it, then.
The Good
Patrick Kane scored twice, his first goals since Nov. 24th and just his second and third in the last month. I don't think it's hyperbolic to suggest that as Kane goes so go the Hawks, so this is kind of a big deal. Kaner also cracked a smile for the first time in ten days.
Connor Murphy played his first game this season after back surgery in September and was arguably The Hawks' best D-man tonight.
The Hawks outshot MTL handily and the shot attempts were even more lopsided. HOWEVER....
The Bad
...The Hawks "enjoyed" a whopping 15 minutes of Power Play time which is when they managed to run up the shot clock. At evens The Habs were outshot by a mere 23-21 and Corsi was dead even. This signals two issues: first, when your opponent plays shorthanded for almost an entire period and that massive advantage nets you only one goal something is terribly, terribly wrong. By the time MTL took their 5th or 6th penalty The Hawks, one would think, should have had those guys on the ropes, exhausted and easy to exploit. Nope, didn't happen.
Second, had Les Canadiens not been short for so long one can only imagine what would have occurred.
Anisimov left the game after being given a rough ride by Habs captain Shea Weber early in the third period. I expect we'll have to wait until at least tomorrow to learn the extent of his aches & pains. His early exit coincided unfortunately with Strome's trip to The Room to be stitched up after being sliced open by Jordie Benn, leaving Toews and Kampf as the only available centers for the ensuing four minute PP.
The Ugly
Well, The Hawks lost. In a game that, at a glance, looks like they dominated but, in reality, was practically handed to them they managed to find a way to lose anyway. One could argue they were goalie'd by Carey Price but, with the opportunities given to them, The Hawks should have closed the deal. Weber's goal was legit but Domi's and Tatar's were made possible by GUESS WHAT - shite defensive coverage, Kruger giving up on Domi for the first goal against and Keith failing to bother Tatar on the third GA. He was right there, too, but was content to just kinda hang out behind Tatar. Maybe Tatar tips that one in regardless of any pressure Keith applies but ol' Duncs didn't make life hard for the guy whatsoever.
The Power Play Failed Again. One PPG out of eight tries, while actually an improvement, is still rubbish. The main problem tonight, in my view, was that Seabrook was absolute garbage, generating little, letting pucks slip by him at the point and taking too long to tee up shots that either sailed wide or were easily blocked. With Seabs at the point there's no movement, the entire effort is entirely predictable and any goals The Hawks glean with that unit are going to be despite him rather than because of him. Seabrook soaked up 10 minutes of power play ice time too and, even with that massive advantage, still rocked 26% Corsi! Could someone please point out to Coach Colliton that Henri Jokiharju was not only available for this detail but that he gets his shot away far quicker than Seabrook, hits the net more frequently and has excellent mobility, as opposed to Seabs' two settings, "Dead Slow" and "Stopped". It pisses me off that a better option is right there, sitting on the bench, but Colliton doesn't seem convinced that Jokiharju is up to the task.
Next: Another well-deserved beat-down by Winnipeg, Tuesday night. Count on it.
The Danish Symphony Orchestra - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
At this point I have no real idea of what's going on or what to say about it all.
In three of these six abject failures The Hawks were in the thing, had a chance to win or at least get to the coin-toss round, but managed to find a way to screw it all up.
And after each loss we see this:
Lookit that face, that defeated, bewildered expression. He has no more idea why The Hawks are failing so hard than I do. There's not a lot of pride or will left in this group. They only show urgency in brief spasms of realization that they can and should be winning some hockey games. Then one of them makes an ungodly, unforced error, promptly ending any thoughts that can actually compete.
Sick of seeing & hearing this guy, too.
Keith's assessments of goings-on are even worse, maybe because it's more frequently him making the back-breaking gaffe. Who does he think he's kidding, jawing about "a full 60-minute effort"? Any team is allowed to have lulls and it's only sometimes been these lulls that have done them in. The greater sin has been crap like Seabrook sending a pass straight onto an opposing player's stick right in the goddamn Danger Zone™, or Rutta not putting any snot on his outlet passes. Or forwards drifting lazily into The Hawks' zone, oblivious to opposing players sneaking in behind them. Or Gus, or Manning or Forsling, standing idly around The Hawks' net, often with their back to the guy who's about to score.
And with every mistake that results in a goal against you can sense the energy leaving these guys, any momentum gained just cast aside.
Kane is losing his desire. Despite playing almost 28 minutes in Vegas he was only occasionally a factor, just kind of going through the motions a lot of the time. Even with his soul half-sucked out of him he's been good enough to notch some helpies but has netted only one goal in the last month. Yeah, he's not "feeling it" as the kids say these days.
Crawford has been so-so. He's made some incredible saves in recent games but he's also allowed one or more goals in each of those games that he simply whiffed on. His reaction to the Engelland goal on Thursday was encouraging, at least. He hasn't given up, yet.
And even leaving out his spectacular giveaway vs. VGK, Seabrook has been garbage in his own end, struggling to even get the puck up the boards reliably. Yeah, five more years of this horror show.
What else?
Connor Murphy is poised to return which will require another D-man make way. It's a three-way tie for last, there, as Forsling, Rutta and Manning should all be in the conversation regarding who is demoted, waived, traded or placed on an ice floe. I like Forsling's offensive side but, going back to a preseason post in which I asserted that there isn't room for Goose AND Gustafsson on the roster, Gus is clearly the one to keep of these two. The decision makers seem to like Manning despite his general lack of any ability, so his long con will likely continue. Henri Jokiharju has not, it seems, endeared himself to coach Colliton, so maybe HE ends up in Rockford, fer gawd's sake.....
Dylan Strome might be a real thing but Brendan Perlini definitely is not.
NEXT: Back to The UC on Sunday against not-terrible Montréal. Someday I hope to refer to The Hawks as "not terrible" but today is not that day.
Nine Inch Nails - The Big Come Down
For much of this game The Hawks managed to stay with The Bruins, a vastly superior team by most measure, but could not muster up a full 60-minute effort. Again.
Yet they hung in there, leading until early in the third period, when an untimely double-minor to Kane helped to open the floodgates.
To be honest, The Hawks defense struggled throughout the game; apart from Gustafsson's offensive contribution we got next-to-nothing from that bunch. Keith has oscillated from mediocre to outright awful the past week, today being closer to awful than average, while Seabrook and Murphy simply flailed today. Five of The Bruins' goals were scored in-close with one or more Hawks defenders looking on helplessly.
That the two best Hawks today were guys that a) returned from the minors today and b) was recalled only weeks ago might shine a light on who's motivated and who's not. John Hayden said the correct, nice things about the team's compete level, but he's not kidding anyone.
There's not a lot more to say about this one; The Hawks got schooled, eventually, by the better team.
We'll try again tomorrow.
Yeah, big trouble. Never mind losing the game because, really, does that even matter now? Even worse is that too many Hawks players are simply no longer invested in the season, the team or each other.
Dumb, dumb plays abounded.
The so-called first line failed to hit a pass longer than 10ft until late the second period. The worst of the three was Kane, floating passes not feet but yards off their mark.
Seabrook was absolutely awful, his lowlight being that old chestnut, the drop pass to no one, this time completely defusing a power play.
Keith had more poor shifts than good shifts and Oesterle was flat out brutal, with a shiny -4 next to his name to show for it.
You know things are grim when Connor Murphy was the best Hawks d-man, hands down.
And Anthony Duclair - does anyone know what the hell he's trying to accomplish, ever? The decisions he makes are just baffling. Please, Stan, don't even think about re-signing the lad.
The goalies gave it a good shot. Forsberg, naturally, allowed his customary unforgivable soft goal and he really should take more care to keep his stick on the ice, but even with the clutch of good saves they made, neither he nor JF Berube belong in The NHL. But, that's who we have, right?
Not All Bad?
Of course not. The Schmaltz line had a pretty good second half of the game, although I have to say that Schmaltz was invisible to me until he scored. If this season doesn't utterly crush the spirits of Schmaltz, DeBrincat and Hinostroza there's a slim ray of light on the horizon.
And Kampf's trio did well, with the caveat that they have so little ability to score that the effort hardly seems worthwhile, but they sure tried. Not sure what to say about Matthew "Charlie Bucket" Highmore as he's not done anything dazzling, yet, but he's not giving the puck away, at least. Until he shows some offensive acumen, though, he may as well be Tanner Kero.
The neanderthals in the post-game show had a lot to say about The Hawks' non-reaction to Toews' dust up with arch-nemesis Ryan Kesler. The notion that Toews needed to respond to Kesler's invitation to drop the gloves is incredibly stupid, but I get it, and maybe it served as a release of sorts for Toews. The studio goons harped about Toews' teammates' lack of acknowledgement when the captain emerged from the penalty box and Jamal Mayers asserted many times that The Hawks "should be embarrassed". I think they were embarrassed to have let in two more goals while Toews was indisposed, and I imagine their enthusiasm for the game in general had just about bottomed out. Sure, a few stick taps would have been appropriate, for whatever little that is actually worth, but I'm also guessing that this team is simply emotionally drained and they cannot wait for the season to end. The hands and feet go through the motions but the head & hearts aren't there, really.
I offer this assessment of The Vegas Golden Knights: they have two very good forwards, three more pretty good forwards and one more young winger with the potential to be great. Their defense is nothing special.
Upon reflection, that still leaves them better than The Blackhawks.
While I believe that The Hawks have the better lineup they are, somehow, constantly far less than the sum of their parts.
Or, looking at The Hawks' failings from a different angle, they fail to apply themselves consistently, when they even bother at all. How many games in recent weeks have The Hawks played out of their heads for 25-35 minutes and been utter dogshit for the rest of the game? Almost all of 'em.
Anything else?
* Hinostroza's three-point night was spoiled a bit, wasn't it? Sure, the goal caromed in off his pants but his two assists were marvelous. On the flip, however, nobody forced him to kick off the seemingly endless chain of icing calls that resulted in Keith being stuck on the ice for almost three minutes, followed by a VGK goal.
* The Icing Fest: all unnecessary and borne out of thoughtlessness and/or panic. There was no particular pressure on any of the guys who iced the puck early in the third period, there.
* Murphy and Seabrook were eaten alive. Am I wrong or did one of them always seem to be trying to catch a VGK player who had blown past him?
* The House of Glass is a fragile one, indeed. That said, 2 GA were deflections, one was a breakaway (watch the replay to see Murph try to catch Reilly Smith) and one was mostly down to Toews and Seabrook just standing around instead of doing their friggin' jobs. That leaves only Eakin's goal that I thought Glass shoulda coulda stopped,but even that GA was after all those icing calls and we had a dead-tired Keith out there with parts of a couple different lines. Well, Glass outplayed Subban, at least.
Tick tock, boys. We're approaching that time of the year in which The Hawks typically stop giving a shit for about four weeks. Good god, though, is it possible they could care any less than they appear to, now?
Aaaand The Hawks were less than super, anyway. What do they have to do to beat these Green Bastards? Crawford has allowed 4+ goals on only three occasions this season and twice it's been to Dallas. How is that they have The Hawks' number? Let's see....
* Three Days Off, for whatever reason, has not done The Hawks any favours this season. It's as if they need to lose one (or more) after a bit of a layoff just to get their sea legs back. Of course this is ridiculous and should never be the case, but do check it out - their record after 3+ days off is 1-4, and they were not IN any of those losses.
* Little Urgency: puck movement was okay, the shots and shot attempts were there, but positioning was off, there was zero effort to create traffic in front of Ben Bishop and, paradoxically, they allowed The Stars to move through the neutral zone unopposed far too often. The Hawks just seemed unengaged mentally too much of the time.
* The Goal Against late in the first really seemed to swing the momentum. After a pretty decent first period, really, that unfortunately concluded with The Stars scoring just as a Hawks penalty expired, The Hawks were done, son. They didn't even do anything particularly wrong there, either, as Murphy did what he should have done in blocking the cross-slot pass, only to have the puck bounce right back onto Elie's stick, giving him a second chance at getting that pass right. Just some poor puck luck that emboldened The Stars. Once that kicked in The Hawks didn't really respond appropriately.
* Small Mistakes Cost Big: Seabrook found himself on the wrong side of Seguin twice and the previously-in-a-goal-drought Dallas sniper made him pay each time. Take those instances away and Seabs actually had a pretty good game. However....
* Outworked In Their Own End: Dallas actually spent precious little time in the CHI zone yet, when they did, they had their way with The Hawks. Meanwhile, at the other end, The Hawks had loads of zone time but thanks to the aforementioned failure to obstruct Ben Bishop and an awful lot of indiscriminate, ineffective shooting had literally nothing to show for it.
That's it, that's all. I'll catch y'all on Saturday for the NJ game in which Sharp, Franson & Rutta will all return to the lineup, the latter two displacing a couple of guys who were not the worst Hawks d-men tonight. But that's the way she goes, right?
Here's the thing: if Crawford and Kane are playing like they can and should they can obscure a lot of sins committed by their teammates.
Not that the others were bad, 'cos they weren't, it's just that Kane and Crow can practically win games on their own.
The Blackhawks' cause was assisted by a tired-looking Wild team, a group that has scored more than two goals in a game only twice this month, something Hawks fans are all too familiar with, amirite? The Wild's last three GF were all scored by Matt Dumba, and when that's the current state of affairs any opponent that can scratch together three or four goals is gonna get a W against this Wild team.
* The Hawks don't look that different to me this last 7-10 days vs. the two weeks previous to that, yet they're getting the job done. Kane is finding the net, finally which, as mentioned above, is critical. Crawford is back from his injury and playing superbly but, on the flip, the power play is still rubbish. Puck luck? A better forecheck? I'm not sure...it's perhaps too subtle for me to detect.
* Hartman has looked rejuvenated the last few games and maybe that beauty goal he manufactured from nothing will kickstart his offence.
* Kane had two nice goals, both made possible by incredible passes from Schmaltz and Oesterle. There were a few not-so-great moments for 88, especially early in the game, and he persists in shooting from bad angles, but he did plenty of good stuff, as well, and the puck has been going in so I'll shut up now.
* An OK effort from Oesterle. With a few games under his belt he's making better passes and is moving the puck forward confidently. His defensive positioning is brutal and he's muscled off the puck awfully easily but, alongside Keith, he'll get away with a bit of that.
* Forsling & Murphy were quietly effective tonight, tops in Corsi for The Hawks all while starting most of their shifts in their own end. I was gazing over the Shift Chart to see what kind of competition they were up against and quickly determined it didn't matter - none of The Wild forwards are scoring so one line is just as good/bad as another.
* Tommy Wingels scores again and, while it was an empty-netter, it was a good empty-netter, batting it backhanded 3/4 the length of the ice after intercepting Suter's whiffed pass.
Three days off, now, and then The Hawks begin a run of six road games in a row that includes the Western Canada slog. Next is Dallas for yet another four-point game. Rest up boys and don't change a thing.
Anything less would have been unacceptable, as The Anaheim Ducks are not-so-mighty these days with 5½ forwards injured, having to elevate several Guys into their top six. To put anything over on The Hawks they would have had to lock down the middle of the ice, look for opportunistic goals and lean on their defense. Well, The Hawks owned the puck tonight, rarely letting The Ducks touch the thing until the game was out of reach, and the Anaheim defense was pretty awful. Let's get some Bits.
* The big story, offensively, was the third line finally breaking out, with Sharp and Hartman each notching their first points in November and Alex DeBrincat cashing in three times. For Harts and Sharpie it was speed and determination with a side of feckless D on the part of The Ducks (how many times did Fowler gack a simple pass tonight?). As for DBC, he had superb positioning and anticipation all night as he notched the hat trick. Two of his three goals were in the midst of line changes, with Schmaltz and Kane getting primary assists on two of those goals, but he had several good looks along with a goal while skating with Hartman and Sharp. DeBrincat is now third in Rookie Scoring, all while playing most of his minutes on the third and fourth lines. And speaking of minutes, he's averaged three-to-five fewer minutes per game than the other rookies atop the scoring leaderboard. Now imagine DBC in The Hawks' top six.
* Patrick Kane's passing mojo appears to be back with two of his three helpies being off laser-guided tape-to-tape passes through Ducks defensemen. On his opposite wing, Nick Schmaltz had another wonderful game, racking up three points and using his speed and superior puck control to create chances. Who would have thought that this kid would be routinely succeeding with simple dump-and-chase gambits?
* John Hayden had another strong game. One shift in the first period was particularly amusing, as he must have circled The Ducks' zone three times before being relieved of the puck.
* The Hawks' defense had an okay game. Connor Murphy caused a turnover that soon resulted in a Ducks goal, although the goal itself was more the product of Seabrook choosing to tip the puck into his own net rather than cover either of the Anaheim forwards within his reach, but Murph was otherwise excellent. Rutta and Forsling played two very good periods before coming a bit unraveled in the third period, while Keith and Franson were as advertised, Keith being solid but unspectacular and Franson having his usual good/bad moments.
* Not the best outing that Corey Crawford has had, lately, but one could forgive him for not being fully engaged in the game as he was only tested occasionally until the third period.
The Hawks will be halfway to Nashville by now with the third back-to-back of their season coming tomorrow. One expects that Anton Forsberg will get the start and that, after taking much of the third period off tonight, The Hawks will still have the legs to keep up with the second-place Predators.
Could have had this one. Did The Hawks deserve a win? Maybe not entirely, but to lose the way they did leaves a bit of a sour taste. Let's go:
* The Hawks played a near-perfect first period, going up 2-0 courtesy of P. Kane and killing off a raft of penalties, including a big 5½ minutes, a chunk of which was 5-on-3. Perhaps The Lightning were a little flat in the first but, whatever the case, The Hawks lacked that same jump, particularly on the forecheck and when breaking out, the rest of the way.
* Patrick Kane potted a pair, both nice goals, but he was also guilty of some exceptionally lazy, impatient decisions. A careless turnover set up The Lightning's first goal and, here and there throughout the match, he just lacked polish.
* Cody Franson's game was even more a case of extremes, as he had a masterful first period highlighted by his confident, accurate quarterbacking on the power play but, like Kane, had his struggles in the second and third. Franson was at the crime scene for the first Lightning goal, as well, having "raced" back after Kane's giveaway, only to stand in front of Crawford, accomplishing nothing. Several times in the last half of the game The Lightning exploited Franson's lack of foot speed, sometimes just letting him spin himself in place.
* The Hawks' breakouts early in the game were terrific, as the D always seemed to catch a forward moving past them with some speed, hitting them with a short, safe pass. Not so much in the late going though, as Tampa's speedier forwards harried The Hawks' D much of the time, frequently pinching off those head-man passes.
* Corey Crawford was fine given what was going on from time to time in front of him. He looked a bit disordered at times, but his quickness and athleticism bailed him out. The Kunitz goal looked pretty soft but, to be fair, Crow likely only saw that one at the last moment, what with the wall of blue sweater in front him and Keith outmanned in front of the net.
* Andrei Vasilevskiy, down in the Tampa nets, was ridiculously good, stoning Saad, Panik as well as Kane on a breakaway. I'm afraid there's no real remedy for that.
* Jan Rutta made a few nice passes but was otherwise pretty poor. His lazydogging back to the defensive zone and subsequent failure to cover anyone helped make possible the aforementioned Kunitz goal.
* Forsling had some moments both good and bad, but I still liked seeing him play with more urgency and lot less hesitancy than he had been.
* Connor Murphy, however, played as good a game as he's had all season, with good positioning and a great stick, all while playing a team-low (for d-men) 14 minutes. I thought Anisimov was pretty good, too, this being the best game he's played in which he failed to score.
* Saad and Panik, once again, each had multiple looks but failed to capitalize. The explosion is coming, and it cannot come soon enough.
* Sticking with Panik, I wonder if he's camping out too far to the side of the net, hoping for some cross-ice stuff and an easy tap-in, because he's rarely close enough to get after a rebound and often finds himself shooting at a poor angle.
* Finally....the penalty in OT. It was a weak call, with Schmaltz doing little more than waving his stick in front of the Tampa player, the latter's follow through actually being what initiated contact. There was no chopping motion. One likes to think that these things even out over the course of a game and throughout a season, but that was a lousy time for the official to make such a crap call.
In some ways The Hawks actually acquitted themselves well tonight, taking the league's best team to OT and at least earning the consolation point. If they had managed to maintain the intensity and the control that they exhibited in the first period, though, things could have been different. Sure, Tampa upped their effort, but that's when The Hawks needed to see them and raise them....but they didn't. Or couldn't.
Despite being almost a full day removed from the end of this game I am nevertheless compelled to sound off. Just a little bit.
Only a few things went wrong:
* The Hawks Cannot Score. They shoot a lot and, in this game, had a lot of A+ chances, but no joy? I have no idea what's going on with that. Bad luck? Chucking at the goalie? Saad, Toews and Panik all failed on point-blank attempts. I don't know but, until some shots start going in, The Hawks are gonna be looking at lot of nights like this one.
Saad has one assist in his last six games, and has not scored in over three weeks.
Panik has one goal and one assist in that same timespan.
* They Did Kinda Get Goalied. Charlie Lindgren came outta nowhere and threw a perfect game, so there's that.
* Another Brief Let Up let them down. The Hawks were the better team by some margin...except for a seven-or-eight minute spell in the third period in which everything they touched turned to crap. Keep it somewhat together for the full 60 and it's a different story. Probably.
* Connor Murphy played a pretty good game...except for two plays. He rocked a gaudy 76% Corsi at even strength, had good gaps and made safe, careful plays out of his own zone, but he was on the ice for both goals against. On the first GA, things started going wrong when Kempny failed to keep the puck in the MTL zone, although that was complicated by an official in the way. Murphy then tripped all over himself trying to change direction and chase down Drouin, who he was never going to catch, and managed to get in the way of Sharp who *might* have something for the speedy Habs forward.
Sometimes it just goes like that.
On the second GA Murph took way too much time tracking the puck down in the corner, gave it up to Pacioretty and - boom - 2-nothing. And that's why he'll sit on Thursday in favour of (ulp!) Forsling.
At least Corey Crawford was named the NHL First Star of The Week, for what that's worth...
Large Arthur can erase many sins if he continues to score de goals.
Front
All four lines were effective tonight. Not all the time, but more often than not. On the first line DeBrincat had one rotten pass but was otherwise tip-top with sound passing and a solid effort on the forecheck, which doesn't always pan out cos he gives up a lot in size & strength, but his stick and timing are excellent. The third line had moments good & bad and Sharp had a far better effort than in recent games. The fourth line was surprisingly aggressive and occasionally dangerous although Bouma, fine in the 1st, was inattentive & yippy the rest of the way. Wingels had the best scoring chance for The Hawks in the first period.
Middle
Probably the best all-round effort from the D this year. Franson repeated his Wednesday performance, still awfully slow but rarely beaten due to realizing that fact & positioning himself accordingly. Loving him on the power play. Kempny and Murphy were solid; not without errors but when Kemps gacked a clear or made an errant pass, Murph had his back and vice-versa. Kemps also hit for 6 shots - where'd that come from?
Back
Corey Crawford continues to be the most reliable Hawk but, for a change, he didn't have to steal this win. His presence of mind on The Wild's best chance, in which he refused to panic and back the puck into his own net, demonstrates just how dialed-in he is right now.
If The Hawks can keep playing like this good things will continue to happen. They'll have to stay in this headspace tomorrow, as Forsberg will almost certainly get the start and, as stupid as it sounds, I fully expect Forsling to draw in at the expense of a guy who's played well in his absence (pick a guy, doesn't matter who). Regardless of that decision, here's hoping that Forsberg can follow his teammates' lead and have a good bounce-back game after his last rotten start.
Well, there went a missed opportunity. There were actually a few notable bright spots in this match but those were unfortunately eclipsed by a combination of circumstance and a few key players coughing up furballs. I'm in no mood to type a whole lot, so let's go.
* Seabrook and Keith were absolute garbage. Those two need to be at least "average", given the amount of responsibility they receive.
* Too much time was wasted messing around with Kero & Wingels centering Kane & Hartman. Go ahead and make a change, but don't spend half of a period figuring it out.
* Panik had exactly one effective shift. This was always going to happen, so I guess tonight was the night.
* Sharp was less bad, but he, too, alternated between okay shifts and stepping on the puck.
* The failed coach's challenge was a big setback; not only did The Wild score on the resulting power play but the whole ordeal seemed to take what little wind remained in The Hawks' sails.
But it wasn't all bad.
* The Hawks were fortunate to escape the first period even-steven and managed to pick up the pace and started winning some puck battles after that. I hesitate to say that they dominated but, despite the score, The Hawks were the better team in the last half of the game.
* Forsling, Kempny and Murphy all had pretty good games.
* Anisimov was rubbish only half the time, which I'll take, for now.
* Hartman had a good bounce-back after being lost at sea for a few games. It wasn't a perfect effort but he was invested in it, at least.
* The Wild got a bit lucky, managing to salt the game away when The Hawks were starting to hit their stride. They managed this with only eight forwards late in the game, too.
Get well, Nick Schmaltz.
Well, Stan promised changes and here we go. Niklas Hjalmarsson is the first of the Old Guard to be sent off in exchange for someone younger and presumably not yet pummeled half-to-death from blocking shots. Hjammer has been the most consistent d-man on The Hawks for years. Perhaps not the best but, with rare exception, you knew what you would get from him. He's always been a favourite of mine and I'm sad to see him go.
GodDAMMIT, Stan....
Coming Chicago's way are Connor Murphy, who is thankfully slightly less weird looking than his dad, Gord, along with AHL/NHL guy Laurent Dauphin. The net salary implications are basically a push, although we get another guy, for whatever that's worth.
Ha haaa....so long, AZ.
I know almost nothing about either player, simply because they're from the largely irrelevant Phoenix system. Murphy, a d-man, sports decent size and pretty average numbers compared to his co-Coyotes, which can mean a lot of things considering The Coyotes are a match away from being an out-of-control skip-fire. I guess what he is, most of all, is a big young guy with NHL experience. In three full seasons in the show he's missed only 18 games, some of which we can presume were healthy scratches, so let's assume he's somewhat durable, as well.
This is a photo of the other guy. Now imagine him in an IceHogs jersey.
I dunno. My first reaction was that The Hawks traded the wrong guy, but we know Keith isn't going anywhere and Seabrook's salary is a big ask. This is probably a good value, even it sucks to see Hjammer leave....
