The Hawks used a whopping six goaltenders this season which offers a clue as to what the hell went on back there. Two of these six guys did practically everything that was asked of them while the others blew warm and cold over the course of the season. Yes, warm....merely warm.
With the caveat that these lads worked behind a ridiculously inconsistent defense group, here we go.
J-F Berubé
Only one of the six men mentioned here today is a bona fide NHL-quality netminder and J-F Berubé is not that guy. He failed to distinguish himself over two seasons in The Islanders' bullpen and, while he played his way into the #1 role in Rockford, he maintained his NHL-level mediocrity over 10 starts in Chicago. J-F would likely have seen more action had he not himself been injured when Corey Crawford went on the Disabled List. Sorry to be harsh but Berubé is a third-stringer, at best, his effort rating a C.
Corey Crawford
In a mere 27 starts Crow managed 16 wins. That in itself is not especially great, but consider that the other Hawks goaltenders combined took only 17 wins in twice as many games and it looks a lot more impressive. Crawford did have a couple of pretty rough outings but, aside from those, did everything we expect from him and stole more than a few wins on his own. At the time of his injury Crow's Save Percentage (SP) and Goals Against Average (GAA) were 0.929 and 2.27, both of which exceeded his career averages. Things could have been different had Crow been around all year. A
Collin Delia
Young Delia had only two NHL starts in this, his first pro season, but showed well enough to suggest that there may be something there for the future, if not the present. Delia was outstanding in his debut vs. WPG despite leaving late in the game due to dehydration/cramping, but much less so in his second start vs. COL. This is a guy, though, who started the year in The ECHL, assumed the starter role in AHL Rockford during the winter and, as mentioned, had a brief look in Chicago, so even though he didn't set the NHL world on fire the progress he'd made is admirable. Delia was on the bench for The IceHogs last several playoff games, however, so we hope that both he and The Hawks organization judge his overall perfomance and not just his last few starts. I wouldn't be shocked to see Delia nab the backup role in Chicago, come September. Incomplete, but promising.
Anton Forsberg
Bergie enjoyed the most starts of all of The Hawks' goalies this season....even if we didn't always find them enjoyable. He may be the most frustrating netminder I've ever witnessed, often making saves he had no business making and ably surviving far-too-long goal mouth scrambles, yet he allowed at least one soft goal in every game he played. Still, he posted the second-best stats after Crawford (0.908 / 2.97) setting career-bests along the way. His inability to put together even one complete game all year is a problem, though. B-
Scott Foster
Talk about exceeding expectations. Foster provided the single-most entertaining fifteen minutes of The Hawks' miserable season. Probably should be Incomplete but fuck it A++
Jeff Glass
Prior to Scott Foster's unlikely three-deep ascension to the NHL spotlight it was Jeff Glass, the 32-year-old rookie who had captured the imagination of the fans and sports media alike. A handful of herioc performances aside, like J-F Berubé, old Glasser had no real business being in The NHL. I'm happy for the guy, enjoyed the story and admire his determination, but there it is. C.
Yes, The Hawks' defense were largely rubbish the the team offense anemic, but this was not a good year on the backline. Maybe if Crow had not been injured we would have had a better result, as not only did The Hawks lose their All-World netminder but I believe they lost a ton of confidence as a group, because once Crawford went on the DL The Hawks' scoring went in the pooper, too. It cannot have been just a coincidence. Maybe if Forsberg stole more than one win, all season, that confidence could have been bolstered, somewhat, but no joy there, I'm afraid.
The complete collapse that occurred when Crawford was hurt is going to affect this team until such time that they have a reliable starter and backup, this group is that fragile. I haven't heard a peep about Crow's health since he did a bit of skating in practice back in March, so we can only assume he'll be back in September and ready to lead from the back, as he's done for so long, but who knows? Forsberg and Delia look to be the realistic backup options, perhaps with Delia beginning the season in Rockford and finishing in Chicago. I wouldn't be alarmed or disappointed if Stan Bowman trades for a backup upgrade, but I expect whether he goes that route depends a lot on Crawford's readiness.
This is undeniable, though: if Crawford is unavailable or is injured during the season we'll be looking at a repeat of this year, barring the unlikely possibility of Forsberg / Delia / whoever stepping forward in a very big way. Not a very cheerful outlook.
Cam Ward
He's new. He's old. He's great when he plays against The Hawks but, so far, not so great when playing for The Hawks. It's early days, Q is obviously handing Ward the keys until such time that Crow is fit to play. That's just the way it is, folks, and we have to hope that if the netminding falters the rest of the team are able to pull some slack, 'cos if The Hawks get themselves in a hole, standings-wise, early on, this thing could be done before it even starts.
Well, after two periods, The Hawks looked as if they might be able to hang onto their slim lead and maybe eke something out.
However...
They stopped doing what was working. Breakouts got sloppy, the D found themselves too far up-ice when they prolly should have more conservative and the forwards lapsed into the frantic "we have no plan apart from flailing at the puck" schtick that's been their M.O. for the last couple of weeks. For Two Periods they kept up with VGK, a team that is by and large quicker than The Hawks, and then the bottom dropped out.
Individual performances were a study in extremes: Kane kept his feet moving on every shift, moreso than he's done in recent games. The whole third line were pretty good, with DeBrincat being thereabouts all evening and Sharp putting in a surprisingly gritty effort. Kempny and Keith had strong games and Gustafsson had a mostly good game, apart from a few pinches gone awry. I'm pleased to say that Saad finally had a game in which he wasn't just going up and down the wing and Tommy Wingels played with previously unforeseen confidence. Tomas Jurco won a board battle! Some good things happened.
Meanwhile...
Dahlstrom and Murphy were making it up as they went, Anisimov was late on every play, Schmaltz's timing was poor the entire game and Glass....oh boy. While the whole 32-year old rookie perseverance story is fun and all that, there's a reason why Jeff Glass took 13 years to get some NHL games in. (Just caught Coach Q's brief post-game chat and it sounds like J.F. Berubé will be along, soon enough.)
With The Hawks' playoff chances all but over with, I suspect we'll see more roster shuffling, with guys who are possible trade bait playing north of their normal station, as well as a steady parade to and from Rockford with even more Guys getting a look. The next six weeks are gonna be strange.
Catching up a bit, here as I managed to miss the Tuesday game entirely due to an unexpected TV blackout. Speaking of blackouts, though, let's talk about The Blackhawks' offense.
There is none, basically.
During this recent funk, The Hawks have routinely outshot their opponents and have, with a couple games' exception, destroyed their foes in Corsi/possession. Yet, since their lopsided win against OTT on Jan 9th we have:
A 3 - 7 - 2 record
24 GF vs. 36 GA
During these 12 games The Hawks scored three or more goals only three times and even managed to lose two of those "high-output games", too.
I hear a ton of chatter about how if Corey Crawford had been around things would be different. Sure, I can point to several games in which, yes, Crow could well have made the difference, maybe even stolen a win here or there.
But they haven't had Crawford to lean on. They've had to make do with Forsberg and Glass, neither of whom has set the world alight, but that's the reality. Knowing that each of these Guys will undoubtedly give up one or more ridiculously soft goals, night-in-night-out, the rest of The Hawks should know that they'll have to come up with an extra goal, or two, to even things out.
Instead, Crow's injury coincided exactly with The Hawks' offense going into the pooper - they somehow got worse precisely when they needed to be better.
Forsberg and Glass, despite some frustrating outings, have met or exceeded expectations. The goal scorers have not.
Last night in the post-game show the talking heads agreed that team defence is the problem. Horseshit. They've made their share of defensive errors but scoring more than two goals per game would go a long way toward evening those out those mistakes.
(And while we're at it, can someone please explain to Pat Foley that when your team has the puck 60% or more of the time they're gonna get "out hit".)
The Hawks offense is utterly impotent. Toews, Anisimov, Hartman and especially Saad have all failed to deliver, and they've received practically no contribution from the back end. Is it all on these players? I cannot imagine that to be true. Toews is getting older and has some hard miles on his clock, but the cases of Saad and Hartman are just baffling. They've been shuffled up and down the lines (fourth line on Tuesday, in fact) and, in Hartman's case, from a healthy scratch to the top unit and primo power play minutes in consecutive games.
The Hawks' coaching staff are clearly out of ideas.
I cannot say if the problems are motivational, instructional, strategic or if the players are just bad, but things cannot continue like this.
Change the players or change the coaches. Something's gotta give.
Bye, bye, playoff chances...
Alright, catching up after a busy couple of days and two more games done & dusted.
It could have been worse, right? Oddly, I feel like The Hawks had the Toronto game slightly more in-hand than the Detroit game even if they did appear to dominate The Red Wings.
Statistically, there was virtually nothing to choose between the teams in both games, with Corsi coming up pretty much dead even for both matches and shot totals almost identical, as well.
On Wednesday The Hawks got a decent game from Jeff Glass, beaten only by a deflection, a PPG on which Keith and Oesterle kinda pooped the bed and a penalty shot, which is basically a coin flip. Downrange, though, The Hawks had lots of trouble mounting any offence to speak of. We hear endless chatter about netfront presence, and that's all fine & good, but does that have to mean all three forwards standing in or around the crease? Can't they be a little bit old fashioned and spread out a little bit? At least the latest New Look Power Play was working, hitting for two out of four chances.
Don't Trust The Stats #71: Officially, Oesterle led all Hawks in Corsi with a 62% share, but he was rubbish in his own end. Keith was slightly better in general but was culpable on two TOR goals. It happens.
With the consolation point salted away it was off to Detroit to meet the usually toothless Red Wings who nevertheless shut out The Hawks a couple of weeks ago. Goaltending was the main difference here, as Jimmy Howard was touched up for three GA in nine minutes of work, while Anton Forsberg had hisself a fine game in The Hawks' nets. It's true, also, that The Hawks eased up after the halfway point of the game, allowing The Wings to get some looks that they really needn't have had.
On the plus, though, we got goals from someone other than Kane. Maybe this was thanks to The Red Wings deploying what passes for a checking line against the Schmaltz - Kane - Saad unit, allowing the Toews - DeBrincat- Duclair mob to basically go nuts.
That opportunity wasn't wasted, with DBC notching his second hat trick of the season and Duc potting his first goal as a Hawk, to go with a pair of helpies.
So, maybe a bit unlucky to get one the single point vs TOR and maybe gifted the win against DET by Jimmy Howard being just bad enough and The Wings not being deep enough to counter if The Hawks could get more than one line clicking (which is never assured). It kind of evens out, I guess.
What else?
Loving Hinostroza, lately. It often seems like he has no plan but the energy and determination he brings gets him by. Eleven points in nineteen games, all while averaging 12:45 per night, is a welcome contribution.
Saad was virtually invisible in both of these games.
Seabrook made an ass of himself bitching about the non-call on the icing play vs TOR. He's got to be less casual than that and had no one to blame but himself.
Glass was a bit lucky that Van Riemsdyk bowled him over and The Leafs' apparent goal called back, 'cos interference or not, he wasn't making that save.
Let's face it, Jordan Oesterle has no business being on the PK unit - he's just not that good defensively and lacks the strength to handle any opposing forward who chooses to camp out in front of The Hawks' net. I like the rest of his game but he's often a mess around his own net.
Similarly, as dramatic as his first game in almost two years was, Erik Gustafsson has otherwise been pretty bad; decent enough offensive instincts but a disaster in The Hawks' zone.
The Hawks are now "only" four points out of a playoff berth but have four teams to catch and pass. Corey Crawford has apparently been sighted around The United Center so maybe, just maybe, The Hawks might have a shot at this thing.
Bad Defensive Coverage. Rutta and Forsling were eaten alive and the rest weren't a lot better. It was nice for Gustafsson to notch a couple of points in his first NHL game in over 20 months but he was garbage in his own end, too. Waaaay too many odd-man rushes, virtually unopposed.
Bad Penalties. Were any of those necessary? Lazy play, using their arms and not their legs to keep up with their opponents, will always end in tears.
Bad Goaltending. This game took the bloody biscuit in this category, underlining the fact that without Crawford The Hawks are sunk. Okay, given the myriad other issues with this squad they might be done-for even with Crow, but it's clear that neither Forsberg nor Glass are legit NHL starters and maybe not even capable backups in the long run. Both of these fellas made some fine saves tonight but they also coughed up three softies. Not good enough.
Bad Transition. Good lord, did The Hawks have any clean breakouts tonight?
Bad Offensive Execution: It's the same old song here - poor positioning and bad timing, as well as being too static when they set up in the offensive zone. There were exceptions, of course, but for the most part The Hawks' offense was unimaginative, predictable and doomed to fail.
Was anything Not Bad?
Kane was terrific. Sadly, Hartman and Schmaltz were rarely willing or able to keep up with him. Things improved with Sharp inserted in Harts' place but even that was too little, too late.
Saad certainly worked hard, but his efforts were largely individual ones. He drove The Isles' net harder than any other Hawk but couldn't make a pass to save his life and rarely got a shot away.
That's about it.
A missed opportunity, for sure, what with The Islanders struggling defensively. Luckily for the Brooklyn Boys they caught a team in even worse nick than themselves.
To make the playoffs The Hawks are going to have to win roughly two of every three games from here on in, and I'm not convinced they've got in them to fundamentally change the way they're playing to get that done. I hear a lot of post-game droning about "getting past this loss and looking to the next game" but that mostly ends up with the same guys doing the same things and achieving the same result. How about focusing on the game that they're currently playing? Start there. Sweet Jesus.
What I really wanted for the headline, here, was a shot of Oesterle somehow falling under Duncan Keith, sending them both sprawling to the ice whilst Hank Zetterberg neatly dished to a streaking Anthony Mantha. Alas, it was not to be, but y'all can see what I'm driving at.
This rubbish effort was against a team that ain't making the playoffs, no way, no how and facing arguably the weakest starting goalie in the league. Yet, The Hawks came away with nothing but embarrassment and a touch of sunburn on Jeff Glass' neck.
They made it easy for Wings starter Petr Mrazek, not forcing to him make any especially tough saves and virtually no second saves. We couldn't even get lucky enough to get a cheapo tip-in goal 'cos there was really only one shift in which The Hawks had traffic in front AND got some shots on or toward the net.
Glass was not great. The odd thing was that he actually made a clutch of saves tougher than anything Mrazek faced, but he also let a few savable shots past him...
The refrain is largely the same: poor shot selection/timing, sloppy positioning and no one getting to the danger zone at the right times. Don't they practice this shit? What's even happening here?
The Hawks are in 10th place right now but, with five days off, they're sure to fall to 12th by the time they reconvene on Saturday. The Wings weren't the only non-playoff team out there today.
For the past two or three years I've slated The Jets organization for doing....nothing. Apart from jettisoning Evander Kane in exchange for what amounted to Guys they chose to stand pat and not tinker with their lineup a whole lot. It seemed like lunacy at the time, sticking with the horses that failed to get you in the race, but here they are, leading The Central Division and flirting with first place in The Western Conference. Blake Wheeler has matured into an all-round leader and must be a massive nuisance to try to defend against. Patrik Laine is no Auston Matthews but remains a thoroughbred (check the shot he zinged past Jeff Glass) and if Mark Scheifele could manage to walk to his car without injuring himself his name would be 'pon the lips of all hockey reporters, all the time. Even their Guys are decent, with Man Bun Perreault, Kyle Connor and Joel Armia putting up good numbers. Add to all this an okay D-corps and Connor Hellebucyk emerging as a bona-fide NHL starter after a bunch of seasons in which The Jets' goaltending was "awful by committee" and you've got a team that improved ridiculously by virtue of simply being patient. And maybe a little bit lucky, but you kinda need a bit of that, dontcha? One could even argue that The Jets improved by subtracting non-helpful elements like the aforementioned E. Kane and Andrew Ladd, which at least created the opportunity for their young fellas to get some minutes in. All respeck to GM Tim Cheveldayoff for not allowing the media and assholes like me to cause him to deviate from his Master Plan. Stick that in yer pipe, Marc Bergevin.
So, since I'm a full day late on this recap and I just spent 15 minutes praising the team that lost the game, lemme get a few things down and you can get back to your families, alcohol, whatever.
* Jeff Glass had his best game so far. None of those "accidental" saves, no moments sliding across the crease & out the other side and beaten only by a perfectly-placed laser beam. Between Glasser and Forsberg we've enjoyed three quality starts in a row from the backup guys. Can't ask for much more than that.
* David Kampf broke through with a two-point night, including his first NHL goal and the Third Star of the game....all on his 23rd birthday.
* Anthony Duclair was alright. Picked up a helpie, had a few looks even if he seemed a bit yippy around The Jet's crease. He may have been responsible for the almost-an-own-goal (although that may well have been Goose missing the attempted pass - could not tell from the replay) but no harm, no foul, and a decent enough debut.
It was a close-run game and one could argue that either team deserved to win, and I'll note that both of The Hawks' goals were a bit fortunate, Baby Huey's being a tip-in and Rutta scoring on an eephus that 99% of NHL goalies save 99.9% of the time. However, they were good enough to be in it to win it and, they way things have been going, I'll take that. I still feel like there are three or four forwards underachieving mightily and, if I happen to be right on that count and they get themselves sorted out, we'll be okay in the end. Until that happens, though, wins like these are precious gifts.
One more game against the inconsequential but still-irritating Red Wings and then it'll be the mandatory five days off for The Hawks, during which time our closest rivals could well leapfrog or gap the idle Hawks. Gotta get the two points tomorrow.
Sorry for all the late posts, lately. Work and "stuff". Gonna be quicker on the draw after the break.
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?
Tonight we were treated to The Hawks putting together a near-complete game, much like the best parts of the EDM and CAL games but sustained for almost the entire game. It wasn't a perfect effort, as The Hawks' D had some moments in which they flailed, but it was quite enough to handle 'dose Ranger bums.
Those Rangers had been mighty at home too, having lost in regulation only once in over a month, but Coach Q and Co. were much quicker on the draw than The Rangers' staff, getting preferred matchups more often than not with The Hawks' top six rarely seeing the NYR shut-down line.
* The Hawks' best trio in the first period was the Toews line, with Hinostroza starting the scoring off a bang-bang set off by a blind back-pass from Toews. Along with Saad they dominated every shift in the early going. Saad's effort flagged a bit later on and Vinnie Hinnie became a bit unfocused, but Toews was mighty for the entire game. I was furious to see that Vinnie Hinnie had drawn in on Toews' wing while DeBrincat remained on the fourth line, but I guess things worked out okay...
* The second period was all about Hartman - Schmaltz - Kane. Schmaltz did some some wonderful forechecking, Kane was strong on the puck, as usual and Hartman was an absolute beast. Not talking about Harts drilling Staal into The Rangers' net, either, although I suppose that was indicative of the kind of fire Hartman brought to the rink tonight.
* Jeff Glass was generally solid in his third straight start. As was also the case in Alberta he was guilty of over-committing a couple of times and found himself waaaay out of his net yet, somehow, The Rangers could not close the deal. He showed great concentration during The Rangers' several full court presses, especially in the third, and I saw no fault in the two goals against, one being a total screen job, the other on a five-on-three. The only mistake he had to pay for was that puck he goosed into the stands.
VGK on Friday. Let's hope The Hawks can keep the ball rolling and bring those goldenrods back to earth. Hey, somebody has to.
It was one of the most evenly contested games I've seen in awhile but, frustratingly, The Hawks probably could have buried The Flames had they bothered to show up in the first period. It's the same refrain: they just cannot muster up a full 60-minute effort. Ever.
It's late, I'm tired and I'm disappointed, so this will be short.
* Jeff Glass was alright, probably better overall than on Friday. A couple of the goals were honest enough and Giordino's shot for the winner was darn-near perfect, but had David "Baby Huey" Kampf bothered to do something about Matthew Tkachuk's stick we'd be looking at a win, here. Sharp is sitting out to make room for this buffoon?
* Speaking of M. Tkachuk...I don't like that guy. That permanent, punchable smirk makes him hockey's Martin Shkreli.
* Still liking that 2PP unit, for some reason. Maybe the fact that they only sorta know what they're doing affords them an element of surprise - if they have little idea what they'll do next imagine how little their opponents know!
* Keith was not good yet played 28+ minutes, not at all a recipe for success.
* Wingels has to stop it with the bullshit penalties. He's gotten the gate three times in the last five games and The Hawks were scored on each time.
* Kempny and Franson both played alright but, with the loss, you know one or both of them will be scratched on Wednesday, right?
* Richard Panik will never score again. Ever.
Ugh, these left-coast games are killing me. So far we've seen two games that were more similar than they might appear by looking only at the score, with just a couple of details that led to disparate results. This is already old news so let's go.
Vol I: Vancouver
Now this seriously pissed me off. Even with no Burrows and no Bieksa I still have zero use for The Canucks. The most visible aspect of their fanbase are given to tantrums that qualify as "civil unrest" and they're still booing Duncan Keith every time he touches the puck, presumably because he elbowed one of The Creepy Twins (doesn't matter which one) almost six years. That's all I need to know about that gang.
Just as frustrating was that The Hawks held the balance of play, took a lot more shots and still lost to these jokers who are ahead of only Phoenix in the standings. Oy. So what about them there details?
* Anton Forsberg was rubbish, full stop.
* Forsling and Rutta were both -3 while playing what amounted to second-pairing minutes. Whether by accident or by design Goose and Roots were out against the Gagner line A LOT and were there or thereabouts for three of that line's four goals against. I honestly don't remember Forsling doing anything particularly rotten but Rutta was undeniably awful. They weren't alone where backline fecklessness was concerned as Keith was next-worst after Rutta, but he's Duncan Keith and we won't be seeing him healthy scratched anytime soon.
* Failure to Convert. The same old refrain - poor shot selection, lazy choices, bad positioning
The Advanced Stats made things seem far rosier than they were and The Hawks got what they deserved.
Vol II: Edmonton
At least here The Hawks played one-half of a great game, beginning with Hartman's late first period goal and petering out midway through the third when EDM went into desperation mode. As above, the Advanced Stats were fairly similar to the previous game but a few adjustments helped them eke out a win with an effort that was not perfect, but good enough.
* Jeff Glass. Let's get the feel-good story of the weekend out of the way. Glass was remarkably solid. His game appears a little...static, but he's a big guy, moves the puck well and is surprisingly athletic. He got a bit lucky when he found himself completely out of shape on a couple of plays that The Oilers failed to close, and Strome erred when he had Glass dead to rights. I half expect him to get lit up in Calgary tomorrow - I hope he doesn't - but his NHL debut was a great story and contributed to the win.
* Lineup Changes. Kempny and Franson came in for Rutta and Forsling while Hinostroza and Panik replaced Sharp and Anisimov (injured). The two D-men hardly played and, really, weren't good or bad, their greater contribution being simply avoiding a repeat of The Goose & Roots show from the night before. Panik remains snake-bitten but he was out there trying stuff, at least. Vinnie Hinnie and Franson found themselves on the new-look second power play unit and, while Franson simply picked up where he left off before his injury, Vinnie looked alright in that role, even notching a helpie on the third goal.
Sometimes a change is as good as a rest and the changes kind of paid off, this time.
* Ryan Hartman returning to form. Harts was one of the few Hawks that put in a full effort in Vancouver and he carried that over to Edmonton. I think he's been playing a lot better, generally, for the last couple of weeks, and Hartman starting to contribute again makes me feel slightly less bitter about DeBrincat being buried on the third, arguably fourth line. At least Q is trotting out DBC on the power play, where he's had some good chemistry with Schmaltz , particularly.
* Oesterle breaks through. While he was far from flawless and still leans awfully hard on Keith for safety passes and covering his ass when things go sideways, he did alright. Paired with Franson on 2PP they kept the puck heading toward The Oilers net relentlessly, but I can't help but feel that persisting with these two is playing with fire - The Hawks gave up quite enough breakaways and odd-man rushes as it was. I had a feeling that Oz was going to score soon, so it was cool that he finally found the twine against the team that never really gave him a proper look.
* David Kampf? Never have I seen a player more closely resembling Baby Huey but that's not for now. I cannot yet see what he brings, to be honest, and was surprised to see the big, plodding centreman on the penalty kill. Well, he's a big body with good reach, although he never looked particularly physical in either game.
You know he'll score in Calgary, now, right?
