Sink Em Low: Hawks 4, Rangers 1

Allllright, just quick some remarks tonight as I'm catching up on the end of the game as I'm typing this thing.
The Straws That Have Been Stirring The Hawks' Drinks all showed up tonight.  Toews, Kane, DeBrincat, Crawford and Gustafsson....all excellent.  I'm slightly worried that when one, two or all of these guys go off their boil we'll be lacking much secondary scoring, but let's maybe cross that bridge when we come to it.
Additionally, we got a great game from Nick Schmaltz, who had been a little wishy-washy in the last couple of affairs.  His puck protection and the pass to Fortin for goal #2 was terrific.
Take Note: Erik Gustafsson led all Hawks in icetime, as it bloody should be the way he's been performing.  I'm still pessimistically waiting for the huge regression but enjoying watching this kid play out of his mind in the meantime.
Anything Here That Was Not So Good?
Sure.  Brandon Saad kinda failed to maintain his momentum after two very good games.  He wasn't awful, by any means, just not as good.  And where Brandon Manning is concerned, unless I indicate otherwise, let's just assume that he played another garbage game in which he failed simple plays in both zones.  Without his shambling giveaway followed by no attempt to pick up a man, any man, Crow coulda had a no-no tonight.
Let's not forget that The Rangers are in the midst of a major rebuild.  They have some good pieces in Zuccarello and Zibinejad, and that Nick Pionk might be an actual thing, but their roster is bulked up with old dudes and role players at the moment.  Brendan Smith played nineteen minutes, fer goodness' sakes, and he's even worse than Manning.  This was a should-win, a must-win, and The Hawks executed very well.

So it's off to Shit City for another tilt against the Purina-fed Blues, where their slack-jawed fans will blow the importance of the game all out of proportion.  Still, it took overtime to subdue those jackasses in each of the two games already in the books, but Cam Ward was still finding his feet at that time.  If The Hawks do what they've been doing the last two games we'll be in good shape.

Clutch - Sink Em Low

The Full Package: Hawks 5, Rangers 2

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.

Power Restored: Hawks 6, Rangers 3

Early in the first period my electricity briefly went off and I had to horse around to get the furnace restarted.  After reviewing the tapes it was apparent that it was a period worth missing, anyway.  However, as the house heated up, so did The Hawks.  I assume this was entirely coincidental.

* Artem Anisimov.  Yeah, he's slow as hell and isn't so good at those faceoffs but, boy, has he been working the front of the net like a champ the last several games.  As long as his big body is allowed to hang out there his strength and his hands will continue to ca$h in the goals.  Also, while he was below 50% on those faceoffs, he always seemed to win the ones that mattered.  That was as perfect a game as one can expect from Large Arthur.
* DeBrincat was good, finally got some significant power play time and continued to surprise me with his aggressive and often effective forechecking.  More, please, and in the top six, if you don't mind; he's being wasted on the third/fourth line.
* Patrick Kane was better, but he still seems not-quite-right.  His passing has not been up to his usual standards, his shooting mediocre and his judgement a bit suspect for about two weeks, now.  He just hasn't always appeared fully invested in what was going on.  Last night saw an improvement in all those areas, even with a couple of ain't-give-a-damn passes and a pair of simply dumb shots, but he can and will be better.

* Nick Schmaltz was, I thought, the second best Hawk in this game.  Thinking back to around this time last year, he had one move, the old Mats Naslund get-the-zone-curl-back-and-look-for-a-pass schtick.  This year, he hardly ever does that, instead usually choosing to barge deep into the offensive zone, trying to set up camp below the goal line and do his passing from there.  He's just so much more confident, isn't shying away from contact like he had been (which might be a mistake, but that's not for now) and has a much wider array of plays he's willing to try.  If it weren't for Anisimov carrying the mail right now I'd campaign for a DeBrincat-Schmaltz-Kane combo.  Yeah, it would be the smallest line in the NHL, but these three all play bigger than they are, and I wanna have a longer look at Schmaltz setting up DBC.
* Brandon Saad.  I hesitate to say he's been bad, but he hasn't been good either.  Having had only one really good game in the last 3½ weeks should be bugging him as much as it's bugging me.
* John Hayden came through with exactly the kind of goal one expects from him given his location in the lineup.  He was well-positioned and did a great job to lift Shatnerkirk's stick, outmuscle him, and get the shot away.  He could shape up into a pretty effective blunt instrument.

* Goose Forsling.  Despite a pretty shaky first period (from what little I saw and, in his defense, everyone in red was pretty poor in the first) he had his best game in ages, breaking up numerous plays with a good, active stick.  His positioning was decent, too.  Could be an anomaly, but one hopes he's being coached in these areas and is applying himself, finally.
* Cody Franson.  Not perfect, and that back-pass in the first would have gotten Murph or Kemps stapled to the bench for the duration, but he's so good along the other guys' blue line I think you've got to keep him in the lineup.  That low, hard shot has led to many primo rebounds.  How is it that he shoots half as often but records a shot-on as often as Keith and Seabrook?  He just does. 
On the topic of Franson v. Seabrook: that's how you execute a last-ditch bellyflop.  Franson kept his eyes on what was happening and used his stick and/or legs, ultimately, to break up the play, while Seabrook's plan appears to be to flop, hope for the best and take the rest of the night off.
* Jan Rutta just had his two worst games, back-to-back.
* Seabrook played a team-low 16:26 on the back end.  I won't get my hopes up that he's blown his cover and that "circumstances" kept him off the ice more than usual, but a girl can dream...
* Corey Crawford.  He did what he had to do and not much else, keeping The Hawks in it during that abysmal first period, but let a few softies in later on.  That's fair enough, as he's stolen more than his share of games in this young season, but I rather hope it's not something we need to worry about.
* Lance Bouma.  I'm unsure of what he does beyond tearing around, laying a few hits and crashing the net.  He has no shot, hands so hard that every pass bounces off of his stick and he's a bad penalty killer.  Sorry, just had to get that out.

The Penguins, then, on Saturday.  It won't be another 10-1 affair (unless The Hawks are really bad... ha ha) since we won't have poor Antti Niemi to slap around. Better be ready, boys.

Even A Broken Clock is Right Twice Each Day: Hawks 2, Rangers 1

That applies to cuckoo clocks as well as any other timepiece, of course.
In a spirited, fast-paced and hugely entertaining do-over of the weekend matchup between these original six teams it was The Hawks' turn to eke out a win.  Both teams had many chances thwarted by two of the hottest goaltenders in the league, right now, including several saves on second chances.
The Hawks kicked off the scoring when Trevor van Riemsdyk snared a hot pass from Artemi Panarin whilst coasting through the high slot, somehow getting a shot away and past Antti Raanta before falling over for no good reason. The Rangers would tie the game on a bunt single by Jesper Fast (love that name) but that would be all that Scott Darling would allow.  Artem Anisimov would pot the game winner late in the second on a sneaky-good pass from Brian Campbell that Raanta probably expected to come from the other side of the net.
I know I'm a full day late but here are some quick Bits.

I'm grateful that TVR was able to score, even a bit glad for him, but he's still effing brutal and the sight of him on a power play, again, made me taste bile.  Ok, he scored in front of his mom & dad, can we put an end to this, now? (Yeah, that's purely rhetorical; TVR is back, he has the coaches' support, and there's feck all we can do about it.)
Jonathan Toews looked fine, I thought.  He would probably bitch about his timing being off and he'll be royally pissed for having missed that empty-netter, but an ever-so-slightly wonky Toews is infinitely better than no Toews at all.
How can they pump the brakes on Duncan Keith and his crap shooting?  Midway through the second period The Hawks had their longest and best offensive attack completely undone by Keith taking a shot that sailed well wide of the Rangers' net and ricocheted back down into their own end. Seriously, for every shot he gets through there are 5+ that hit legs etc. or just plain miss.  That's not the first time this season that Keith's poorly timed misses have blunted an attack.

Lots to choose from in this game, despite the low score.  Both Arthurs were excellent, Hossa had 10 seconds of absolute heroism and Campbell was very good, as well, reunited with Seabrook. In a 2-1 game, though, in which you're outshot and gave up several second chances, Stormare always looks to the net; Scott Darling's stellar relief stint continues.

No Wins For No Goals: Rangers 1, Hawks 0

How the hell do you play 60 minutes without a goal and then cough one up in the first minute of Overtime?

Edit: This is Not an indictment of Scott Darling.  It looks that way, doesn't it.  It's not.

Bright Lights, Big Goals: Hawks 5, Rangers 3 and Tuesday's Big Boy

Yep, big goals, big saves and a couple of incredible passes.  Here are some quick bits, some good, some not so much:
- Neither team could kill a penalty for love nor money and, without Hinostroza's careless high stick that precipitated two Rangers goals, this game would probably have been a laugher, because...
- ...Henrik Lundquist was awful.  It's rare, but it happens.
- Corey Crawford, on the other hand, was near-perfect, despite allowing three goals.  I have a tough time faulting a goalie for power play goals against unless they themselves do something stupid.  The Hayes goal was a product of momentary incompetence on the part of Gustafsson and Rozsival as well as a terrific pass by Oskar Lindberg.
- The Hawks' defense was not especially good tonight.  Seabrook had another game in which he seemed indifferent, Gustafsson looked yippy a lot of the time, Rozsie and TVR both spent an awful lot of time standing around.  Add all that up and you'll get more shots against, chances and goals than your opposition deserves.
- At the other end, The Hawks moved the puck rather well in fits and starts, and it seemed that every time they entered the zone cleanly and had a chance to set up they scored. Teravainen laid down a couple of slick passes in which first Desjardins and later, Shaw, really just had to be there to deflect the puck in. That said, there was a bit of good fortune thrown in there; while Teravainen's pass to Desi was undeniably excellent, the events that allowed The Hawks to maintain possession in the first place were less "puck movement" than "repeatedly throwing it behind the net and hoping for the best".  I'm pretty sure that Hjalmarsson's pass to Teravainen was, in fact, a ridiculously poor shot that Teuvo was able to corral.
- Keith Yandle is a bit of an asshat, isn't he? And how did Daniel Paille go from an occasional healthy scratch in Rockford to playing ten minutes per night for NYR?  And he wants to be my latex salesman?
- Large Arthur officially has 15 assists this season, but his efforts without the puck have led to far more than 15 additional goals. He's big, hard to move and gets hisself in front of goalies without delay.  On The Hawks' go-ahead goal Anisimov drew two Rangers to him while he drove to the net, leaving Panarin free as the trailer, and left completely alone by Jesper Fast, to take his shot.  All good work that doesn't show up on the scoresheet.

Teravainen was good, Crawford was great, but tonight was all about Small Arthur and his first career hat trick.

                                                       Connor Mc-what-now?

News! News! News! News!

I don't usually trouble myself with news items or pre-game stuff but, for some reason, I'm feeling ambitious today.  Or procrastinating other tasks.  Doesn't matter - onward.

- The Hawks "placed" Rob Scuderi on waivers today, although I believe "hoofed" or "jettisoned" would be more apt.  If another team is daft enough to claim the veteran (read: old) d-man The Hawks would have somewhere around $5 million in cap space with which to shop for a decent left winger or another d-man who is able to reach speeds higher than "dead slow" and "stopped".  If left unclaimed, which seems most likely, The Hawks still receive some cap relief but probably not enough to splash out for any of the coveted rental players, at least not without giving up a roster player.
- On that tack, the soon-to-be-free-agent wingers that will be in highest demand up until the Feb. 29th trade deadline look to be Andrew Ladd and Mikkel Boedker. Since it's assured that The Hawks would not be able to re-sign either of these players the choice comes down to who can they get, what will they cost and which of these guys would fulfill The Hawks' needs the best.  I expect a first-round draft pick would be required and both The Jets and The Coyotes would likely request a roster player, probably beginning with Teuvo Teravainen but more likely to settle with a prospect such as Marko Dano or Ryan Hartman.  My personal preference would be Ladd but either of these fellas would be a nice upgrade.

- It's The Rangers tonight who, after an iffy December have been steadily racking up the points and are a distant but semi-comfortable 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers get it done without any true marquee forwards (I consider Rick Nash Off-Broadway at this time) but rather a potent attack of what really amounts to three second lines, their scoring leader being noted Game of Thrones actor Mats Zuccarello.

                                             Tyrion Zuccarello with his linemates.

Their defense is capable if unspectacular, all of whom average 19-22 minutes per game, which reeks of Socialism but appears to be working despite the persistent presence of apparent septuagenarian Dan Boyle.  These guys toil in front of still-all-world talent and handsome man Henrik Lundquist and his backup, one Antti Raanta, who really only seems to play well against The Hawks.
- Expect more tinkering with the Toews trio, as Richard Panik is rumoured to have gacked his audition on that line, at least as far as Coach Q is concerned. Who's up next...Sekac?  Hinostroza? Noted sniper Mashinter!? Who the hell knows anymore...

About Last Night

Missed the last two games due to dealing with important stuff, but here's what I've gleaned from selective highlights and HARD DATA.

- Despite just squeaking past The Oilers and falling short vs. The Rangers a big bright spot was Corey Crawford stopping 81 of 83 shots.
- Yeah, there's the matter of 83 shots against over a weekend, and one of those teams was The Oilers.  
- I still feel that Coach Quenneville is struggling with asset management and I feel even more confident in this assertion anytime that Daniel Carcillo suits up in favour of anyone not injured or dead.  Also, Rozsival played 22 minutes in each of these weekend games.
- With two lines in constant flux The Hawks will struggle to get consistent results from those lines.  Pick your combos and stick with them for longer than two periods.  Give them a chance to succeed.  One way to avoid this line juggling chaos is to STOP dressing players that cannot be entrusted with a regular shift; Dan Carcillo, 7:29.
- Last night marked the 5th straight game that The Hawks have failed to score on the power play.  This also has to change.  Even without Patrick Kane they have the resources to excel in this department but, for whatever reason, they remain awful. 

Phoenix on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday: failing to win both of these games will not set a positive tone for next week's matches against both NY teams.  It's time to get straightened out.