The Fun Machine Took A Sh*t and Died: Flyers 4, Hawks 0

#105: Don't Cost Your Team a Chance At a Win By Doing Thoughtless Things That You Know Better Than to Do
What an utterly disappointing attempt at hockey that was today.  Despite making the worst giveaway in recent memory, gambling and failing on an all or nothing pinch against a much faster opponent and failing to make any passes today, it wasn't all on Keith.
The Hawks outshot Philly, slayed them on faceoffs and, apparently, crushed them in Corsi....yet they never looked like winning this game after the first period.  Lots of shots, lots of zone time, but we can count the number of true quality chances they earned on one hand.  Even then, the best looks they did get were each compromised in some way.  Seabrook charges hard into the slot but is off balance just as he sets to shoot.  Manning (!) is unable to snare a skipping puck as he too barges in on the rush.  Toews loses the handle momentarily when in primo position.  Schmaltz hits a post... and that's about it.
There Were No Second Chances.  I don't believe a single rebound was collected & converted by The Hawks in this game.  Nobody apart from the puck carrier was driving the net.
The Power Play is Complete Garbage.  We saw some light at the end of a long, dark tunnel back in early-mid October, but what happened to the quick puck movement, the brisk one-timers and always having a guy there for tip-ins or rebounds.  How has this all been forgotten?  They even trotted Kunitz out on the PP, he of 0 G, 2A on the season, presumably to provide some presence in front of The Flyers' net....yet he was never there.

That's about all I have the stomach for.  It's still the early days of the Colliton administration but he'd better get busy kickstarting this crew, 'cos they're free-falling right now, and Colliton's first two games were no different than Quenneville's last five.  Last season's excuse was not having the goaltending to compete night-in, night-out.  Well, the goalie is back, and playing pretty well, so what's that leave?  Colliton had better prepare himself for some extreme remedial work with these guys 'cos, right now, the culture on this team is terrible.

QotSA: The Fun Machine Took a Shit & Died

Disappointment: Flyers 3, Hawks 1

                                                           
This will be brief.
I have little problem with the effort but, rather, it's the execution that's been lacking for two+ weeks.
Generally, The Hawks cannot make a short pass when it counts.
Their shots are either wide or right in the goalie's gut.
On the five-on-three power play tonight they managed ONE shot, despite controlling the puck in Philly's end for approx 1:30, solid.  That power play was snuffed out when Keith fired the puck wide and it curled up the boards and out of the zone.

I get that, at this point, The Hawks are clutching their sticks a little too tightly, but this is getting stupid.  Somebody COACH these guys, please.  Micro-managing the forward lines is accomplishing nothing.

Better, But There's More to Be Done: Hawks 3, Phylers 0

Make no mistake, Corey Crawford won this one for The Hawks.  He was simply brilliant and, while the skaters were better than they have been, lately, had Crow not carried the mail against a somewhat depleted Flyers squad, the result could easily have flipped in Philly's favour.  Here are some quick Bits.
* The changes to the top six were interesting and certainly worthy of a longer look, but failed to accomplish anything concrete.  It's difficult to pinpoint what's not quite right with them, as the effort is there but the results have been hard to come by.  Kane appears to be doing the right things but isn't managing to get his passes through, which could be on him or it could be a case of his linemates not being in the correct position.  It's subtle, and probably really frustrating.  Similarly, Saad and Panik have both been driving hard to the net, creating chances and getting some shots, but have not been able to finish.  I mentioned The Hawks not capitalizing on second chances and that was true again tonight: there's either no one within reach of a rebound or they're not in an ideal position to do much with it.  I'm not sure what else to say about that, so hopefully Coach Q has some ideas.
I'd like to see DeBrincat with Toews & Panik again, and also Saad alongside Schmaltz and Kane.  Give those lines at least another game or two and see what develops.

* The slightly altered D pairings were okay.  Franson had some moments, just being a bit unable to keep up, but he rarely stuck his neck out and played within himself for the most part, so that was good.  His work on the offensive blue line, with hard, low shots on net and some fine keep-ins mitigated any speed-related shortcomings.  The rest were generally okay and I can't say I noticed Seabrook much which, given what he's done recently to attract attention, is a small victory in itself.  One thing is certain: on this night, The Hawks D were better than they've been with Forsling aboard.

* Anisimov has been better in recent games but not so much when on his regular line.  Had Sharp not been kicked in the gut tonight I would not have noticed him at all.  The same goes for Hartman - one could argue that he's being wasted on the fourth line, but what's he done lately to warrant being further up the ladder?  It seems that the bottom six are existing, right now, to fill a bit of time and to augment the special teams.
The annoying Wild are up on Saturday, followed by the enigmatic Canadiens on Sunday, so we're sure to see Anton Forsberg this weekend which, so far, has meant a loss.  Tonight may not have been a perfect effort outside of Crawford, but hopefully The Hawks can build on that, get a little confidence back and maybe find a little more chemistry with the new combinations.

Get The First Flight Outta Philly and Don't Wait For The Goalies, Either: Flyers 3, Hawks 1

There's little point in breaking this game down a whole lot so, instead, I'll zoom in on some larger issues that face The Hawks at the moment.
Corey Crawford will be out 2-3 weeks as he recovers from an emergency appendectomy.  Are there ever non-emergent appendectomies? Anyway, we'll get a long look at Scott Darling over the next couple of weeks.  He's done this before and he didn't make too bad of a mess. There are also no back-to-backs until Dec. 17 - 18, putting us in the early part of the window for Crow's return, so we might not even see whoever gets summoned to back up Darling.  Unless mop-up duty is required, Sweet Jeebus.
Jonathan Toews remains unlikely to play tomorrow vs. Winnipeg.  He was placed on the Disabled List yesterday or today, just to keep the lineup legal.  He won't stay there long, I hope, so....
Something's Gotta Give.  Once Toews returns the roster must shrink, so who's it gonna be?  I see three logical candidates but, let's be real, logic doesn't always enter into these decisions.
One is Jordin Tootoo, whose most noteworthy contribution in 19 games played, is having drawn a penalty, once.  For the five minutes he logs in the games he does play, no one will even notice that he's gone.  Except his linemates, I suppose.
The second is Trevor van Riemsdyk.  A casual observer might see TVR's woeful performance in today's game and point out that he'd been hurt for over a month, it's his first game back, blah blah blah.  The sad truth is that today was not so far from a pretty typical outing for TVR.  One of the two cardinal sins that defensemen are guilty of committing is, when having to choose to cover one of two opposing players, covering neither of them.  TVR does this ALL THE TIME and may as well not even be there.  Watch the replay on Schenn's goal for a fine example of this. It's anyone's guess how this slug has stuck around this long.  Do the staff find him "coachable"?  Is smiling and nodding an indication of coachability?  One game back and I'm tired of this idiot already.
The third is Vin Hinostroza, who has still cobbled together only 1½ good games.  If he was safe from demotion yesterday, today's display could well have changed that, as he was, in no particular order:
* screening Darling on The Flyers' third goal, while covering no one
* taking a thoughtless penalty while The Hawks were attempting to get some pressure going
* unable to win a face off to save his life
* tearing around with no apparent plan or purpose

                                                           Pack ya bags.

Today, ultimately, could have gone either way.  Two goals against through two-and-three-man screens and another made possible by TVR stumbling around rather than TAKING A FRIGGIN' MAN.  Kane made two pretty icky passing errors, which we can sometimes go weeks without seeing, and Keith had several shifts in which he wasn't at his best.  Finally, the non-goal that went to review could easily have been a good goal; had the ref called it a goal on the play, the task of the men "upstairs" is spun 180º, as they must then find evidence that it was without a doubt not a goal.
Bygones.
Tomorrow, Winnipeg with their single line and Hawks-Slayer Chris Thorburn.  I'll wait to eat until the game starts 'cos if TVR plays I'll never stop vomiting.

                          Better make it good or Semborski starts on Tuesday.

Next Three Goals Wins: Hawks 7, Flyers 4 and Tuesday's Big Boy

Some good, some bad, got the two points, so let's just move along.  Here are the juicy bits.
- While I surely cannot say I liked everything about the third period, it certainly was the most interesting twenty minutes of this young season.  Six goals will do that.
- The so-called second line finally broke through, just like they were always going to, tallying five of The Hawks' seven goals, with Kane and both Arthurs notching their first goals of the season.  They seem closer to being back into their usual lock-step after appearing out of sync thus far.
- I liked Schmaltz again, tonight; even if he didn't get to the scoresheet he was thinking about what he was doing out there and not just reacting.
- Seabrook had himself a fine game, highlighted by that greeeasy fake-slap-pass thing to set up Small Arthur.
- Dennis Rasmussen is like a tall, pale terrier.  Totally in a good way.
However
- Those first three minutes of the third period were not only awful, but also indicative of how fragile The Hawks can be, particularly on the PK.
- Panik played like a third liner tonight.  Back to earth, then, Richard?
- The Flyers seemed to really be going after Kempny and Forsling, which is a legit tactic, I guess, and while I only detected one egregious turnover, both Hawks d-men were on their back foot for much of this game but managed to rarely lose their composure.

No matter how many points Kane and The Arthurs racked up, this was always going to be about Marian Hossa.  Congrats on reaching 500 goals, Big Hoss.

About Last Night: Cheese Steak Gobbling Morons 4, Hawks 1

First off, The Flyers played well.
That aside, just because The Flyers didn't stink doesn't mean The Hawks still shouldn't beat the tar out of them.  But they didn't beat and here's why.
- The lineup made even less sense than the hot mess that Quenneville conjured up for Monday's game in Carolina and that's saying something.  Yeah, we all get that Bickell was awful and looked likely to be scratched tonight, but Teravainen being sat down is mysterious.  He had been climbing the depth chart, line by line, every few games and apparently practiced with Toews and Saad this morning.  Instead, we're treated to Shaw on L1 and Desjardins AND Carcillo in the lineup.
- Yes, fucking Carcillo, who has now played two games in the last month.  Hilariously, he played 2½ minutes more than Nordstrom who has been in the lineup consistently and has done nothing particularly wrong. 
- Something is wrong with Toews.  He doesn't have his usual giddyap and has not been stellar at the dot.  What's more is that he is either puzzled an/or annoyed by Q's inane line shuffling.
- Someone has to unplug Rozsival's iron lung tonight.  Let the old boy drift off peacefully in his sleep...