Sometimes The Cream Rises Even Though It's Gone Sour: Hawks 3, Panthers 2

They didn't really deserve it but The Hawks eked out two more points tonight.  The Panthers outshot The Hawks and made fewer mistakes, but Chicago had just a couple more players be really good at key times.  Corey Crawford outplayed Panthers' netminder Reimer and, while Vincent Trocheck was far and away the best skater on the ice tonight, Kane and Saad were just good enough, just often enough to steal the win.

* Enough Blackhawks fell somewhere between flat-out bad (Forsling, Hinostroza, Bouma) and merely ineffective (practically everyone except Crawford) that most of the game was an uphill battle.  Those that did play well did so only occasionally but, thankfully, had those moments of inspiration at opportune moments.

* I just about plotzed when I saw that Oesterle would play. While he wasn't as terrible as he was on Sunday he still wasn't very good.  It's difficult to have much confidence in a coach that scratches a player for over a month and suddenly gifts the guy with 20+ minutes despite the player wavering between "dogshit" and "laughable".  Imagine how Michal Kempny feels about all this.
* Speaking of Kemps, regardless of how Q feels about him, I guess we might see him soon enough, unless Franson & Rutta make quick recoveries.

How To Play Ten Minutes of Decent Hockey and Get Away With It: Hawks 3, Coyotes 1

There's no way that a game between The Hawks and those chicken-stealing miscreants from AZ should ever be this close.  It was a largely crap effort on the part of The Blackhawks and they were fortunate to get the W as, with the number of chances they were giving up, they were just a deflection or an eephus away from The Coyotes getting back in the game.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, some really quick Bits.
* The majority of The Blackhawks had a pretty indifferent game, top to bottom.  Only one guy was truly bad, but only one or two played a complete game.  I'm pretty sure that the only pass that led directly to a shot on net before Hayden hit Wingels there, almost halfway through the final period, was Panik to Hinostroza in the second frame.  That's pretty bad.  Kane had numerous "ehh" plays that he appeared disinterested in before he even executed them. Saad was stepping on the puck all night.  Keith fought the puck for the entire first half of the game.  Etc.

* At least the third line had some fire in their bellies, with only small factors like no hands (Vinnie Hinnie), no luck (Panik) and not much left (Sharp) preventing them from accomplishing much.  Still, they spent the majority of their time on the ice in the AZ zone, so that's something.

* Crawford was outstanding and, though I'm sad to reiterate it, No Crow = No Win tonight.
* Forsling had another good game.  Not perfect, but very good and superior to all of his fellow D-men.  Murphy had a quietly solid night, as well.
* Jordan Oesterle was very much on the other end of the stick, completely awful in all regards.  His poor passing was eclipsed only by his terrible positioning.  Given that he hadn't played in twelve games this hot mess was as much on the guys that gifted him 20 minutes of ice time as it was on him.  The Coyotes were clearly aware of this, as their forecheckers were on him like poop on a blanket, and Oesterle wilted under the pressure at almost every opportunity.  Crow was extremely diplomatic when fielding questions about Oz after the game, probably biting his tongue, actually, as he had a good view of #82 falling all over the place.
* Schmaltz was another forward who put forth a solid effort for the full sixty minutes, compromised by Kane's indifference until the last ten minutes and Anisimov being a step behind most of the night.

The difficulty level gets pushed from "Beginner" to "Novice" for Tuesday's game vs. FLA.  With a full game's effort from Kane, more of the same from the Hinnie line and Oesterle punted back to the press box The Hawks should be okay.  Probably.

Taking The Scenic Route: Hawks 3, Sabres 2

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

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

Bad Where It Counts: Capitals 241, Hawks -8

Shots: Hawks 39, Capitals 25
Faceoffs: Hawks 55%, Capitals 45%
Hits: Hawks 17, Capitals 15
Powerplay: Hawks 0/4, Capitals 1/3
Giveaways: Hawks 5, Capitals 22
Corsi: Hawks 60%, Capitals 40%

Looks to be a pretty dominant effort by The Blackhawks, apart from the PP, doesn't it?  Yet...
So what went wrong?  Of course I think I know.  Behold!

The Powerplay

What did I say the other day?  Stale and predictable.  Well, let's add slow to that condemnation.  There is zero urgency, no briskness.  Franson returned to the PP and at least got the puck toward the net, as always, but the forwards always seemed to be off in the weeds and never around the net when the puck was there.  The PP has been rotten for weeks and just seems to be getting worse.

Shooting Locations

Half of The Hawks' shots, and most of their attempts on the PP, came from locations where the shooter was on a 30-40º angle to the net.  Only a handful of quality shots came from the slot or high slot.

Goaltending Beyond Corey Crawford

Errors by Keith paved the way to the first two WSH goals but, as he always does and as mentioned before, Anton Forsberg managed to let in an utterly savable shot and out came the hook.  JF Berubé was about as good as he's likely to ever be, i.e. not good.

New Look Forward Lines

I don't have The Answer, here, but Coach Q clearly doesn't, either.  With all those reassignments he still managed to keep DeBrincat and Kane separate.  And Toews - Hartman - Hayden was just a waste of time.  

Who's next?  Buffalo, on Friday, and I predict The Hawks will be outshot 40-20 and win 2-1.  That would make sense in this season that just makes no sense at all.

We're All Tired: Kings 3, Hawks 1

And thus endeth the dark ages in which The Hawks played five games in seven nights, earning a mere four points for their trouble.  It was a grind, for sure, and there were a couple of games that, while I struggle with saying that The Hawks deserved to win them, they could have won 'em just the same.  Tonight's match was arguably the toughest of the bunch, with the puck dropping only about 19 hours after the conclusion of last evening's coin toss/shootout loss, against the LA Kings who had just torn off four straight wins.  It was never gonna be easy.
The Hawks actually looked decent for the middle portion of the game, eventually outshooting The Kings and winning the possession/chances game but, as is often the case, it was a few isolated events that did them in.  Those events will comprise tonight's Bits.

* Anton Forsberg was fine.  If I'm being honest he was actually pretty good, as he made a clutch of saves more difficult than any that Jonathan Quick was asked to make down at the other end of the rink.  But, as it always seems to be, he was beaten by an innocuous looking shot, a floater, that any NHL goaltender should probably have.  Yeah, he was at least partly screened but so's everybody, most of the time.  As athletic as Forsberg is, he seems to always let in one of those floaters.
* Small errors, likely borne out of fatigue, set back The Hawks' cause.  Forsling, paralyzed with indecision and stationary in front of Forsberg.  Numerous drop passes to no one.  Sloppy clearing attempts.  Even if they didn't all result in a goal against these little setbacks still prevent The Hawks from mounting their offense.
* Hayden to the top line.  Sure, Panik is having a terrible time, lately, but if Coach Q is determined to shake things up why in god's name doesn't he slot DeBrincat into that spot?
* No Rest 'til The UC.  Q iced the exact same lineup for every one of those five games in the last week.  Wouldn't that be the time to grant someone a break?  I know we've only got Kero as a spare forward and, really, swapping him in won't have much impact at all, but couldn't Kempny have drawn in for someone?  I guess not.  Why would Q want to mess with what's been working so well *cough* one win in the last week *cough*.
* The power play sucks.  It's stale and it's predictable.
* Finally, to tie those last two points together, lemme point out that, when the power play was clicking not-too-badly, Cody Franson was QBing the first unit.  Now he's not and the PP is garbage again.  Also, if Franson is not being used on the power play....he probably doesn't need to be in the lineup at all.

Better Get Used To It: Stars 3, Hawks 2

Here's the thing: with the announcement today that Corey Crawford will miss "about a week" with an LBI, the reality is that Anton Forsberg will be The Man.  Because he has to be.  Because JF Berubé is awful, historically speaking.
So what do you do if you're the coach, with a super-short turnaround for tomorrow's game?  Forsberg on nearly zero rest, and after a loss that kinda points to him, or Berubé, who is awful?  Historically.

Anyway, tonight saw a better effort from the skaters, at least.  They had moments of greatness and some of utter fecklessness, but so did Dallas.
The Anisimov line was deadly all night but were stepping on the puck a bit, their passes being just a tad off when they most needed to be spot-on.  The same was true for DeBrincat; generally excellent but slightly out of sync, somehow, at the most crucial moments.
Tonight's Corsi numbers were not flattering for Forsling & Rutta but I'll suggest that they were better than what that indicates.  Not at all perfect as they both had little bobbles that spun off into Dallas chances (and a GA for Faksa when Goose's failed stick check had him badly out of position) but they made their share of great plays, too, and Rutta was heroic in OT.

Surely a frustrating night for the team and especially for Anton Forsberg. The Faksa goal was possibly savable and he was schooled in the shootout by a couple of super-smart & extremely deceptive players but, otherwise, he outplayed his highly-rated counterpart, Ben Bishop.  Yet, no result.
Stick him back in there tomorrow, give him a crack at getting it right.  If it starts badly, well, there's always JF Berubé.  Even if he is awful.

Ten Good Minutes Does Not a Game Make: Stars 4, Hawks 3 (OT)

Aaaand that about sums it up.  The Hawks had a shift here, a shift there and a solid ten minutes to kick off the third period where they threatened, and occasionally scored, but otherwise looked tired a lot of the time.  Not physically tired, either, just worn out mentally.
They displayed zero creativity on the power play, which was unfortunate given the number of opportunities The Stars gave them, there.  Bad passes, no pass at all and a handful of ill-conceived passes when a shot seemed the obvious choice.  There were a lot of lazy decisions made and, really, they were lucky to keep this thing as close as they did.  
There are but a few Bits:
* The power play was awful.  As noted above, they struggled with this for almost the entirety of the game, yet did little to change their approach.  The Stars did a good job of taking away the middle of the ice but that was when a team that's fully invested in the game adjusts their plan to get looks from different areas and not be so utterly predictable.  They really made it easy for The Stars' PK units.  Keith played a whopping seven minutes on the PP and failed to make a clean pass the entire time.
* Corey Crawford made many fine saves yet was beaten on a couple of rather pedestrian shots.  It happens, and he'll be better next time out.

* Cody Franson was brutal and it's time to take a break. I'm unconvinced that Forsling is a better option on the power play but, for tonight, the less Franson, the better.

* The best Hawks tonight, I thought, were Kane, Schmaltz, DeBrincat and Forsling.  None of them were without fault but they were the best of a mediocre lot.  Things sometimes look grim, lately, but consider the experience level of three of those guys and we can agree that the future looks somewhat bright.
I'm still waiting for Coach Q to get DeBrincat into the top six, full time.  Why is this even a debatable issue, for all that Panik, or especially Saad, have accomplished lately?