With the Hawks locked into home ice in the West, we take this episode to address the NHL’s non paricipation in the Olympics, as well as answer a raft of reader questions. Listen after the jump.
You know what would be nice? If one day the NHL had the tires and the stock to tell NBC that these 11:30 starts are a god-awful advertisement for the sport, and if either side is truly interested in growing the audience from more than just the die-hards and fans of each team they’ll find a way to get these moved to 2:30 or 3. Not that a different start time would have saved this one, as the Hawks have nothing to play for and spent most of the game looking exactly like that. But the combination, and that the Bs played yesterday, made for some real dross in the first 20-30 minutes.
At the end, the Bruins got two points they needed a hell of a lot more than the Hawks, and Panarin got closer to his bonuses. That’s one of the few things left for the Hawks to play for these last three games. No, I’m serious.
Anyway, let’s clean it up:
vs 
Game Time: 11:30AM CDT
TV/Radio: NBC, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
Of The April Birds: Days of Y’Orr, Cup of Chowder
This morning’s national TV tilt means nothing to the Blackhawks, having wrapped up home ice in the Western Conference yesterday afternoon thanks to the Wild getting blanked in Nashville by the Preds. And in an ideal world, they should just be able to forfeit the remaining four games on the schedule and not even get into their cars to head to the rink from here on out, let alone get on a plane to head out west for the final three games on the road, only one of which will be against a team playing for anything in the Ducks. But that’s not allowed, and today’s opponent, the Bruins, still aren’t out of the woods yet as far as getting into the post-season, so brunch hockey is still going to take place on West Madison.
As was noted in the preview, Sergei Bobrovsky was never going to allow much tonight, what with his .970 and total of 10 goals allowed for the month coming into tonight. Fortunately Corey Crawford was every bit of Bobrovsky’s equal tonight, while the rest of the team never really had to get out of third gear.
vs. 
RECORDS: Jackets 49-19-8 Hawks 49-21-7
PUCK DROP: 7:30 at The Westside BoogeyDown
TV: CSN
LOVE ROLLER COASTER: Jackets Cannon
PROJECTED LINEUPS
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Jackets – 50.8 (12th) Hawks – 50.9 (11th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Jackets – 50.4 (14th) Hawks – 49.5 (16th)
POWER PLAY %: Jackets – 20.5 (9th) Hawks – 18.3 (17th)
PENALTY KILL %: Jackets – 82.9 (8th) Hawks – 77.7 (25th)
It’s been a while since the Hawks saw this third of the Triumvirate of Doom that resides in the Metro Division. When the Hawks saw the Jackets in the opening throes of the season, the Hawks couldn’t kill any penalty and the Jackets hadn’t quite caught fire yet. That was their first win of the season, and they’ve gone on to collect 48 more. They have the second least amount of regulation losses, and now look poised to host the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, the first time they’ve ever had home-ice in a playoff series.
But of course, hockey fans and especially bloggers being curmudgeons, we have to wonder if this is real.
There’s a line I like to use, I wish it was mine. Most of the shit I say isn’t mine. Anyway, I took it from something someone said about the first era of Mourinho’s Chelsea. It was, “The way to beat them is the same way you get flattened by them.” It works for this Hawks team.
I don’t think the Penguins had the wrong plan, even though they have maybe half of their strongest roster right now. You can’t beat the Hawks trying to be conservative, or trapping, or toeing carefully in the offensive zone. Give the Hawks too much space, doesn’t press their weak points.
You do beat them by going right at them. Trying to get speed to the outside, which the slower-than-accustomed Hawks defense can’t really deal with. You get your defense involved, ahead of forwards the Hawks might have left too high. You make the same, short passes at your line that the Hawks do at theirs to bypass the third forward and possibly a pinching d-man.
The problem though, is that if you don’t take the chances that creates, or the Hawks are at the absolute top of their game, or your goalie isn’t anywhere near his, or you go just a touch overboard, or some combination thereof, you’re going to turn the neutral zone into a runway for the Hawks. While they may not have the wheels out of the back they used to, they have more than enough d-men who can pass their way out of trouble if you give them the space.
at 
Game Time: 7:00PM CDT
TV/Radio: NBCSN, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
Noah Didn’t Take No Penguins With Him On The Ark: PensBurgh
Once again the Hawks find themselves a part of NBCSN’s RIVALRY NIGHT with a team they see a sum total of twice a year. The network should just call the event “Wednesday Night Hockey” and play up the rivalry when there actually is one. Though, to much of rockheaded fanbase of this league, there is still somehow a “rivalry” between the captains of these two teams, even though it’s long been established that the one on the Penguins’ side of things is far and away the better player. But a superstar matchup is a superstar matchup, even this late in the season when most of the playoff picture has been settled and teams like this are basically trying to not get hurt.
On this installment, we discuss whatever the hell it was that happened among the Florida Men, including the fire drill going on with the youth at center. Things then expand outward to the league wide playoff picture, and of course, questions from our adoring public. Listen after the jump.
Much like the players themselves, or so it seems, it’s hard for Hawks fans to stay locked in for the last two and a half weeks of the season. We know where the Hawks are finishing, and other than the “IT’S ALIVE!” method of experimenting with his lineup that Quenneville sometimes delves into, there isn’t a lot of drama.
About the only thing left is for the Hawks to figure out who they’ll be opening the playoffs against, and thanks to how the West has shaped up over the past couple weeks, it could be any one of six teams. And if the Wild keep going the way they’re going, it could actually be one of seven.
As of right now, it would be the Blues again, for the third time in four years. But they’re one point behind the Predators for third in the division. And the Preds are only one point behind the Flames, who hold the first wild-card spot. Who themselves are only one point behind the Oilers and Sharks, who are only two points behind the Ducks, and the Wild are only two points ahead of that. So it could any of that.
What should you prefer?
I suppose if the Hawks wanted to throw a scare into their fans, giving up 17 real goals (not ones in OT) over the past four games would be a good way to do it. I still have a hard time believing this is anything other than boredom. The Hawks have the division salted away, thanks the Sharks completely going backwards they have the Conference sewn up, and though I suppose they have an outside shot at the Presidents’ Trophy I don’t think that’s something that concerns them. When you take any stakes out of these games, any urgency, you’re going to get a few efforts that look pretty lifeless.
If you want to get into structural things… well, Johnny Oduya’s 32% Corsi might be a place to start.
