Everything Else

Another World Awaits Us – Blackhawks 5, Wild 3

By 1170

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

HockeyStats.ca

Here’s one way to beat Devan Dubnyk – shoot the puck when he’s not looking.

The Hawks scored twice in the third period and caught Dubnyk with his proverbial pants down each time. The first goal was off a face-off where Nick Schmaltz collected the puck and fired it towards the net in one motion. Dubnyk had no idea where the puck was.

A few minutes later and after an annoying Zach Parise goal (are there any other kind?), Schmaltz made another nifty play by giving a no-look, behind the back pass from below the goal line. Dubnyk was tracking the player instead of the puck and by the time he realized the puck was on his left side, Toews was chipping it past him.

This gave the Hawks a 4-2 lead. Of course, the Wild came back because that’s what they do. Corey Crawford was there and Toews finished off his virtuoso performance by scoring an empty-netter from 150 feet away.

That’s that.

Other things that came to mind…

–The Round Mound of Minnetonka Bruce Boudreau is an easy punching bag and tonight was a great example why. Visitors to this site know that Mikko Koivu drinks Jonathan Toews’ milkshake on a regular occurrence. So tonight, Boudreau decided to give Erik Haula’s line a chance to match up against him for…reasons.

Maybe Boudreau was experimenting or tinkering to see what they could do in a future playoff matchup. But I think the answer became crystal clear in the second period after the Toews line scored twice on back-to-back shifts. As we’ve seen for the past decade…when Boudreau is asked to adjust a gameplan in-game, he is unable to.

This led to a third period where the Toews line found the back of the net three more times. As I mentioned, maybe Boudreau was giving it a whirl to see what would happen. It sort of reminds me of how I would suck things up like socks or plastic bags with the vacuum when I was a kid because I wanted to see what would happen.

–The Wild are a very quick team and play just as fast but as McClure noted during the game, there is no structure in their breakouts or in the offensive zone. A typical Wild offensive sequence consists of firing as many pucks on net as possible from whatever angle is open and/or going high to low.

This will lead to the occasional annoying goal but when they play a team that is disciplined and well-structured, it will also lead to periods like the second where the Hawks quickly snuffed out any chances and counter-attacked like crazy. All four lines dominated in the second period and the Hawks very easily could’ve put the game away then if it weren’t for a few excellent Dubnyk saves.

–The Kid line of Vince Strohs-Kero-Hartman was extra grindy tonight and probably deserved scoring a garbage goal. For the first two periods, they had the Wild pinned in their zone and behind their net. Their shifts felt like 50 seconds of Hartman and Hinostroza continually skating behind the Wild net and pushing the puck to the slot where two or three point blank shots were fired at Dubnyk. Against lesser competition, they’re probably rewarded with at least a couple of goals.

–So maybe worrying about Jonathan Toews was a little silly. Also, I’m dying to see how Boudreau tries to match up against his line in a 7 game series. Sadly, the Flames will beat them in 7 so we’ll never know.

–At least the officials got tonight’s illegal Parise no goal call right. Parise scored midway in the third after batting a puck out of the air that was nearly over his head. The official made the no-goal call immediately and there was no need to even review it.

Had the league got the offsides call right two weeks ago, the Hawks would’ve taken 4 of the last 4 points from the Xcel Center. Alas.

–Not to only shit on the Haula line but Scandella and Dumba were absolutely scorched by the Hawks to the tune of a combined -26 Corsi. And Boudreau couldn’t wait to put both of them out there when Suter and Spurgeon were off the ice.

–The Hawks take on the Yotes on Thursday. We’ll see if Arizona leaves any of their players here after the game.

Everything Else

The Voice Of Many Colors Sings A Song That’s So Bold: Hawks at Wild Preview/Manicure

By 1267

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks 36-18-5   Wild 39-13-6

PUCK DROP: 7pm Central

TV: CSN Local, NBCSN to the “others”

IN THE WOODCHIPPER: Cold Omaha

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.9 (12th)  Wild – 49.9 (21st)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 48.7 (19th)  Wild – 54.2 (2nd)

POWER PLAY %: Hawks – 19.0 (16th)  Wild – 21.9 (4th)

PENALTY KILL %: Hawks – 77.1 (28th)  Wild – 82.9 (10th)

The Hawk and Wild will continue their preamble tonight to their almost assured second round meeting in the playoffs. While the Hawks will make noise about giving the Wild “something to think about,” the gap is almost certainly too much. It’s definitely too much with Doobie Brother playing as well as he is, because there’s just no way the Wild are going to drop enough points to make any Hawks nuclear streak matter. And it’s hard to envision how either of these teams trip up in the first round, whatever Bruce Boudreau’s faults, because the Blues, Preds, and whatever swamp thing emerges as the bottom wild card haven’t shown anything close to being a threat.

Live From The Five Hole

Live From The Five Hole – Talk To Me (Featuring Scott Powers)

By 1440

After the bye week, we return with a very special edition of Live From The Five Hole, as the esteemed Scott Powers of The Athletic  joins us and gives some great insight about the current state of the Hawks as the playoff push begins, as well as a great look at some of the prospects coming down the pike. We even subjected him to some of the weirdo questions that we have been fielding lately and he handled himself with predictable style and grace. And it’s a good thing too, as Sam was eaten by the internet monster about a quarter way into the ‘cast (sky point). Grab the audio after the jump.

Everything Else

The Goo Goo Dolls are a Replacements Cover Band – Blackhawks 5, Sabres 1

By 1555

Box Score

HockeyStats.ca

Natural Stat Trick

If the Hawks keep putting together performances like they have in the past two games, they may want to petition the league for more bye weeks in the seasons ahead. The Hawks, once again, ran roughshod over the opponent. The only difference this time, Robin Lehner was no Cam Talbot.

The Hawks got production from all four lines as each line scored with Kane and the Russian Spies scoring twice. Additonally, 10 of their 12 forwards scratched the scoresheet. Only Vince Stroh’s and Dr. Rasmussen came up empty but that was hardly any indictment on their game.

On the defensive side, the Sabres really were only able to generate offense when the Hawks were guilty of turning the puck over just inside the offensive blue line. This was happening quite a bit in the second period which is why we saw a lot of end-to-end chances with both teams trading prime opportunities. Once the Hawks cleaned up their zone entries and capitalized on their opportunities, the Sabres were toast.

The Hawks defensemen played another strong game of cutting down shooting lanes, efficient breakout passing and of course, active sticks. As Sam mentioned, all they’ve conceeded in the past 48 hours was a softie from Lucic and a great play by Eichel. If this keeps up, the remaining regular season may not be the slog we expected.

Other things…

–Ryan Hartman has a real shot at scoring 20 goals this year. He scored another impressive goal tonight that makes the memory of Andrew Shaw dissipate like a McFly family portrait. Hartman made a power move at the top of the blue line to gain separation from the defender and then ripped off a wrist shot right over Lehner’s shoulder.

He serves as an important reminder that not all prospects are created equal. Hartman cooked in the AHL for two seasons before finally getting his turn this year. While we’re quick to point out that the great ones don’t need much to establish themselves, the good, or productive, ones can take a little longer. And Hartman is on the path to carving out a productive NHL career. He may not be able to hang against top competition but plenty of millions have been made by slaying bums.

–For a guy who has won three Stanley Cups, one Hart trophy, a Conn Smythe and played in an Olympic gold medal game, it was a little strange to see Patrick Kane celebrate like he scored an OT game-winner in a 5-1 game. Not to mention, this wasn’t the first goal he’s ever scored in Buffalo. Weird.

–Well, this is certainly the Jonathan Toews we all remember. We’ve spent a lot of time this season examining what seems off with Toews and I’ve pointed to that lack of jump he seemed to be missing. Since Nick Schmaltz has been recalled and put on his wing (and probably a little before then), Toews has that explosive burst in his first few strides again. Maybe his back is finally 100%; maybe he finally feels comfortable with his two line mates; or maybe he grew a batch of kale in his garden laced with amphetamines.

Either way, with a top line creating chances like this to supplement Kane and the Russian Spies, the Hawks look like they could be the class of the West.

–Thought it was a little strange to see Joel Quenneville toss out his top power play unit on the ice with less than 4 minutes left in a 5-1 game that was clearly over. In the years he’s been behind the Blackhawks bench, I don’t think I can recall him ever doing that and he certainly had his opportunities in the first few years.

In last year’s meeting versus the Sabres which the Hawks won in ridiculous fashion, you may recall there was a moment where Byslma stalled for a good two minutes before deciding whether he wanted to challenge a goal. The camera cut to Quenneville whose face was that familiar shade of pink and purple.

Almost wonder if that helped form his opinion on Byslma and played into his decision tonight.

–That seems like enough of that. Next one is in Minnehaha. Until then.

Everything Else

Two Days In February – Hawks at Sabres Preview, Curbside Check-In

By 1872

 at 

Game Time: 5:00PM CDT
TV/Radio: NBCSN, WGN-AM 720
Frank Sedita Is Corrupt As Shit: Die By The Blade

Because today is the contrivance that is Hockey Day In America, both the Hawks and Sabres will be travelling from the midwest to play a prime-time game rife with manufactured storylines. The one in particular that will get beaten to death will be the return of Buffalo’s prodigal son, one Garbage Dick, as it always does whenever the Hawks play the Sabres. But because the NHL is now a giant warm, flat beer of parity, the Sabres now find themselves threatening for a playoff spot with only the briefest spasm of competence.

Everything Else

Everybody Stay Calm – Oilers 3, Hawks 1

By 1254

Box Score
Natural Stat Trick

By now the stats have been beaten into the ground, that teams coming of the newly mandated bye week are like 3-948-3, and naturally the Hawks fell victim to it themselves, and in doing so snapped a 5 game winning streak, all of which came on the road. But while they lost another winnable game on home ice as their chances for the division rapidly evaporate, the main fear was that they would look disinterested or lethargic, and that was anything but the case.

Everything Else

Come In From The Cold, We Come Down From The Wire: Oilers at Hawks Preview/Bocce Ball Tournament

By 1235

 vs. 

RECORDS: Oilers 31-18-9   Hawks 37-15-5

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: WGN in the 606, NHLN below the 49th, Sportsnet above it

YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM AN OIL MAN: Oilers Nation, Copper And Blue

PROJECTED LINEUPS

TEAM ADJUSTED CORSI %: Oilers – 50.8 (13th)  Hawks – 50.5 (15th)

TEAM ADJUSTED xGF%:  Oilers – 49.8 (17th)  Hawks – 48.1 (20th)

POWER PLAY %: Oilers – 20.4 (11th)  Hawks – 19.6 (16th)

PENALTY KILL %: Oilers – 81.4 (15th)  Hawks – 76.8 (27th)

The somehow-controversial (only the NHL could fuck up the concept of a bye week and have it become A THING like this) bye week comes to an end for the Hawks tonight, and they’ll try and buck the trend of teams with a tan getting tolchocked when they go back to work. But the Hawks have usually avoided such pitfalls under Joel Quenneville.

Everything Else

Oilers Spotlight: Cam And Magic Talbot

By 1417

You could draw a lot of similarities between the search for a goalie and the search for a quarterback. One aspect that looks an awful lot alike is when a team splurges on what had been a backup to be their starter. You might see it here in town with the Lakeshore 11 and giving up the goods for Jimmy Garoppolo (god help us). In hockey, last year we saw Martin Jones, Cam Talbot, Thomas Greiss, Robin Lehner, and one or two others move from backup roles to starter roles, with varying success. This season Chad Johnson, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and one or two others have seized jobs. Heading into this offseason, Scott Darling could be given starter’s money and responsibilities, and one wonders if someone might not be coaxed to try with Antti Raanta after he walked the same gilded platform that Talbot did, following Henrik Lundqvist.

While Jones did get his team to a Final last year, there’s a serious argument that Talbot has been the biggest success of all of these.

Everything Else

The Frayed Ends Of Senility

By 1353

If I could pinpoint where it all went wrong for me, I’d probably blame that weird kid on my bus who got me into metal at an early age. Early 90s kids on the brink of puberty didn’t have a lot of places to turn to for metal so we traded cassettes. We would steal petty cash from our parents and bike down to the record store or tape stuff off the radio. I still remember finding out that Chicago had a pirate metal station that broadcast on Saturday nights that introduced me to all kinds of music I would never have heard. Kids today have no idea how hard we had it.