vs 
Game Time: 7:30PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Semyon Varlamov Is A Fucking Piece of Shit: Mile High Hockey
In what now feels like their third cycle of the last decade, the visiting Colorado Avalanche are rebuilding, this time at least under the tutelage of an actual adult in Jared Bednar. But the more things change, the more things stay the same in Denver, and the Avs find themselves once agian in the league’s basement.
I’ve been meaning to do this for a bit, and now that we’re over a third of the way through the season I guess this is as good of a time as any. Whereas in baseball we’ve seen some of the postseason awards take on a more analytic angle (though Porcello winning over Kluber shows we still have some way to go, but hey, Felix won a Cy with 13 wins), the ones in hockey still haven’t quite reached anything like that level.
The Hart and the Vezina are pretty easy. Hand it to Crosby and Price and move on. It’s the Selke and Norris that always generate the most debate.
Like a man living off a diet of Vicodin and cheese the Blackhawks were overdue for a turd. The first period set the tone and had the Blackhawks searching the lead all evening. It feels like most nights, even during the winning streak, the Hawks get off to a less than spectacular start and manage to climb out of it. Even after tonight’s awful start, they kept finding ways to put themselves back in the game and certainly had numerous opportunities to tie the game.
In the end, they couldn’t convert and finally lost a game in regulation. I had the Avs game on Friday pegged as an inexplicable loss but this is probably more just. The Senators are a pretty good team and even though the first period ended 1-1, the Blackhawks were getting curbstomped at evens. After two Ottawa goals in 10 seconds put them down 3-1, they were never able to get back on level terms.
Hard to get too angry about a loss in late December after five wins in a row. These things happen, especially with the amount of hockey this team has been asked to play over the last month. No NHL team has played as many games as Chicago at the time of this writing. Let’s get to some observations before two well earned days off.
vs. 
RECORDS: Senators 18-11-3 Hawks 22-8-4
PUCK DROP: 7:30pm
TV: CSN
BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT: Bonk’s Mullet
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Senators – 46.8 (27th) Hawks – 50.0 (15th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Senators – 47.9 (22nd) Hawks – 47.8 (23rd)
POWER PLAY: Senators – 16.8 (18th) Hawks – 18.1 (15th)
PENALTY KILL: Senators – 82.4 (13th) Hawks – 73.9 (NOT IN LAST! NOT IN LAST! GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, THEY’RE NOT IN LAST!)
TRENDS: Mike Hoffman returns from suspension for braining Logan Couture… Stone has six points in last three games
There are some who would tell you that the Hawks are something of a mirage. They may be good, but they’re not #1 in the NHL good, if you look at some of the metrics. Essentially, their goaltending has obscured most of the faults of the team. Whether that’s true or not, the Hawks will be staring at exactly that tonight at the UC in the form of the Ottawa Senators.
With the gang all home for the holidays, the Hawks’ recent streak is discussed along with some of the roster flexibility that they may need further down the line. Now let’s all put on our earmuffs and belt out some Christmas carols together.
This is something I haven’t done in a while, and I’ll try and get back to it every so often. As we’ve seen this season, the Hawks are going to be plugging in future holes with kids through the system, because a flattening cap isn’t going to provide them much room for any other method and no big money coming off the books soon. Might even be worse when Panarin cashes in here after the Hawks refuse to play hardball.
Any talk about the Hawks’ pipeline starts with Alex DeBrincat. And don’t you worry, he’s still getting in up the elbow on the OHL, with 60 points in 28 games. His OHL season is going to go on hold for a bit, because he’s on the preliminary roster for the US Junior roster and is pretty much a lock to be on the main one when things kick off on Boxing Day. You’ll actually get to watch him. Should be fun.
The Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, needed to get on the fun side of the win-loss column after losing their previous nine contests. This past weekend, they were able to stem the flow of a long winless streak and pick up four points in the Central Division standings.
Persistence paid off for the IceHogs, both on Saturday at the BMO Harris Bank Center versus Manitoba, and Sunday in Chicago against the Wolves. Rockford trailed in both games but rallied, particularly at Allstate Arena where they erased a two-goal deficit in the final ten minutes.
It was an active weekend at my household; sadly I did not partake in AHL hockey (you may not have heard, but there was a Star Wars movie out this week). Thank goodness for AHL Live. This week, all I have for you is bare-bones, hard-hitting recaps. They do have happy endings, however, so let’s get to it…
At this point in this era of the Hawks, there are no statement games. Ownership on down has given an organizational mandate on the standard to which this team is to be held, and that’s silver and parades. That being said. with this being the third game in four nights after playing a back and forth affair in West East St. Louis last night, it could have been very easy for the Hawks to kind of pack it in tonight without their 2nd line center, but that didn’t happen.
vs.
RECORDS: Sharks 19-11-1 Hawks 21-8-4
PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV: WGN, NHL-N outside the 606
CHUM: @ItWasThreeZero
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Sharks – 52.5 (8th) Hawks – 50.1 (15th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Sharks – 53.2 (6th) Hawks – 47.5 (20th)
POWER PLAY: Sharks – 17.8 (14th) Hawks – 18.4 (14th)
PENALTY KILL: Sharks – 81.7 (17th) Hawks – 73.3 (30th)
TRENDS: Joel Ward was a healthy scratch in Montreal… Brent Burns leads the league in shots
After quashing whatever was being vocalized from St. Louis about being a competitor in the West, the Hawks will welcome the San Jose Sharks tonight, and these two look for all the world to be headed toward each other again in deep spring. So while there’s no such thing as statement games, if you want to toss around the phrase “playoff preview” it’s actually somewhat apt.
Let’s try something different tonight. I’m sure you all come here and expect a certain form for the game wrap, as you should. But quite frankly, I’m tired of writing of the same game wrap for games against the Blues. So let’s try prose.
They’re so scripted. It’s so easy. We know what they are, and though they keep screaming that this time will be different, it really never is. Oh sure, they’ll point to last spring as proof that the tide has turned. But seriously? They don’t give you banners for reaching the conference final. They don’t give you banners for beating a seriously flawed team that in previous incarnations has won the trophy your team could only fantasize about three times. So here we are.
