Everything Else

He Left It Out Back On The Highway, On 55: Hawks at Blues Preview/Online Driving Class

By 1521

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks 20-8-4  Blues 17-10-4

TV: CSN

THINK DEXTER FOWLER HAS TOO MUCH FUN: St. Louis Gametime

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.1 (15th)  Blues – 52.4 (10th)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 47.5 (21st)  Blues 51.9 (13th)

POWER PLAY: Hawks – 19.0 (15th)  Blues – 21.9 (7th)

PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 73.3 (30th)  Blues – 88.2 (2nd)

TRENDS: Tarasenko has 14 points in his last eight games… Allen has made over 30 saves just twice in 25 appearances

After getting a couple looks at one of the East’s best over the past week in the Rangers, the Hawks will spend the weekend amongst the West’s aristocracy, or at least what’s supposed to be the aristocracy. The Blues tonight and the Sharks tomorrow are both teams, along with the Hawks, that are supposed to be around longer than it takes at the DMV come the spring.

Everything Else

Blues Spotlight: Jay Gallon

By 1572

There are arguments to both sides of the Blues trading Brian Elliot during the summer. He was in the last year of his contract, and if he matched his performance with his entire Blues career he was going to get awfully expensive. The Blues have wanted to give Jake Allen the job for a few years, or more to the point they wanted Allen to take it, and no better way than simply tossing him in the deep end.

On the other side, the Blues had just made a trip to the Conference Final, which might as well have been Mars for them considering their recent history, and a lot of that was on the back of Elliot’s play last spring. The Blues aren’t playing for the future. This is their window, and it isn’t getting any wider. Both Shattenkirk and Parayko are due large raises after the season and they’re both not going to get it from the Blues. So there was serious thought they should go for it with everything this year.

How’s it all going for Allen? Not great, Bob.

Everything Else

Angry At Numbers -12/16

By 1621

Feels like it’s that time again. Let’s get nerdy!

.969/.929

These are the Hawks’ even-strength save-percentage at home and then on the road. Let’s be clear, the road mark is more more than acceptable. It’s why the Hawks are one of the few teams in the West to be above .500 on the road. Still, it’s a tad weird.

You can understand why skaters would have differing home-road splits. Get better matchups at home, maybe more beneficial zone starts. Goalies are susceptible to the same differences in the colors and the whites, i.e. familiar surroundings, routines, whatever else. But they face the same matchups no matter what.

You’d think with the difference in matchups going your way at home and not at home that the Hawks might be a more defensively leaky team on the road. But it doesn’t appear so. They give up just about the same amount of attempts per 60 between the two, 53.7 off of Madison St. vs. 53.6 on it. Scoring chances? 9.7 on the road per 60 vs. 9.0 at home. xGA60? 2.7 on the road and 2.4 at home.

Everything Else

Every New York Band Is Overrated: Hawks 5 – Islanders 4

By 1403

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Hockey Stats

When the Hawks were shorthanded, they attempted to tighten things up a bit, though considering how many shots they gave up whenever there was a genuine NHL team across from them, I’m not sure it worked. Tonight was definitely not tightened up, as this was as open of a game as the Hawks have had in a while. It worked as just about all the rest have; goaltending finds its feet and makes some huge saves to prevent a deficit from getting unmanageable, the top line scores, and then some sort of wrinkle. The wrinkle tonight wast that the Islanders for some reason never watched tape on on the Hawks power play and kept leaving the cross-ice pass open, and the Hawks got goals from the Toews and Kruger lines.

Add it all up, and it’s just enough. Let’s clean it up.

Everything Else

Isles Spotlight: Party On, Garth

By 1470

Can you believe it’s been 10 years since Garth Snow retired as an NHL goaltender and immediately moved into the GM’s chair on the Island? At the time it just seemed the latest spasm of insanity from a complete basketcase of an organization that the Islanders were under Charles Wang at times. It always felt like something that would be quickly corrected once someone with any kind of sense finally bought the Isles. Well, that took 10 years and Snow is still here (and Wang wasn’t actually the huge goof he played at being when he first arrived on the scene, though he had goof tendencies).

What became even more surprising is that Snow turned out to be not terrible at his job, or at least not every aspect of it. Which was stunning considered he didn’t serve any kind of apprenticeship or training. He basically took off the gear and there was a suit under it.

Everything Else

Revenge of the Local Guy – Blackhawks 2, Rangers 1

By 1261

Box Score

HockeyStats.ca

Natural Stat Trick

If the podcast we made last night is ever returned to us by the Internet Monster, you’ll hear us discuss the state of the league and how boring certain matchups have been. It seems like more and more teams are content with executing a conservative gameplan and looking to win games by scoring 3 goals or less. Meanwhile, teams are continuing to sacrifice depth because of the hard salary cap and the quality of the league is suffering as a result.

Tonight’s game would not qualify in our conversation. With two hot goalies in net, both teams looked to take chances throughout the night because sitting back would’ve resulted in another 0-0 game through regulation. The result was odd man rushes back and forth, wild scrambles in front of the net and a lot of excitement. Even though this final score was only 2-1, it’s hard to argue that tonight’s game represented all that’s right with the sport.

What’s so hard about that?

Everything Else

On That Dirty Boulevard: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Stitch Removal

By 1465

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks – 18-8-4  Rangers – 20-9-1

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: CSN Locally, NBCSN elsewhere

NEW YORK DOLLS: Blue Shirt Banter

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.1 (15th)  Rangers – 47.8 (23rd)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 47.8 (21st)  Rangers – 51.9 (14th)

POWER PLAY: Hawks – 16.7 (18th)  Rangers – 22.6 (5th)

PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 72.7 (30th)  Rangers – 85.9 (4th)

Once more, with feeling. Two of the top teams in the NHL will have a passionate discussion for the second time in five days, this time upstairs from the teeming, gross, and poor masses of Penn Station. This time however, the Hawks are a little better armed than they were last Friday when they dropped an overtime decision to the Blueshirts.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

By 1539

The Rockford IceHogs season is bottoming out in December. The Hawks AHL affiliate set a franchise record Saturday night when they lost for the ninth-straight time. The Hogs last won back on November 19.

I could continue to pile on the state of the club, but I’m sounding like a broken record. Things will pick up. After all, it’s the holiday season, right?

In that spirit, let’s focus on some positives. They’re out there if you’re willing to look…right?