You have to love this time of year, the routine you know. Time with the family, drink earlier than you’re used to, argument with a family member you wanted desperately to avoid, and then the Hawks collecting two points in Anaheim. I guess I’m said it’s going away. It’s become a fixture of the Thanksgiving holiday. It even happens when the Hawks don’t even play that well.
Oh sure, it’s another win where the Hawks were outshot pretty badly. A lot will be made that they somehow lost 73% of all faceoffs, even though we know now that faceoffs really have no baring on whether you win or lose. Still, that kind of margin would make you notice. It took another heroic effort from Corey Crawford. But after losing two in a row and only scoring one goal in that time, you don’t complain about how the wins come.
Let’s clean it up, shall we?
The Two Obs
-While we’ve pointed out how Toews’s play has dropped this year and isn’t what it normally is, I doubt this would be some sort of outlier on what it would look like without him. The Hawks don’t have the depth at forward or even center that they could live without Toews for that long. They got away with it today. Considering Kopitar might not play tomorrow they might be able to squeak it out then, too. But you wouldn’t want to make it a habit. Anisimov has his uses, but he’s not going to dominate a game. Kruger is more of a firefighter.
-Because of that, the metrics are fucking ugly. Only one line held their own, and that was the Triple H line. BECAUSE IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GAME, AND HOW YOU PLAY IT. IT’S ALL ABOUT PAIN AND WHO’S GONNA MAKE IT.
-That doesn’t mean I won’t miss the opportunity to shit all over Ryan Getzlaf. He’s a fucking dog and a huge reason the Ducks haven’t gone anywhere in years and won’t ever again. He didn’t even have to face Toews today, which usually causes him to wet himself before warm-ups are even over. He still did, without a shot on goal or anything else. Long may it continue, because they’re only paying him until after I’m dead.
-While we’re shitting on people, hi there Kevin Bieksa. He’s been terrible for at least three seasons now, and the Hawks scored on a dumbass penalty he took and another when he got complete scorched by Dr. Rasumussen in a foot race causing a Max Manson turnover. I look forward to whatever team gets to beat this shithead like a drum in the playoffs, like that small dude in the Cotten Eye Joe video.
-Ryan Hartman is becoming a thing, along with the other members of the Triple H line because BOW DOWN TO THE GAME! THE KING OF KINGS! (sorry, I have to get these all in now as this line won’t stay together very long).
-We were hard on Seabrook last year, justly, but he’s been improved this year. What is frustrating about Seabrook when he’s moving around like Jabba The Hut is that he doesn’t open himself up for the passes that only he can make. He is still the best passer among the Hawks’ blue line, now that Campbell is 37. I doubt any other one of them is hitting Kane’s tape like that at the red line to set up the first goal.
-Rozsival got another game ahead of Kempny, and Q’s reasoning was that he liked the defensive effort in San Jose. The thing is Kempny is a far better defensive player right now, but let’s not get squirrelly about one game.
-God I hate Anaheim. I’m so glad they’re mediocre and are going to stay that way.
-LOOKIN’ OVER YOUR SHOULDER READY TO RUN LIKE A CLEVELAND BITCH WITH A SMOKING GUN.
Onwards…
