at 
Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Dale Hansen Rules: Defending Big D
A scatterbrained, slapped-together late season road trip has the Hawks now turning south from Manhattan to Texas tonight before turning back east for games against Carolina and Philly. And the Hawks find themselves thrust back into the conversation for the Central while the Stars are all but eliminated.
It’s Friday, it’s nice out, you don’t particularly want to read another breakdown of the third line or whatever, and I don’t particularly want to write one. So I thought I’d just share some of the stuff I’ve done on The Indian’s Page 8 lately, because they’re funny. So have a laugh, leave work early, and grab a golden ale of some kind. And leave that IPA shit to the hipsters.
There’s still a bit of a glow about last night’s win, though around these parts we know there’s really no such thing as a signature win in the regular season. But still, holding the Rangers to 25 shots when they average 31, and to shut them out when they’re the 4th highest scoring team in the league when they’d had three days off and the Hawks were on the second in two nights and now this has become quite the run-on sentence but hey that’s how things go, there’s a half bounce in the step. So let’s check out some trends, shall we?
That’s Brad Richards’s Corsi-percentage the past six games. As we’ve said all year, we’ve had a real fear that Richards would fade as the season went along as he did last year with the Rangers, which got him the buyout that landed him in Chicago in the first place. So this is pretty encouraging. It hasn’t resulted in an avalanche of points or anything, just a goal and an assist in those six. But if you keep pushing play this much, the points will follow (Bickell and Desjardins won’t biff every chance they’re presented you hope, and a motivated Versteeg would really help).
1-0: Blackhawks
91 back at MSG: CSN Chicago
He’s still a bum: ESPN Chicago
Versteeg sits: PHT
Keep clean kid: ST
Box Score
Event Summary
War On Ice
Natural Stat Trick
Like most Cubs fans, I’m incredibly excited for baseball this year. Not that I think that Cubs are winning the series or even their own division. It’s just that they should at least be pretty damn fun to watch this year. I suppose it’s not too uncommon. I get excited about baseball every year even when the Cubs are going to be terrible. I only bring this up because this game had a “pitcher’s duel” feel to it the whole way through. It’s the type of game that early in the season, hockey or baseball, really kind of bums me out. I can appreciate strong performances on the mound. But early in the season isn’t it more fun to see someone sock a few dingers?
Hockey is obviously a little different. In an ultra high quality pitchers duel, the offense really never gets to do anything exciting. At least in hockey there’s always the chance for tons of speed and back and forth play going on. Watching a goalie make an incredible save has a little more flair and showmanship than a perfectly executed cutter. As the season progresses though, I find I appreciate the quieter games a bit more and more. So maybe if the Hawks had played this game in October I’d feel a little cheated but now when the season is winding down there’s a bit more to it. We’ve seen the Hawks slowly start to chip away at the leads in front of them. The games are becoming more important by the day. To see the Hawks play a tight almost perfectly executed road game against a top tier team (two days in a row really) starts to make you look beyond just the regular season. There’s a lot of time between now and then but it makes you enjoy the tight games a little more, no?
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, SPORTSNET UP THERE, WGN RADIO 720
MY BLUE HEAVEN: Blue Shirt Banter, The Hockey Rodent
After a satisfying win last night, the Hawks get about five minutes to enjoy it before they focus on the task at hand tonight. Because the New York Rangers on Broadway are going to require the A-game if the Hawks want to continue collecting points that they’re going to need.
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, SPORTSNET UP THERE, WGN RADIO 720
MY BLUE HEAVEN: Blue Shirt Banter, The Hockey Rodent
After a satisfying win last night, the Hawks get about five minutes to enjoy it before they focus on the task at hand tonight. Because the New York Rangers on Broadway are going to require the A-game if the Hawks want to continue collecting points that they’re going to need.
