There’s something wrong with people in Buffalo. Maybe it’s that it’s cold every day except July 4th. Maybe it’s the isolation. Maybe it’s the proximity to Ontario. Whatever, they’re touched. We present this video to sum it all up:
Game #67 Preview Suite
Well, for now it’s one big graph. We’re working on it.
Game #67 Preview Suite
Notes: Eichel has six goals in his last five…Hutton has been trash since the turn of the new year, with a .870 in January and a .906 in February…Middlestadt has two points in his last eight games, dropping him down the lineup a bit…How is Matt Hunwick still in the league?
Notes: We’re guessing a bit here because there was no official word out of the morning skate. There was talk about splitting up Kane and Toews out of practice yesterday, so that’s what we think it would look like if they do. But it could be anything…Might as well jumble the defense, but they won’t. Forsling probably gets back in to get your dinner to come back up…Kampf returns, which could see Kruger shift to wing and Anisimov centering the fourth line, but we have it the other way…Perlini is probably playing for his future here in these last 15 games. LA was a nice start, but he wasn’t anywhere against the Sharks…
Game #67 Preview Suite
I should have learned long ago that your first instinct is usually the right one. You can review and hem and haw and contemplate, but generally the first thing you thought, or your first reaction, tends to be where you end up no matter how long and arduous the journey is. When the Hawks drafted Adam Boqvist with the eighth pick, our thought was that for a team that needed to get help as quickly as it could and didn’t really have time to wait for development, taking the biggest project in the top-10 didn’t jive. And that’s what the Hawks were saying before the draft. It didn’t make a ton of sense then, and I don’t know that it does now. To be fair to the Hawks and Boqvist, no one taken after him is turning heads, and really only Evan Bouchard looks a lock for next season.
So now we have this piece from friend of the program Scott Powers. It’s about what you already know. Offensively, Boqvist is dynamic, exciting, and already a force. And a force ready for the NHL. But on the other end, he’s a mess. He’s small, he’s not engaged all the time in his own end, and he’s got a lot to learn positionally. Which leaves the Hawks in something of a quandary.
This will be the height of captain obviousness, but they have to have major changes on the blue line next year. That is if they plan on being a playoff team again. But then again, I don’t know what their plan is. You don’t know what their plan is. And we don’t know if they know, whether intentionally or not.
They’ve pushed and pushed their FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE BLUE LINE all season to sell hope. But now it seems that Boqvist can’t be here next year. Jokiharju will be, but he has yet to prove that he’s top pairing material. Nicholas Beaudin is probably a bigger project than Boqvist. And there are conflicting reports on whether Ian Mitchell is going to sign or not, though he’s now looks the most ready for the top league and maybe by a distance, at least for those who aren’t already in the organization.
So the Hawks have to enter the offseason knowing they need a top-pairing. Not one half of it, but the whole thing. And they can’t count on Boqvist.
Or can they?
The calculation to me-and I’m something of a nutjob, admittedly–is whether Boqvist is going to push the play enough that he’ll outscore/out-possess whatever stains he makes on the carpet in the defensive end. Remember what Erik Karlsson looked like in his own end when he first came up (and he’s still not really all that good there, but better). He was a disaster defensively. But it didn’t matter, because he kept the play in the other end 55%-60% of the time, or at least miles above what the rest of the team is. I don’t know how you make that calculation, but if you’re saying that his offensive game is already NHL-level, then fuck it, what do you really have to lose here? Just accept that for three to four years you’ll have to watch his defensive work through your fingers, and take the 50-60 points that come along with it as well as the puck moving in the right direction most of the time. Accuse me of hyperbole if you want, but the Hawks haven’t shied from the Karlsson-comparison themselves.
And even still, that doesn’t solve your problems. The Hawks won’t think like this, but in reality for next year they have Murphy flipping to the left side with Jokiharju, and Keith and Gustafsson on a ride-or-die third-pairing. Boqvist can’t be elevated above that, but you could arrange it somehow. Tell Forsling, Koekkoek, and Dahlstrom to go screw.
So let’s say they’re going to be boring and careful, and let Boqvist beat up on children in London for another season. You need two players. Whether that’s an offer-sheeted Trouba, or god please Karlsson, or the middle-of-the-road Jake Gardiner, or something else. You have to do something.
And yet I don’t know that they have to. I can’t tell you what Kane, Toews, and Keith would think about a third season in the toilet, though I’m pretty sure Kane doesn’t want to waste another MVP-worthy performance on the remedial class. I have no idea what their season-ticket renewal rate is for next year, we’ll find out I’m sure, but a second-straight playoff-less season has to put something of a dent in it.. A third would have to cause an actual tear, no? And are you really planning on making your move when Toews is 33 and Kane is 32? Toews is already declining in his defensive game, how much farther does he have to go?
But then, and it’s like we’ve said all year, you simply don’t have room for all of these kids. Even if you buyout Seabrook, even if you use Keith undermining his coach as a wedge to drive him out of town, there’s still not enough room. Where do you put them all? The other problem is that if Mitchell is going to be a signing-challenge, he’s basically unmovable. There are hard decisions to make.
And there’s nothing to suggest the Hawks have a plan to address this all (we know there’s a process). We won’t find out until draft day, and until then, it’s going to be urpy.
Hurricanes vs. Bruins – 6pm
The Bs don’t have much to play for other than figuring out where their series against the Leafs begins and ends. But the Canes might be the NHL’s best roadshow right now, and will try and start to move clear of the Pittsburgh-Columbus-Montreal mess around the wildcards. The addition of Nino Neiderrieter has been particularly, and predictably, a boost for them. They’re sporting two scoring lines for once, along with that brilliant blue line (Dougie is crushing fools again), and even getting goaltending. While they’re only one point clear of the wildcard spots, the five points to the top of the division doesn’t really look that much bigger with the way they’re going. And they anger old, white men. You have to love it.
Second Screen Viewing
Jets vs Lightning – 6:30
Yeah yeah yeah…”FINAL PREVIEW.” I mean, maybe. The Bolts long ago lost anything to play for except for awards and the beating of ghosts. And yet they still rack up the points. They’re just waiting now to violate one of the said grouping above. The Jets can’t seem to get unfucked and yet are still top of the division with three games in hand on the Preds. They don’t have much of a defense without Dustin Byfuglien, which doesn’t make any goddamn sense. But neither does life. Two immense collections of forward talent lay waste to each other here.
Other Games
Blue Jackets vs. Devils – 6pm
Senators vs. Islanders – 6pm
Panthers vs. Penguins – 6pm
Wild vs. Predators – 7pm
Rangers vs. Stars – 7:30
Red Wings vs. Avalanche – 8pm
Ducks vs. Coyotes – 8pm
Canadiens vs. Kings – 9:30
Well, it’s been quite a week, hasn’t it? After shitting the bed the moment there seemed to be a chance of making the playoffs, the Hawks followed that up with barely eking out a win against the putrid Ducks, having a full-body dry heave against the even-more-putrid Kings, and then getting swatted aside like an annoying bug by the legitimately good Sharks. Let’s attempt to find any rays of hope, or at least let’s hurl obscenities at the worst offenders. Shall we?
Dylan Strome: There have been few bright spots this year but the growth of Dylan Strome into a true 2C is one of them. And with the way things are going with Jonathan Toews‘ defensive game, he may be our 1C before too long. This week Strome had a point per game and has four points in his last five. He scored last night in San Jose, giving the appearance of keeping the Hawks in the game. His awareness and patience during a long change in the second on Saturday led to Brendan Perlini‘s first goal, again giving a semblance of the Hawks having a chance in that game. Granted, being on a line with Alex DeBrincat certainly helps a guy, but Strome deserves credit—his shooting percentage is 18.9, second only to Top Cat’s. His possession at evens is a weak 45.6 CF%, so that’s an issue, but in this dark time that is the 2018-19 Blackhawks, right now this is the best we can do.
The whole damn defense. Where do I even begin? That’s a legit question—please help. OK here goes. Duncan Keith was terrible this week, even more than what we’ve come to see as the new normal. In addition to having clearly zero fucks left to give on the ice, he also managed to call out his coach off the ice and look like a whiny jerk. Which I don’t believe, or don’t want to believe that he is, but this isn’t helping. Seabrook has been his typical enchilada-filled self. Forsling and Koekkoek have been mostly lost, and aside from Erik Gustafsson scoring 48 points on the season (what??) there isn’t a silver lining to be found. OK, Connor Murphy has been decent but he’s been saddled with quadruple-A player Carl Dahlstrom or one of the other helpless fools, so he’s only able to do so much.
To wit, this team gave up 14 goals in three games, and nine of those goals were scored by two of the teams ostensibly even worse than the Hawks. Yes, goaltending is to blame here too but it wouldn’t get to that point if the defense wasn’t so awful. The only defensemen not underwater in possession are Slater Koekkoek (53.4 CF%, again, what??) and Gus (50.5 CF%). Every other member of the blue line is under 50. Oh wait, you know who’s leading the defense and the entire team in possession? Henri Jokiharju.
Brendan Perlini. He scored two goals this weekend. This is the last we’ll ever speak of him.
Alex DeBrincat. His reliability and production, on the power play or otherwise, are better than just the middle, I know that. But that predictability is exactly why two goals against the Ducks and an assist last night are just middling for Top Cat, who again is one of the reasons to not light yourself on fire when watching this team.
By now you know I like to do this at certain points throughout the year. It’s no secret I think the NHL standings system is stupid, and actually a conspiracy to give most every team at least the appearance of competitiveness. Almost everyone can be over or near .500, when in reality they’re nowhere close. The loser-point is a crime. So let’s see what’s really going on. There are two ways I like to do it. One is to relegate both overtime wins and losses to mere ties, and this way we can see who is winning games in regulation. The second is to go with a 3-2-1-0 system, where any game won in overtime or shootout is two points, and one lost in that fashion is one point.
So first, the standings as they are:
| Atlantic Division | GP | W | L | OL | PTS |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 66 | 50 | 12 | 4 | 104 |
| Boston Bruins | 65 | 39 | 17 | 9 | 87 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 65 | 40 | 21 | 4 | 84 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 66 | 35 | 24 | 7 | 77 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 65 | 30 | 27 | 8 | 68 |
| Florida Panthers | 65 | 28 | 26 | 11 | 67 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 65 | 23 | 33 | 9 | 55 |
| Ottawa Senators | 66 | 23 | 38 | 5 | 51 |
| Metropolitan Division | GP | W | L | OL | PTS |
| Washington Capitals | 66 | 38 | 21 | 7 | 83 |
| New York Islanders | 65 | 37 | 21 | 7 | 81 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 65 | 36 | 23 | 6 | 78 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 65 | 34 | 22 | 9 | 77 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 65 | 36 | 26 | 3 | 75 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 66 | 32 | 26 | 8 | 72 |
| New York Rangers | 65 | 27 | 27 | 11 | 65 |
| New Jersey Devils | 66 | 25 | 33 | 8 | 58 |
| Central Division | GP | W | L | OL | PTS |
| Winnipeg Jets | 65 | 39 | 22 | 4 | 82 |
| Nashville Predators | 68 | 38 | 25 | 5 | 81 |
| St. Louis Blues | 65 | 34 | 25 | 6 | 74 |
| Dallas Stars | 65 | 33 | 27 | 5 | 71 |
| Minnesota Wild | 66 | 32 | 27 | 7 | 71 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 66 | 28 | 26 | 12 | 68 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 66 | 27 | 30 | 9 | 63 |
| Pacific Division | GP | W | L | OL | PTS |
| Calgary Flames | 65 | 41 | 17 | 7 | 89 |
| San Jose Sharks | 66 | 39 | 19 | 8 | 86 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 67 | 36 | 26 | 5 | 77 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 65 | 32 | 28 | 5 | 69 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 65 | 28 | 30 | 7 | 63 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 66 | 27 | 30 | 9 | 63 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 66 | 25 | 32 | 9 | 59 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 65 | 24 | 33 | 8 | 56 |
Now, the one with only ties and no OT results:
| Atlantic Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 66 | 50 | 44 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 98 |
| Boston Bruins | 65 | 39 | 32 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 80 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 65 | 40 | 34 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 78 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 66 | 35 | 31 | 24 | 4 | 7 | 73 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 65 | 30 | 23 | 27 | 7 | 8 | 61 |
| Florida Panthers | 65 | 28 | 21 | 26 | 7 | 11 | 60 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 65 | 23 | 16 | 33 | 7 | 9 | 48 |
| Ottawa Senators | 66 | 23 | 18 | 38 | 5 | 5 | 46 |
| Metropolitan Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Washington Capitals | 66 | 38 | 33 | 21 | 5 | 7 | 78 |
| New York Islanders | 65 | 37 | 32 | 21 | 5 | 7 | 76 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 65 | 36 | 32 | 23 | 4 | 6 | 74 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 65 | 34 | 30 | 22 | 4 | 9 | 73 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 65 | 36 | 28 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 67 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 66 | 32 | 27 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 67 |
| New York Rangers | 65 | 27 | 26 | 27 | 1 | 11 | 64 |
| New Jersey Devils | 66 | 25 | 22 | 33 | 3 | 8 | 55 |
| Central Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Winnipeg Jets | 65 | 39 | 33 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 76 |
| Nashville Predators | 68 | 38 | 33 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 76 |
| St. Louis Blues | 65 | 34 | 29 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 69 |
| Minnesota Wild | 66 | 32 | 29 | 27 | 3 | 7 | 68 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 66 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 1 | 12 | 67 |
| Dallas Stars | 65 | 33 | 27 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 65 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 66 | 27 | 19 | 30 | 8 | 9 | 55 |
| Pacific Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Calgary Flames | 65 | 41 | 36 | 17 | 5 | 7 | 84 |
| San Jose Sharks | 66 | 39 | 33 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 80 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 67 | 36 | 32 | 26 | 4 | 5 | 73 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 65 | 32 | 27 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 64 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 66 | 27 | 22 | 30 | 5 | 9 | 58 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 65 | 28 | 22 | 30 | 6 | 7 | 57 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 66 | 25 | 21 | 32 | 4 | 9 | 55 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 65 | 24 | 19 | 33 | 5 | 8 | 51 |
As you can see, not that much changes, but there are some. One, the Jackets would be completely adrift in the Metro, and really the playoffs altogether. The Hurricanes would be in with a real shout of winning the Metro as well. The Lightning wouldn’t have a prayer of catching the ’77 Canadiens. Dallas would fall behind the Wild and Avalanche, and the Hawks would be hopelessly marooned to the bottom of the Central, with their 19 regulation wins being third-worst in the league. Arizona would barely be hanging on in the playoff race.
Now with the 3-2-1-0 system:
| Atlantic Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 66 | 50 | 44 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 148 |
| Boston Bruins | 65 | 39 | 32 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 119 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 65 | 40 | 34 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 118 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 66 | 35 | 31 | 24 | 4 | 7 | 108 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 65 | 30 | 23 | 27 | 7 | 8 | 91 |
| Florida Panthers | 65 | 28 | 21 | 26 | 7 | 11 | 88 |
| Detroit Red Wings | 65 | 23 | 16 | 33 | 7 | 9 | 71 |
| Ottawa Senators | 66 | 23 | 18 | 38 | 5 | 5 | 69 |
| Metropolitan Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Washington Capitals | 66 | 38 | 33 | 21 | 5 | 7 | 116 |
| New York Islanders | 65 | 37 | 32 | 21 | 5 | 7 | 113 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 65 | 36 | 32 | 23 | 4 | 6 | 110 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 65 | 34 | 30 | 22 | 4 | 9 | 107 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 65 | 36 | 28 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 103 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 66 | 32 | 27 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 99 |
| New York Rangers | 65 | 27 | 26 | 27 | 1 | 11 | 91 |
| New Jersey Devils | 66 | 25 | 22 | 33 | 3 | 8 | 80 |
| Central Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Winnipeg Jets | 65 | 39 | 33 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 115 |
| Nashville Predators | 68 | 38 | 33 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 114 |
| St. Louis Blues | 65 | 34 | 29 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 103 |
| Minnesota Wild | 66 | 32 | 29 | 27 | 3 | 7 | 100 |
| Colorado Avalanche | 66 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 1 | 12 | 95 |
| Dallas Stars | 65 | 33 | 27 | 27 | 6 | 5 | 98 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 66 | 27 | 19 | 30 | 8 | 9 | 82 |
| Pacific Division | GP | W | REG W | L | OTW | OL | PTS |
| Calgary Flames | 65 | 41 | 36 | 17 | 5 | 7 | 125 |
| San Jose Sharks | 66 | 39 | 33 | 19 | 6 | 8 | 119 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | 67 | 36 | 32 | 26 | 4 | 5 | 109 |
| Arizona Coyotes | 65 | 32 | 27 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 96 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 66 | 27 | 22 | 30 | 5 | 9 | 85 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 65 | 28 | 22 | 30 | 6 | 7 | 85 |
| Anaheim Ducks | 66 | 25 | 21 | 32 | 4 | 9 | 80 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 65 | 24 | 19 | 33 | 5 | 8 | 75 |
Differences here: No one is within 23 points of the Lightning. The Wings and Senators have a firm grasp on the top two spots in the lottery. Again, Carolina has a real shot at a division crown. The Coyotes have a real shout at a playoff spot.
The changes aren’t that big, but there are some that teams and fanbases would notice.
The Rockford IceHogs have been in the position of having played more games than most of their Central Division rivals for most of the last couple of months. Soon, the IceHogs are going to get a taste of having games in hand when looking at the division standings.
As of today, Rockford has played 59 games. Heading into this past weekend, this was the most games played in the division. Because the IceHogs had just one game this weekend, an exciting win over Grand Rapids, couple with Rockford being off until this Saturday, the rest of the division will catch up to, and even surpass the Hogs.
Rockford and Texas each have 63 points and are nip and tuck for the fourth and final postseason berth in the Central. The Stars currently have the spot via points percentage, having a game in hand on the IceHogs.
However, both the Stars and Milwaukee, who is two points back of Rockford, play this week. The Admirals have a three-game weekend. Texas and the IceHogs each have two games. By the time the smoke clears next Monday morning, Rockford will have played 61 games, Texas will have played 62 and Milwaukee will have played 63.
At that point, only the Moose will have played fewer games than Rockford. Having the benefit of games in hand brings a bit more clarity to what the Hogs have to do to earn a trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs. Breaking a three-game losing streak was a good start. Getting some players back should be even better news.
AHL signees Terry Broadhurst and William Pelletier both returned to action against the Griffins Friday night. Broadhust may have reinjured himself in the overtime win, but some other players may be nearing a return.
Hogs coach Derek King mentioned to Rockford broadcaster Joseph Zakrzewski that Tyler Sikura, who has missed most of the last two months with a broken thumb, will be going on the road trip to Manitoba this weekend. He also announced that Matthew Highmore could be back in the lineup by the end of the month.
Could getting last season’s top two goal scorers back have an impact? Maybe just a bit.
In what was a wild affair at the BMO Harris Bank Center, the Hogs earned two points from the Griffins to snap a three-game skid.
Rockford came flying out of the gate, out-shooting Grand Rapids 15-7 and taking a 3-0 lead. Jordan Schroeder got the scoring started midway through the period, taking a pass from Henri Jokiharju at the top of the right circle and flinging the puck off the far post and in past Griffins starter Harri Sateri at 9:07 of the first period.
At the 13:30 mark, Spencer Watson go his first goal since joining the IceHogs, redirecting Lucas Carlsson’s blast. In the waning seconds of first-period action, Dennis Gilbert sprawled out on the ice to knock in a rebound of Luke Johnson’s attempt.
After one of Rockford’s most inspired efforts, the Griffins pushed back hard in the middle frame. Turner Elson and Wade Megan each got rubber past Hogs goalie Collin Delia to close to within a goal of the lead. Early in the third period, Matt Puempel tied the game with a power play goal. All of a sudden, it appeared that this game could slip away from Rockford.
The IceHogs rallied to take a 4-3 lead at 13:40 of the third period. Anthony Louis led an odd-man rush with Schroeder on his left. Schroeder one-timed the subsequent Louis pass into the cage.
Grand Rapids was not finished, however. Puempel second of the night with just over two minutes remaining knotted the contest again, and the teams entered Gus Macker Time even at four. The IceHogs nearly scored several times in the extra session, finally ending the game with a Peter Holland lamp-lighter from the slot.
Both Rockford and Manitoba will be well-rested coming into the back-to-back in Winnipeg. The Moose split a pair in Belleville this past weekend. Manitoba was shut out in its loss to the Senators Saturday night.
Manitoba, like the Hogs, don’t score with the regularity of some of the top teams in the division. At 2.52 goals per game, they sit just above Rockford at the bottom of the AHL in offense.
Both of the team’s meetings this season were decided in shootouts. The Moose won 2-1 in Rockford back on October 28. On January 25, the piglets triumphed 4-3 to start a six-game winning streak.
Logan Shaw leads the Moose with 21 goals since coming from San Diego early this season. Seth Griffin (12 G, 31 A) paces the club with 43 points.
Goalie Eric Comrie, who was just reassigned by the Jets, could be in net for at least one of the games this weekend. He has a 2.73 GAA and a .917 save percentage in 40 games with Manitoba this season. Rookie Mikhail Berdin does boast that win against the Hogs this season and probably gets a start as well.
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for updates on the Manitoba games this weekend, as well as thoughts on the IceHogs throughout the season.
The one bonus of covering a bad team is that you rarely run out of material. But we’ve come to a point where I’ve run out of things to say. I’ll you need to know about this Hawks team is that they really did try tonight. They fought back twice against a Cup contender. And the Sharks barely got out of second gear, never looked truly troubled, and seemed always assured they would run out easy victors, And they did. They turned it on for like eight minutes, got the two goals they needed, and that was that.
So now that the Hawks have in fact sought and found their own water level, the question is what to do with the rest of the year. The truly progressive team, the one that sees things as they are (and no NHL team has ever done this before so they won’t either) would basically start scratching Toews, Keith, Seabrook and even DeBrincat and Strome semi-regularly for the last 16 games. You’ll never be able to scratch Kane when he’s competing for a Hart Trophy, unless you want a full-out mutiny on your hands.
But right now you’re on pace to draft 7th, which doesn’t do you a whole lot of good for next year at least. You already know you have something with Strome and Top Cat, and there’s no one else to develop. So why bother?
But they won’t do that, so let’s get through the rest of it…
-I guess maybe it says something that after all his vets went to the zoo on him yesterday in LA, Coach Cool Youth Pastor saw them actually try tonight. Then again, knowing they were playing the Sharks, they probably were just afraid of getting totally embarrassed again like San Jose did here at the United Center. There are far more questions about the coach than answers.
-Brandon Saad was replaced on Daydream Nation’s wing by Chris Kunitz, and he played the game like he was sulking over it. And honestly, I don’t blame him. He didn’t do anything wrong yesterday, and watched his spot given to a corpse. And then Kunitz contributed to the back-breaking goal by forcing a pass on an odd-man break that was somehow both behind Toews and between his legs. They told you they thought this was a playoff team.
-Brendan Perlini was tried with The Otter Boys, and they actually had one of their rare plus-possession games. I guess this is worth more of a look, but Perlini is starting to give off serious Jack Skille waves in that he’s fast and can shoot and can do literally nothing else.
-After he couldn’t locate a fuck to give with FBI support yesterday and then airing out his coach in the press, Duncan Keith got completely turned into cat vomit for the Sharks’ first goal. It’s not the best look. He also had a 34% Corsi tonight.
Keith’s number will get retired. And I’ll cut him as much slack as possible, But you can’t stand in defiance of your team and coach publicly when you’re playing as badly as this. He needs to pick a lane, which is something he hasn’t been able to do all season.
-A questions we’ll need to ask the rest of the season is who exactly Colliton has made better. The first answer will be Strome, but you could easily point to playing with greater talent for the main reason for his signs of life. The defense is worse, and whatever forward doesn’t get to share time with Kane either at evens or on the power play has at best stalled out.
-Oh, and the Hawks took a reaching, neutral zone penalty on Michael Haley, because that’s someone you really have to stop steaming into your zone. That’s recognition at its highest.
-Brent Seabrook and Gustav Forsling ended up with 60%+ possession marks. But Seabs topped that off with a no-look, behind the back pass to no one leading to the empty-netter. Bottomless Pistol Pete out here, motherfuckers.
-Back when I used to do these after too much imbibing I didn’t have to switch glasses. This is growing up.
Fuck the rest of it. Onwards…
at 
Game Time: 8:00PM CST
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Chicago, WGN-AM 720
Elon Musk Is A Sociopath: Fear The Fin
To the remaining 8 people who still held onto any kind of reasonable playoff aspirations for the Hawks, yesterday’s display should have disabused anyone of that notion with a defensive performance against one of the worst offenses in the league that one would have go lunge into oncoming traffic to call “embarrassing”. They’ll get to follow that up tonight in Northern California against one of the prohibitive favorites to come out of the West in the Sharks. Terrific.
