Everything you need for tonight’s game against the Canes.
vs. 
RECORDS: Canes 12-7-1 Hawks 9-7-4
PUCK DROP: 7:30
TV: NBCSN Chicago
REMEMBER, NORTH CAROLINA GAVE US TRUBISKY: Canes Country
In the ashes of the Bears demise, some hope has risen about the Hawks. They’re playing well, or at least they’re getting results. They’ve taken some scalps off teams that either used to give them a ton of headaches (Knights, Preds) or have name recognition (Leafs). They’re scoring goals. However, this week is when we’ll see just how much the Hawks can handle opening up the throttle. The Canes start it off and are still one of the best possession teams in the league. The Lightning are scuffling but also have the biggest collection of scoring around and throat-fucked the Hawks twice last year. The Stars are the hottest team in the league. The past two weeks has seen the schedule cut the Hawks some favors, as all of the Knights, Leafs, Preds, and Sabres have been fighting it of late. Not so much here.
The Canes kick it off, rolling into town on the back of three straight wins, though two were in OT over the just-vanquished Sabres and the simply unfortunate Wild. Before that, the Canes had some ugly losses to the Senators, Rangers, Flyers, and Devils, which are not teams the Canes should be losing to. It’s a bad look. This will also be the end of a mini road trip for the Canes, so the Hawks might catch them already thinking about the flight home.
As always with the Canes, they are a dominant even-strength team. They rank first in team Corsi-percentage, third in expected-goals percentage. And this time around, they’re only having problems at one end of the ice turning all that into actual results. The Canes are 8th in the league at 3.45 goals per game, and have spread it around nicely with seven guys having four goals or more. Erik Haula on their third line has eight, to give you some idea. Their power play has actually been a threat too, ranking eighth in the league at the moment.
But as is the Canes’ way, they keep buying into illusions of a goaltender. They got a remarkable run from Petr Mrazek last season, doubled down, and now stand gobsmacked that he suddenly turned back into Petr Mrazek. He has an .886 in November. He’s not this bad, but he’s also probably not last year’s .914 either. He’s been all over the map in his career, so it’s hard to guess. James Reimer was brought in to at least stabilize the backup spot and provide something of a safety net if Mrazek went to the dogs again. That hasn’t really worked out yet and suddenly the fear that last year’s flop in Florida portends to a career-downturn are real. The Canes aren’t really getting saves, but filling the net at the other end to make up for it while limiting attempts and chances against so their goalies can’t torpedo them completely.
Again, this feels like a real test for the Hawks’ rediscovered UP AND AT THEM ways. They’ve passed the other ones to be fair to them, with the help of some shoddy goaltending at the other end. They may get that tonight as well. But the Canes defense is probably the best in the league and among the most mobile. They won’t be fearing getting caught with forwards behind them, and can pinch more aggressively in the Hawks zone because they can recover. The speed the Canes have at forward as well should be an utter nightmare for the Hawks’ defense, who will have less escape routes.
But again, the Hawks don’t have to break even on attempts and chances. They have the better goalie who is playing better (Lehner), and they have higher quality finishers. Stay in the neighborhood, as the Hawks have been doing, and they can rack up some more points. On the flip side, the Canes have utterly destroyed the Hawks the last three times they’ve played, because they just play at a higher pace than the Hawks can manage.
We’ll see how far this new “style” goes tonight against a team that’s been doing it better and for years longer. Get the feeling this one will have some goals in it.
If you’ve followed us for a few years, or really paid attention to any analytic-inclined coverage of the Canadian Disease, you’ll know that the Carolina Hurricanes have been something of a darling for a while. Only last year did the results on the ice match the metric-love (great Prince EP), as the Canes finally made the playoffs and then streaked to the conference final after that. Before, they weren’t even much of a nearly team, as they didn’t come close to the playoffs often and hadn’t actually made them since 2009. So the crusty portion of hockey coverage could always scoff at them, because at the end of the day, it is about where you finish and not really how you got there.
The Canes were actually the inverse of what we talked about yesterday with these Hawks. They were a football team that could really move the ball between the 20s. But hockey games are decided at what happens at the ends of the ice. And the Canes couldn’t get a save, and they couldn’t get goals consistently. In the past five seasons, the Canes have never had a team shooting-percentage over 7.3%, and have finished in the bottom-10 of that category every year. So even if they were generating a ton of shots, or certainly way more shots than they were giving up, who gives a fuck if you can’t get the puck to go in enough to make it count?
The Hurricanes entire history is filled with a lack of true goal-scorer. Since moving to Carolina, the Canes have three 40-goal seasons. That’s in over 20 seasons now, keep in mind. Two of them were from Eric Staal, and one was from Jeff O’Neill somehow. In that same span of time, though playing eight less seasons, Alex Ovechkin has nine. So it’s been something of an issue.
In recent years, especially since they set Eric Staal free, they haven’t really had a player to even threaten that kind of finish. Jeff Skinner got to 37 a few years ago, but as we stated on Sunday, Skinner specializes in scoring goals that don’t matter. Sebastien Aho proved to be the genuine top line talent they’d been missing since Staal the Elder got old, but he’s more of a playmaker than finisher. Even if his 30 goals certainly played well last year. We know our Finnish Baby Jesus is also in the playmaking, two-way winger type.
The hope is that’s where Andrei Svechnikov comes in.
Svechnikov is off to a flier this year, with nine goals in his teams first 20 games, which would put him on pace for 37 for the year, which would tie for fourth-highest in Carolina history. The question is if this is what Svechnikov is. He’s shooting 17%, which is way over the 10.6% he put up last year. But top tier finishers live in the 15%-17% range, so maybe this is what he is?
Perhaps what will make Canes observers a little tentative is that all his measures from last year are down, in terms of the chances and attempts he’s getting off. Most of his good work has come on the power play, where he already has four goals and is shooting 21% so far. His PP time has been boosted by a full minute per game, perhaps soaking up the time Justin Williams would have taken, and he’s firing off a ton more shots, even if they’re not resulting in that much of a bigger likelihood of scoring.
“Svech” was drafted second overall because the Canes think he can be the finisher they haven’t had, off of scoring 40 goals in 44 games in his one season in the OHL. He won’t turn 20 until the end of March, and the list of players to break 35 goals at age 19 in the past 20 years isn’t very long. In fact, no one’s on it. The best mark as a teenager was Skinner’s tally of 31 in 2011. The Canes are probably hoping for better long-term than that.
If the Canes plan on taking another step, and that’s if their goaltending holds up which looks pretty shaky, they’ll need to fire themselves past the Perfection Line in Boston or the bevy of scoring in Tampa or DC or maybe all of them. At some point the collective isn’t enough and you need stars to drag you over the line. The Canes hope that Aho and Svechnikov are their answer.
Joel Edmundson – For the rest of his career, he’ll have that Stanley Cup sheen that blinds every GM and commentator to the fact that he sucks and is stupid. Edmundson has always been a rock that Blues fans worshipped because he hit Toews once, and he only fits in Carolina because they have so many other mobile d-men. But don’t you fret, this is still the same shit-for-brains you remember, leading the Canes in PIMs at the moment.
Dougie Hamilton’s Coverage – It’s not going to matter to far too many people that Hamilton leads the Canes in points, or is one of the better puck-moving d-men in the league and has been. No, all they’ll focus on, and you can bet Pat and Eddie will remark on it tonight at some point, was that he avoided one hit from Alex Ovechkin in the playoffs that led to a goal. Never mind the Canes won that series or the next one. They’ll do their best to make it seem like all of his teammates hate his guts for that one bailout while extolling the virtues of Edmundson. Bank on it.
Ryan Dzingel – And they may make time to mention how great of a signing Dzingel would have been because he’s from here and got Olczyk’s autograph once because his dad made him while he had no idea who Eddie was.
Hurricanes
Notes: Dougie has a five-game point-streak heading into this one…Svechnikov has seven points in his last four games…Our Special Boy has 10 points in his last nine games…Mrazek has an .886 in November…
Notes: Lehner swings back in, and with no back-to-backs and the schedule a touch on the light side until after the holiday we’ll see if Colliton wants to keep the straight rotation going or ride the slightly hotter hand of Lehner until the back-to-back with Colorado….the Hawks have gotten away with Murphy on the third-pairing since his return, but tonight feels like the time when Gus will get exposed…Toews had two of his stronger games against the Preds and Sabres, which is good because he was basically abysmal against the Leafs and Knights. It’s gotta start soon…
It’s already happening, so perhaps it’s too late to steel ourselves against the oncoming backlash to the Hawks’ two-week stretch of competence, and even excellence at times. Every non-Hawks inclined observer is going to point out that over the past eight games the Hawks have shot 14.4% overall and gotten a save-percentage of .935 and when you get those you’ll probably win six or seven of eight, as the Hawks have. And that’s it’s not sustainable. Hell, did it myself. Rose alluded to it in her Sugar Pile today.
In some ways, it was kind of perfect that the Hawks played the Sabres last night, as you’ll recall that the Sabres won 10 in a row last year about this time of year, and far too many people used it as evidence that the Sabres were BACK or RELEVANT. And they most certainly were not either of those.
One difference is that seven of those 10 wins the Sabres managed were in overtime or a shootout. Only one of the Hawks’ streak here is in extra time, and that was the win in Anaheim. Regulation wins are a little more indicative, though obviously don’t tell a whole story.
And it’s always a worry when a team has to binge wins simply to get into the playoff discussion, not even in the playoff picture or at the top of any division. Because no matter what the process is or what has happened, the Hawks are not going to win six of eight games the rest of the season. Sitting one point out of the last playoff spot with multiple games in hand on Cal and Gary and Vegas is a nice place to be, considering where it started. But also the Knights and Flames are almost certainly better teams than the Hawks, and when the Men of Four Feathers fall off this pace the fear is that the pack will again move away from them.
Hawks critics, or even neutral observers, will quickly point out that the Hawks have the second best PDO in the league for the season, at 1.032 at even-strength (they drop to third at all-strengths, so not much difference). The other teams around them in that category are all near or at the top of their divisions. Colorado, the Islanders, the Bruins, and the Canadiens. You kind of have to be lucky to be good in the NHL.
The thing is, the Hawks are built to be lucky.
“Lucky” meaning that they’re built to have a PDO over 100. 100 has always been considered the neutral number, or the “right” one (quick primer if you’re lost: PDO is your save-percentage and shooting-percentage added together. It’s generally thought these things “normalize” at 100, much like BABIP in baseball at .300). If you stay above that for any stretch, most tend to think there’s air in your results and you’ll come back to Earth eventually, and vice versa.
Yeah, here’s the thing though, or one of them. If you look at save-percentages for goalies for the five seasons previous and this one, the Hawks have two of the top six in Lehner and Crawford (min. 200 appearances). Not only do the Hawks have a very good tandem, they actually have one of the best in recent memory, considering the pedigree.
So if you look at the Hawks’ overall save-percentage of .923…Crawford’s career SV% is .918, and .919 if you throw out last year’s injury-filled mess. Lehner’s career mark is also .919, so one has to ask how far the Hawks are really going to drop off that current .923 team save-percentage they have right now. At evens, Crow’s career mark is .926 and Lehner’s .923. So yeah, maybe they can’t quite keep up this current .940, but it’s also unlikely they’re coming off it that much either. That said, given the amount of shots they’re giving up a drop of 10 points, which would still leave a sterling .930, would be a big problem and result in a tsunami of goals against.
The Hawks are also top-10 in shooting percentage at evens, at 9.2%. That would be a high-water mark for them for the past five seasons or so, as they’ve never been above 8.9%. And maybe there are a couple outliers here. Kirby Dach is probably not going to score on a quarter of his shots going forward, as he currently is. We have no idea on Dominik Kubalik and his 10% mark. Nylander and his 11% mark? Don’t know either.
There are some the other way. We know that Debrincat is a much better finisher than his current 9.5% mark shows. Toews is currently running five points under his career mark as well. Others seem to be right around their mark. So again, 9.2% for the season is maybe a little swollen, but it’s also not outlandish. Five teams finished with a SH% over 9.0 last year, so it’s hardly unheard of. Of course, they were the Caps, Lightning, Leafs, Flames, and Sharks, teams you think of as having far more firepower than the Hawks currently do.
If the Hawks indeed had a plan this summer, and you’ll never convince us they did, this was it. The team might have faults and systemic rot, but at the ends of the ice where the things that happen that determine results, the Hawks would be better than average. Maybe much more so. They would get great goaltending and they would have finish, and they’d do their best to figure out the in-between, though they would almost certainly not come close in process.
We’ve always been process guys, not results guys solely. And the process still kind of blows. The Hawks are giving up three more shots per 60 at evens than anyone else, which is the same difference between the second-worst team (Rangers) and the 10th-worst (Leafs). Their expected-goals against is second-worst. Even over these two weeks, their expected goals against has only improved to eight-worst.
But given the saves and finish, the Hawks probably don’t need to “win” the attempts and chances battles, because they’ll get more goals with what they get than most, and they’ll get more saves than most. Those scales can slide a little in the wrong direction. It’s just a question of how much.
These Hawks were built to ride the wave longer than most. Even if it proves to not be enough.
Time for the good, the bad, and the slightly compelling in the world of the Blackhawks…
The Dizzying Highs
Kirby Dach: Six points in his last four games. Two goals last night against the Sabres. Completely manhandling Jack Eichel. And not only can Dach finish, his passing has been exceptional, as his assist to Dominik Kubalik Saturday night showed. His ability to control the play and hold onto the puck are already beyond his mere 18 years of age. It’s amazing what can happen when a coach and organization have faith in a young talent and encourage it at the NHL level, isn’t it? Now put him on a line with Kampf and Kubalik, damn it.
DeBrincat-Strome-Kane line: In news that surprises nobody, 12-17-88 is an offensive juggernaut. Among them, three total points Saturday night, seven points against the Knights, eight against the Leafs a week ago, and that level of production means that even having a quiet night last night isn’t that big of a deal. Going into Sunday’s game against the Sabres, Patrick Kane had 12 points in his previous five games and he added a goal to that Sunday. He’s on a nine-game point streak, and four of his goals this week came with assists from one or both of Strome and Top Cat. DeBrincat’s pass to Kane for the fifth goal against the Predators was particularly pants-tightening. Saying this line is good is the equivalent of declaring that water is wet, but the mundaneness of the statement doesn’t make it any less true.
The Terrifying Lows
The entire team’s basic defensive abilities except goaltending: This inelegant phrase is my way of saying the Hawks are not better defensively and are giving up way too many shots, chances, what have you. Going into Sunday’s game they were dead-ass last in shots against per game, averaging 37.3, which, as anyone who has watched recently can tell you, feels way too low of a number. Scoring chances against? Ranked 27th in the league with 446. High-danger chances against? Ranked 29th with 193. Now to be fair, those are aggregate numbers and over the last week they gave up only (haha) 75 scoring chances, putting them solidly in the middle of the league in that regard. However, their shots against are still dead-ass last over this past week (going into last night’s game), and after the 57-shot insanity against the Leafs, we’re just amazed that in Sunday’s game they gave up less than 40. So sure, against the Sabres it wasn’t as horrific as earlier in the week, but that’s a very, very low bar.
This is not sustainable. We talked about this on last week’s podcast and while the goaltending has been other-worldly, it’s too much to ask of even this caliber of goalies over the course of an 82-game season. Maybe having Connor Murphy back will help—if he can stay healthy for more than a week, that is. Much has been made of moving the weak-side winger to open up their offense, and that’s been all well and good, obviously. But clearly, whether they have three, four, or 25 guys down low, the Hawks just aren’t doing what needs to be done defensively. They were shitty before the “system change” and haven’t solved the underlying issue, just papered over it with offense.
The Creamy Middles
Erik Gustafsson: He had two goals this week and is generally not terrible to watch right now. The fancy stats won’t wow you (39.4 CF%, 38.5 xGF% and so on), but there are a lot of dumb GMs out there and if Gus can continue not failing the eye test he’ll be a tradeable asset before the deadline. His tough guy routine last night will also appeal to that demographic and improve his trade value even more. And that’s all I really want from him.
The list of the veteran presence on the Rockford IceHogs began and ended with captain Kris Versteeg. Following an announcement this weekend, cross that name off the list.
The 33-year-old Versteeg announced that he requested to be released from his AHL contract after the rigors of playing for the IceHogs proved too much for him. In statements and a press conference on the team website, Versteeg essentially hung it up in terms of his playing career.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion was injured October 18 against Chicago and missed three weeks before returning to action November 8. After two games back in the lineup, Versteeg sat out this weekend’s home-and-home with Grand Rapids before the announcement came Sunday.
In my season preview, I speculated on what kind of impact Versteeg could have with the IceHogs:
The ceiling on this move: a fit and motivated Versteeg plays 60-plus games, puts up some respectable offensive numbers, mentors the piglets on and off the ice and helps draw a few curious fans into the BMO this winter.
As it happens, he wasn’t fit following the injury. When Versteeg returned, he admitted that he didn’t believe he could stay in the lineup and take the pounding skaters receive in the AHL. I hoped for 60 games; turns out the Hogs got six, with a single assist on the score sheet.
There should be no ill feelings toward Versteeg whatsoever. Rockford took a flier on his health back in the spring; Versteeg’s body just couldn’t deliver. It happens.
The piglets must move on. Who fills the void in veteran leadership and mentoring in Rockford?
Well…it depends on what you call “veteran leadership,”.
The old man on the IceHogs is now D Philip Holm, who turns 28 next month. Holm, who had a goal in Friday’s loss to Grand Rapids, now leads the Hogs in scoring with 10 points (3 G, 7 A).
Four players (Tyler Sikura, Matthew Highmore, Collin Delia and Alexandre Fortin) are early into their third seasons in Rockford. Nick Moutrey has four AHL campaigns under his belt. Jacob Nilsson and Anton Wedin are solid citizens with experience overseas prior to coming to town. Each of these guys will have to step up for the Hogs.
This makes Rockford an even younger and less experienced squad. Unlike division rivals Chicago, Milwaukee and Grand Rapids, who are anchored by veteran talent, the IceHogs are going to sink or swim with their collection of prospects.
Recaps
Those prospects split the weekend with the Griffins, losing in Grand Rapids before taking the rematch at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The 8-7 IceHogs are seventh in the Central Division standings with 16 points. However, their .533 points percentage is third-best in the division.
Friday, November 15-Grand Rapids 5, Rockford 2
The Hogs dropped the first half of the weekend’s home-and-home. Rockford never led as the Griffins got four pucks by Hogs starting goalie Collin Delia.
Grand Rapids took a 2-0 advantage in the opening half of the first period. Jarid Lukosevicius collected a faceoff win in the Hogs zone and beat Collin Delia’s stick side from the high slot 6:33 into the game. A couple of minutes later, Matt Puempel beat Adam Boqvist to the left post and tapped in a cross-ice pass from Dominic Turgeon at the 8:32 mark.
The IceHogs pushed back late in the period. Phillip Kurashev took a pass from Nicolas Beaudin and came down the middle looking to get a shot off. The attempt was stopped by the stick of Grand Rapids defenseman Oliwer Kaski but came back to the rookie. Kurashev slid the puck to Matthew Highmore, who guided the pass safely behind Griffins goalie Calvin Pickard at 17:30 of the first.
Rockford appeared to tie the contest with 53 seconds left in the period after Anton Wedin redirected a Tyler Sikura shot on goal. However, it was ruled that Wedin’s stick was a bit high and the power play tally was waved off.
The Griffins extended the lead to 3-1 7:40 into the middle frame. Delia had a real good look at a Chase Pearson shot from the right dot. The offering got under Delia’s blocker and caught cord.
As in the first period, the Hogs response came late. With two Griffins in the box, Rockford found the net on a one-timer by Philip Holm, set up by Jacob Nilsson and Tyler Sikura. The goal came at the 17:29 mark; the piglets skated into the locker room down 3-2.
Midway through the third period, Chris Terry capped off some nice puck movement by the Griffins power play, firing into a wide open net after Puempel and Filip Zadina got Delia moving across the crease. Grand Rapids went up 4-2 on Terry’s ninth goal of the season. Pearson added an empty-net goal in the final minutes.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Nick Moutrey-MacKenzie Entwistle-Reese Johnson
Anton Wedin-Jacob Nilsson-Tim Soderlund
Alexandre Fortin-Tyler Sikura (A)-Dylan Sikura
Matthew Highmore (A)-Phillipp Kurashev-Brandon Hagel
Adam Boqvist-Dennis Gilbert
Philip Holm-Ian McCoshen
Nicolas Beaudin-Joni Tuulola
Collin Delia
Matt Tomkins
Power Play (1-7)
Wedin-T. Sikura-D. Sikura-Nilsson-Holm
Kurashev-Entwistle-Hagel-Boqvist-Beaudin
Penalty Kill (Griffins were 1-3)
Forwards-Wedin-Nilsson-Sikura-Fortin-Highmore-Johnson
Defense-Holm-Gilbert-Tuulola-McCoshen
Saturday, November 16-Rockford 5, Grand Rapids 2
Kevin Lankinen was the hero for the Hogs in the rematch, stopping 42 shots while Rockford made the most of their scoring chances. Five different Hogs potted goals in the victory.
When the smoke cleared at the first period buzzer, Grand Rapids had out shot the Hogs 17-4. Strangely enough, Rockford skated into the locker room with a 2-0 advantage.
Nick Moutrey got the IceHogs on the board 13:29 into the game with a shorthanded goal, swiping a pass and sniping high past Griffins goalie Filip Larsson. Just over a minute later, Phillipp Kurashev sent an off-angle shot past the Grand Rapids rookie.
Alexandre Fortin delivered a pass to MacKenzie Entwistle in front of the Griffins net; the rookie made it a 3-0 game 14:30 into the second period. Grand Rapids got on the board with an Evgeny Svechnikov goal, but Rockford still led 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Brandon Hagel was the recipient of a cross-ice feed from Jacob Nilsson that left Hagel with plenty of room to slide in Rockford’s fourth goal of the night. After Svechnikov got the Griffins back to within two, Fortin was sprung on a breakaway chance by Lucas Carlsson. Fortin converted at 16:00 of the final period to shut the door on Grand Rapids.
Lines (Starters in italics)
Anton Wedin-Jacob Nilsson (A)-Brandon Hagel
Nick Moutrey-Tyler Sikura-John Quenneville
Matthew Highmore-Phillipp Kurashev-Dylan Sikura
Alexandre Fortin-Reese Johnson-MacKenzie Entwistle
Chad Krys-Ian McCoshen
Philip Holm-Lucas Carlsson
Nicolas Beaudin-Denis Gilbert (A)
Kevin Lankinen
Collin Delia
Rockford did not have a power play opportunity.
Penalty Kill (Grand Rapids was 0-4, the Hogs scored shorthanded once.)
Forwards-Wedin-Nilsson-Sikura-Fortin-Moutrey-Highmore-Johnson
Defense-Holm-Gilbert-Krys-McCoshen
Messing With Texas
The Hogs will be spending next weekend, and then some, in the Lone Star State. Rockford visits the Texas Stars on Saturday night, then travel to San Antonio, where they will play on Sunday and Tuesday.
Follow me @JonFromi on twitter for my thoughts on the IceHogs throughout the season.
The Hawks continue to ride the shooting percentage snake. Tonight was also about as well rounded a game as they’ve played. Let’s clean it up to put a nice feather in a good weekend’s cap.
– Kirby Dach, you are our huckleberry. Dach’s been aces over the last few games, and tonight was the exclamation point on his current hot streak. We all knew that Dach had slick hands before he even got here, but the big question mark was how he would look skating at NHL speed. Tonight provided an emphatic answer. Just look at how badly he fooled Jack Eichel on his first goal.
Eichel’s caught flat-footed as Dach explodes through the neutral zone, then redirects Dach’s backhander right past Hutton. Credit A Little Bit of the Kubbly for threading that pass right past the forlorn Henri Jokiharju, but it’s Dach’s effortless stride that’s the star of the show.
On Dach’s second goal, it was almost the exact same play, just going in the opposite direction. Zack “You Actually CAN Spell Party Without Arty” Smith weaved himself into the offensive zone, swept himself into the slot, then dinked a pass to Dach, who once again outskated Eichel for a backhander. The speed-and-hands combo is going to be a nightmare for opponents if he can do that consistently, and it’s looking like he can. He ate Jack Eichel alive all night.
Kirby Dach is extremely good. He may be the cornerstone of the future for the Hawks’s forwards.
– Another game, another brilliant performance from Corey Crawford. Outside of a bad turnover behind the net that nearly led to a Sabres goal in the first, Crawford was about as flawless as could be. For once, the Hawks weren’t vastly outshot by an opponent (34–27 this time around), and they kept most of the Sabres’s attempts to the outside. There’s little more to say about how important Crawford (and Lehner) has been to this team so far.
– Patrick Kane has a nine-game scoring streak with his PP-scramble goal. That creep can roll.
– Dominik Kubalik had a quietly good game tonight, which makes the fact that had just above 12 minutes of ice time in ALL situations a bit puzzling. Yeah, I get not changing shit when it’s working. But I can’t get away from the idea of Saad–Toews–Kubalik and the damage that line could do on both sides of the puck. That line’s missing a finisher, and Kubalik has the shot to be that guy.
– Speaking of Saad, he led all Hawks forwards in ice time tonight, and rightfully so. He and Nylander had three or four 2-on-1s that they just couldn’t make work, whether because of a rogue Nylander pass or Saad’s lack of finish. Those two were so close to making their possession chemistry click that I get keeping them together with Toews, but it might be worth pushing Nylander down in the lines. He’s had success when the stakes aren’t as high. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Back to Saad, his highlight tonight came on Toews’s goal. After a bad Ristolainen turnover on the near boards, Saad crashed the net and, per usual, got stuffed. But he stuck with the puck and found a wide-open Toews in the slot. A quick flick of the wrist and it’s 4–0 Hawks.
– Connor Murphy looked good tonight with several key breakups. His sweep check on Lazar in the first prevented an odd-man rush. He had a strong block after a Crawford save on the PK in the third that prevented an open chance. When he’s healthy, he’s everything that everyone wants Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan to be.
– De Haan was entirely at fault for the Sabres’s only goal, with an unforced giveaway to Jack “My Father Is Younger Than Me” Eichel. His entire third period was piss, but that goal was the only mistake that cost him. Something to keep an eye on, because it was out-of-character bad for him in the third.
– I’m done with Andrew Shaw, friends. Yes, he got an assist on Dach’s goal, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he can’t stickhandle for shit and his skating fucking sucks. The best example of this was at the end of the Hawks’s PP in the second. He had an unforced turnover in the offensive zone that he parlayed into a totally unnecessary neutral zone hooking penalty that put Buffalo on the PP. The Hawks killed it off and all, but this kind of shit would get most guys scratched. Shaw did end up toward the bottom end of the TOI mix, so maybe Coach Kelvin Gemstone’s brand is on the rise.
Taking nine of their last 10 points available is fun. The way they’re doing it is fun. Let’s enjoy this fun for as long as it lasts.
Onward.
Beer du Jour: High Life
Line of the Night: “He’s trying to get off really hard.” Konroyd on Dach
