I suppose it’s fitting that in the first day of the post-Cutler era the Hawks showed about as much verve as he was falsely accused of showing on some gamedays (#CuttyForever). I’m not going to put any more focus onto this wrap than the Hawks did in this game tonight, so here’s a musical representation of just how interested the Hawks were in Joe Louis Arena tonight:
vs. 
RECORDS: Hawks 42-19-5 Wings 25-29-11
PUCK DROP: 6:30pm Central
TV: CSN, NHLN for those not around here
THE UNMENTIONABLES: Winging It In Motown
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 51.2 (9th) Wings – 47.4 (25th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 49.2 (17th) Wings – 47.3 (27th)
POWER PLAY %: Hawks – 19.3 (15th) Wings – 12.6 (Dead Ass Last)
PENALTY KILL %: Hawks – 77.2 (27th) Wings – 81.3 (13th)
The last game at the Joe. There probably won’t be any tear shed by any Hawks fan. I suppose there’s some feeling of lost that this is basically the last “old” building in the league, and it’s going to go the way of all the others. Soon, the Wings will move into yet another faceless, corporate, sterile building to go with their faceless, sterile team. But for Hawks fans, the amount of fucksticks and shitheels that used to grace the surface at Joe Louis Arena will mean sentimentality will certainly be at a minimum.
It’s gonna die. All things do, but we’ve waited for this one for a long time now. It should have died a while ago. It should have died in 2013, but Columbus spit up all over themselves. It was so close. And then Bruce Boudreau had to go and give it credence by then spitting up all over himself in a Game 7 at home, the first time he’d done it with the Ducks but the fourth time overall after departing DC. It shouldn’t have had to come to that.
And then they fucked off to the Eastern Conference, after Quenneville woke up just in time in 2013 to save us from the ultimate embarrassment. Had they stayed in the West beyond the lockout year, this streak would have died ages ago. Oh sure, they stretched the Lightning to seven games by some miracle once, and have gotten clocked twice more. They’ve never been a threat. And now that the East has finally usurped the West as the power conference, even though they play in the far worse half of it, they’re going to miss out. It’s finally over.
Well that’s a funny looking strike.
These are the games that really annoy fans like you and us, and not because the Hawks got goalie’d by the Ducks backup. That happens. It’s hockey. This is why it should have been Andy Warhol’s favorite sport, because any jamoke in the gear can have his night. Bernier’s actually been really good the past few appearances, so whatever.
No, what’s annoying is you’ll see a bunch of utterances and belches from players and coaches about how they didn’t get traffic, or didn’t get the greasy goal, or their shot selection is off, because no one can ever admit the guy in the other crease was just better than everyone else. There was nothing wrong about what the Hawks did tonight. They had traffic. They had chances. Another night, they go in. This was not another night. Move on.
Anyway, guess we’d better clean it up.
vs.
RECORDS: Ducks 34-22-10 Hawks 42-18-5
PUCK DROP: 7:30 pm Central
TV: CSN
GOT A RIDE AND A REASON TO IGNORE YOU: Anaheim Calling, Also Jen Neale of Puck Daddy tweets about the Ducks a lot @MsJenNeale_PD but she’s a gross girl who eats her own boogers and possibly worms so don’t talk to her
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Ducks – 50.2 (18th) Hawks – 51.2 (9th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Ducks – 52.2 (7th) Hawks – 49.1 (18th)
POWER PLAY %: Ducks – 19.0 (16th) Hawks – 19.4 (15th)
PENALTY KILL %: Ducks – 84.8 (6th) Hawks – 76.9 (27th)
It came a little later than usual, thanks to injuries, but the Hawks are going to have their usual “New Toy Night” tonight after the trade deadline, as Johnny Oduya will bring that life-affirming beard back out onto the UC ice tonight, opposite his muse of yore (if two seasons ago can be considered “yore.” I’m not too clear on what the qualifications on “yore” are) Niklas Hjalmarsson who will also return from tonight.
If you’ve followed this site and/or read the program we used to do back when I wasn’t completely dead inside, you know exactly how I feel about the Anaheim Ducks. While the conjecture of recent years has been to move/fold the Coyotes or Panthers or Hurricanes, I would offer up Anaheim as simply the worst hockey market imaginable and not only would I fold the Ducks but I would then implode the Honda Center, then light the remains on fire, then light the ashes on fire, and then essentially neuralize every hockey fan everywhere so we could forget they ever existed. This is one of the dumber fanbases in one of the more terrible places in the country, despite the “happiness” contained just down the street from the Ponda Center, and quite frankly their one Stanley Cup should be erased from the record. A Cup that essentially convinced far too many hockey fans, and basically everyone in the O.C., that the Ducks won the Cup because they fought a lot and turned Brian Burke into a goddamn folk hero which we’re still fucking plagued with. Luckily, one result of that was the Leafs spinning their tires for a good few more years when they bought into that bullshit, so silver linings are always there if you look hard enough. Still, really all Burke did for that champion Ducks team was have the ingenious idea of acquiring two of the greatest d-men of all time in Neidermayer and Pronger. How brilliant.
And why yes, I was in the building in 2007 when Teemu Selanne scored a hat trick against the Hawks, which in no way will be the central point of my note when you find me hanging from a ceiling beam down the road sometime. Also, while we’re on the subject, if a player had the same production curve at the same age as Selanne in baseball, wouldn’t we be all chanting, “H-G-H!” at him? Just a question. But I guess when you’re white and good with the media we don’t do that type of thing, huh?
Because the internet never, EVER forgets, a Russian language video of Artemi Panarin from 2012 has resurfaced showing him making racist comments on film.
To say the Rockford IceHogs have been depleted by the deadline deals of their parent club would be a massive understatement.
Hey, that’s the way it goes when you are an affiliate. As the AHL season approaches the final weeks, the fact remains that the Hogs are going to be suffering from a definite lack of manpower.
When the names that matter get on the scoresheet for the Hawks, it’s a time-tested recipe for success. Not pictured…Italian chef kissing fingers.
On the second of a back-to-back against an opponent looking to get the bad taste of a last second loss out of their mouths, the Hawks faced a Predators team that was as desperate as a team in early March could be. The Predators did what they normally do. Scratch, claw and annoy the piss out of their opponent until they achieve their desired result.
Tonight was no different as the Predators rallied from a 2-0 and 3-1 deficit to tie the game in the third period. And just like they did on Thursday against Montreal, the Predators allowed a tie-breaking goal in the final minute of regulation.
You saw the game. Here are the other things you may not have noticed.
–Jordin Tootoo probably won’t play a better game in the Indian head ever again. Tootoo created offensive chances in almost every shift he had tonight and scored his first point, a goal. On Tootoo’s goal, it was his pass that set up the opportunity for his goal.
As the puck rang around the boards, Tootoo drew two defenders to him. To their credit, they didn’t think Tootoo could do anything other than eat the puck along the wall and hope for a teammate to come in and support him. Instead, Tootoo whipped around to his forehand and made a blind cross-ice pass to Duncan Keith.
Keith drew the defender towards him and chipped the puck to a wide open Brent Seabrook. This led to Tootoo’s goal as both defenders that were going after Tootoo then dove to block Seabrook’s shot.
None of that happens without Tootoo’s pass and it was quite exceptional.
–One thing to keep in mind if this is the first round matchup, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith probably won’t be matched up against Swedish bowling ball Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg. That draw will go to Oduya and Hjalmarsson, at least at first. So while it is less than ideal that Keith and Seabrook were on the ice for all three goals against, the playoffs will see a different matchup.
Also, it’s worth noting that this was the second of a back-to-back and Seabrook is probably at the stage of his career where they can be a little tougher than they were earlier in his career.
–Michal Kempny played 12 minutes but it felt like more. Kempny’s play has started to come around to the point where I’m not holding my breath on the next unlucky mistake that will find him stapled to the bench.
In the second period, he made a very subtle play that opened up a skating lane that didn’t exist. He corralled the puck in his own end and turned to skate up the ice. The lane he wanted to go down initially was closed, though, so he circled back with a very nifty move and this opened up a new lane. Within two or three strides, Kempny was streaking down the left wing and fed Marian Hossa which led to a quality scoring chance.
Something out of nothing.
–It’s always important when the Hawks add new wrinkles to their power play as this allows for the Panarin one-timer to be available more frequently. Tonight, a rotation found Kane on the left wing with the puck. To his credit, Kane took the opportunity to fire the puck towards the net and found the back of it. In the future, this will hopefully force teams to not just worry about defending the one-timer.
–Nashville’s third goal was a heckuva shot by Arvidsson. We’ve seen enough of Corey Crawford to know that it didn’t sit well with him. Crawford, as he is wont to do, locked it down after that and made several key saves as the Predators continued their assault at his net. Crawford was there every time and it allowed Toews and Campbell to connect for their heroics.
–I’m still not sure the Predators could’ve defended Campbell’s goal any better. Toews just has that way of finding passing lanes at the end of a game where it looks like there aren’t any. Maybe one of the Predators could’ve been quicker to pressure Toews instead of both backing off. Regardless, I’m not sure it would’ve made much of a difference.
–The Hawks sit in first place again by one point with three games at hand over Minnesota. That will probably not stand by their next game. They also will have a few days off to get Schmaltz, Oduya and Hjalmarsson healthy. The next time they take the ice, they’re going to slightly different. Until then.
at 
Game Time: 7:00PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Get The Red Out: On The Forecheck
In what is looking more and more to be the case as games tick off the schedule, this will be the last meeting between the Hawks and Predators until Game 1 of the Western Conference Playoffs. And with both teams apparently locked into their respective positions within the division, tonight in Nashville and here on out remain about getting healthy and tightening up play more than about results.
