At this point in this era of the Hawks, there are no statement games. Ownership on down has given an organizational mandate on the standard to which this team is to be held, and that’s silver and parades. That being said. with this being the third game in four nights after playing a back and forth affair in West East St. Louis last night, it could have been very easy for the Hawks to kind of pack it in tonight without their 2nd line center, but that didn’t happen.
vs. 
RECORDS: Sharks 19-11-1 Hawks 21-8-4
PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV: WGN, NHL-N outside the 606
CHUM: @ItWasThreeZero
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Sharks – 52.5 (8th) Hawks – 50.1 (15th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Sharks – 53.2 (6th) Hawks – 47.5 (20th)
POWER PLAY: Sharks – 17.8 (14th) Hawks – 18.4 (14th)
PENALTY KILL: Sharks – 81.7 (17th) Hawks – 73.3 (30th)
TRENDS: Joel Ward was a healthy scratch in Montreal… Brent Burns leads the league in shots
After quashing whatever was being vocalized from St. Louis about being a competitor in the West, the Hawks will welcome the San Jose Sharks tonight, and these two look for all the world to be headed toward each other again in deep spring. So while there’s no such thing as statement games, if you want to toss around the phrase “playoff preview” it’s actually somewhat apt.
Let’s try something different tonight. I’m sure you all come here and expect a certain form for the game wrap, as you should. But quite frankly, I’m tired of writing of the same game wrap for games against the Blues. So let’s try prose.
They’re so scripted. It’s so easy. We know what they are, and though they keep screaming that this time will be different, it really never is. Oh sure, they’ll point to last spring as proof that the tide has turned. But seriously? They don’t give you banners for reaching the conference final. They don’t give you banners for beating a seriously flawed team that in previous incarnations has won the trophy your team could only fantasize about three times. So here we are.
vs. 
RECORDS: Hawks 20-8-4 Blues 17-10-4
TV: CSN
THINK DEXTER FOWLER HAS TOO MUCH FUN: St. Louis Gametime
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.1 (15th) Blues – 52.4 (10th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 47.5 (21st) Blues 51.9 (13th)
POWER PLAY: Hawks – 19.0 (15th) Blues – 21.9 (7th)
PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 73.3 (30th) Blues – 88.2 (2nd)
TRENDS: Tarasenko has 14 points in his last eight games… Allen has made over 30 saves just twice in 25 appearances
After getting a couple looks at one of the East’s best over the past week in the Rangers, the Hawks will spend the weekend amongst the West’s aristocracy, or at least what’s supposed to be the aristocracy. The Blues tonight and the Sharks tomorrow are both teams, along with the Hawks, that are supposed to be around longer than it takes at the DMV come the spring.
There are arguments to both sides of the Blues trading Brian Elliot during the summer. He was in the last year of his contract, and if he matched his performance with his entire Blues career he was going to get awfully expensive. The Blues have wanted to give Jake Allen the job for a few years, or more to the point they wanted Allen to take it, and no better way than simply tossing him in the deep end.
On the other side, the Blues had just made a trip to the Conference Final, which might as well have been Mars for them considering their recent history, and a lot of that was on the back of Elliot’s play last spring. The Blues aren’t playing for the future. This is their window, and it isn’t getting any wider. Both Shattenkirk and Parayko are due large raises after the season and they’re both not going to get it from the Blues. So there was serious thought they should go for it with everything this year.
How’s it all going for Allen? Not great, Bob.
Feels like it’s that time again. Let’s get nerdy!
These are the Hawks’ even-strength save-percentage at home and then on the road. Let’s be clear, the road mark is more more than acceptable. It’s why the Hawks are one of the few teams in the West to be above .500 on the road. Still, it’s a tad weird.
You can understand why skaters would have differing home-road splits. Get better matchups at home, maybe more beneficial zone starts. Goalies are susceptible to the same differences in the colors and the whites, i.e. familiar surroundings, routines, whatever else. But they face the same matchups no matter what.
You’d think with the difference in matchups going your way at home and not at home that the Hawks might be a more defensively leaky team on the road. But it doesn’t appear so. They give up just about the same amount of attempts per 60 between the two, 53.7 off of Madison St. vs. 53.6 on it. Scoring chances? 9.7 on the road per 60 vs. 9.0 at home. xGA60? 2.7 on the road and 2.4 at home.
When the Hawks were shorthanded, they attempted to tighten things up a bit, though considering how many shots they gave up whenever there was a genuine NHL team across from them, I’m not sure it worked. Tonight was definitely not tightened up, as this was as open of a game as the Hawks have had in a while. It worked as just about all the rest have; goaltending finds its feet and makes some huge saves to prevent a deficit from getting unmanageable, the top line scores, and then some sort of wrinkle. The wrinkle tonight wast that the Islanders for some reason never watched tape on on the Hawks power play and kept leaving the cross-ice pass open, and the Hawks got goals from the Toews and Kruger lines.
Add it all up, and it’s just enough. Let’s clean it up.
at 
Game Time: 6:00PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Worship & Tribute: Lighthouse Hockey
The Hawks remain in a New York state of mind, taking a trip across the East River and into Prospect Heights to take on the scuffling Islanders in their completely cockeyed arena.
Can you believe it’s been 10 years since Garth Snow retired as an NHL goaltender and immediately moved into the GM’s chair on the Island? At the time it just seemed the latest spasm of insanity from a complete basketcase of an organization that the Islanders were under Charles Wang at times. It always felt like something that would be quickly corrected once someone with any kind of sense finally bought the Isles. Well, that took 10 years and Snow is still here (and Wang wasn’t actually the huge goof he played at being when he first arrived on the scene, though he had goof tendencies).
What became even more surprising is that Snow turned out to be not terrible at his job, or at least not every aspect of it. Which was stunning considered he didn’t serve any kind of apprenticeship or training. He basically took off the gear and there was a suit under it.
A day late, sorry about that. Anyway, Fifth Feather, Cieslak, and myself discuss the state of the Hawks’ defense, their goaltending, league-wide trends, 24/7, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Enjoy.
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