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Game Time: 7:30PM
TV/Radio: Comcast SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
Underneath These Shitty Stars: Defending Big D
Another day, another repugnant Blackhawks sex scandal, another STATEMENT GAME with a Central Division opponent.
Boy this season just gets more and more fun.
Close friend of the program Chris Block tweeted out a story last night about Hawks’ prospect Garret Ross being charged with one count of non-consensual dissemination of sexual images, or in terms you might have heard “revenge porn.” I’m not going to go into what it is for those who don’t know, but just understand it’s thoroughly disgusting and basically if guilty Ross should be beaten across the face with a piece of heavy mining equipment, to quote one of my favorite philosophers.
Where the discussion should turn at some point is how the Hawks handled yet another story of sexual misconduct, or didn’t. Whatever you think of how the Kane story went down and how the Hawks handled it, this is the second straight season that a story of sexual impropriety is being told about the Hawks organization. I think we’re definitely approaching “trend” designation if we’re not there already.
The past couple weeks, I’ve seen more noise about the Hawks “faceoff struggles” than I have in a long while. It’s almost like people seem to feel that the Hawks were a dominant faceoff team for the entire Quenneville Era, which they most certainly have not been. And it’s almost like we didn’t figure out that faceoffs don’t really correlate to wins and losses and good and bad team, which we kind of have. Let’s delve deeper, hmmm?
Here are your top five best faceoff teams: Arizona, Carolina, Minnesota, Anaheim, and St. Louis. That’s two surefire playoff teams, two teams completely out of it, and one on the very borderline. Yes, you’ll find only non-playoff teams in the bottom five, but you’ll also find Nashville and Chicago in the bottom 10. That hasn’t stopped the Predators from being one of the best even-strength teams in the league.
The Rockford IceHogs, AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, have a crowd on the blue line these days.
With David Rundblad finishing his season in Europe and being assigned to Rockford on Friday, the Hogs had eight healthy bodies to patrol the back end. Coach Ted Dent will certainly have numerous options for the final dozen games on his team’s schedule.
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PUCK DROP: 7:30 Central
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio
GOIN’ CRAZY OUT BY DA LAKE DERE: Hockey Wilderness
The Hawks get to round out their tour of Central Division jobbers tonight with a home date against the Green and Red from the Twin Cities. Even though the Wild are going to have scrape and claw to just get the last playoff spot over the Avalanche, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been a total headache for the Hawks this season. It’s something you’d think the Hawks want to set straight, but at this time of year we’re never certain where the Hawks focus is.
The one nice thing about this recent funk from the Hawks is that games like this come up on the schedule and are not overlooked. Facing a team like the Winnipeg Jets normally would have the Hawks set the “Give-o-Fuck” meter to slightly above 0. Last night, the Hawks could afford to do no such thing.
Paced by all three scoring lines and a rare, solid road effort from LOCAL GUY Scott Darling, the Hawks wrapped this one up at the 37 minute mark when Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa scored within 30 seconds of each other. That was all the Jets needed to fold up the tents for the night.
Two more goals in the third and that was that.
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PUCK DROP: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio
JET CITY WOMAN: Arctic Ice Hockey
Well, there can’t be a better way to get healthy after losing four in a row than spending the weekend taking on the Central Division jobbers known as the Jets and Wild (and then a Stars team that will be without Klingberg and Seguin, or the Western Canada swing after that… say, the schedule gets pretty light here, huh?) Considering the Stars’ injuries and the Blues’ sudden case of suck-itis (13 goals to the Flames and Oilers, huh?), if the Hawks have any desire to win the division or put one last regular season surge on film then you’d have to think it starts now.
Tonight in the Peg: Blackhawks
Uh oh: SN
Maybe take a breath: CSN
At least sit Mashinter: SCH
Morrow retires: PHT
It’s clear that Joel Quenneville recognizes what his team’s problems are. Defensive depth, trouble scoring at even-strength, some mismatched lines. He attempted to address them tonight, rightly or wrongly. It didn’t quite work and the Hawks dropped their 4th straight game. If it wasn’t for Panarin’s buzzer-beater in St. Louis, they wouldn’t even have a point in that stretch.
This one started a lot like the Kings’ game, but for a longer stretch where the Hawks had the upper hand. They actually took the lead this time when Ghost Bear broke his stick and fell over, giving Hossa a runway that he didn’t turn down. Once again, they hit a post or two or Neuvirth made a couple big saves that kept them from extending the lead. The bugaboo of a PK reared it’s ugly head again at the end of the 1st.
