7-5: Blackhawks
Vermette was worth it: CST
Rundblad was not: Trib
Manshitter was more important: CSN
Umm okay: PD
Well that got a little silly.
I don’t know that the Hawks played particularly well tonight, but they played well enough to let some awful Yotes goaltending (Anders Lindback is 6-7 and yet can’t see over or around a screen?) and cash in on some abstract officiating from Dan O’Hochuli (credit McClure on that one) before the Yotes could cash in on the same abstract officiating. They certainly turned off in the 3rd letting Arizona back into it, and the penalty kill gave up the cross ice pass far too easily. How checked in they were is up for debate. Feel like we’ll be having that debate a few times before the season is over.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 8pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio
SUUUUPER GENIUS: Five For Howling
The Hawks head out for a short two-game trip that will close out 2015 (the most roller coaster year ever, clearly). It starts with the last team in the West the Hawks haven’t seen yet this season, the Arizona Coyotes. And for once, they actually look like they’re staying put for five minutes. I know, right?
Doomed from the start:Blackhawk Up
Gustafsson Up:CBS
Too Cute:SunTimes
Fading into irrelevance:Denver Post
Hell of a streak:SB
It was a rough holiday stretch for the Rockford IceHogs. The Blackhawks AHL affiliate dropped three games this past week.
Goals were hard to come by, with Rockford finding twine just four times in the three losses. Two of those defeats came at the hands of Milwaukee, who supplanted the Hogs at the top of the Central Division. Rockford also dropped its first game to the Iowa Wild in just over a year.
All of a sudden, the IceHogs are on a four-game losing streak as they prepare to enter the new year. In addition, the Hogs lost the services of one of their leading scorers for a few games.
Box Score
Event Summary
War on Ice
For the second straight game, the Hawks were damn near shut out by a team who had played the night before after having one or more days off themselves. They were outplayed, and none of the scoring chances came when anything in the game was in question. They made a struggling goaltender look positively heroic. They looked slow, old, and stupid. This is what happens to a one-line team when that one line isn’t scoring and half of the defensemen on the ice arguably should not even be in the NHL. This dislikeable group isn’t doing a goddamn thing as presently constituted. What a waste of fucking time.
vs,
PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN for both
HERE COMES THE STORY: Canes Country
The Hawks come out of the Christmas break, a day after most teams, with a pretty soft landing in catching the Carolina Hurricanes on the second of a back-to-back. They’ll be fully healthy as well, with Marian Hossa coming back from the auto-body shop to buff the dents out of his cyborg exterior and will suit up tonight.
After all the important games the Blackhawks have played over the seven seasons, it’s increasingly harder to put much significance on regular season games. Tonight’s game in Dallas was a little different. Not only were the Hawks getting their first look at the Central Division leading Stars but also their first look at Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya in the green and white.
In fact, the only regular season game that had a slightly similar feel since the first Cup was hoisted was when the Hawks went down to Atlanta in 2010-2011 when they played Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Brent Sopel and Ben Eager for the first time.
So you had a feeling both teams would be slightly more engaged than usual. And they were.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 7:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio
THEY’VE GOT A WALL INSIDE THEIR HEAD: Defending Big D
Here it comes.
The storylines are going to drip off this one, more so that most regular season games. First, you have the Hawks getting their first look at the West’s best so far, the Dallas Stars. They will certainly have had this one circled in the DFW area. Second, the first regular season reunion between the Hawks, Patrick Sharp, and Johnny Oduya. Third, you have two of the best lines in hockey, the one of Seguin-Benn-Guest Star (Get it?) and the SuperPAK line for the Hawks. It certainly has a lot going for it for a game still in the first half of the season.
(And none of it will keep me from going to see Star Wars tonight, but that’s not why you called).
So wait, the sky isn’t falling? USA Today
Reunited and it may not feel good:CSN
He says that now:DMN
This would help:Blackhawk Up
Artemi not happy:LGH
