District 5 coming to the west side:Daily Herald
Probably because qualifying offers weren’t screwed up this time:CBS
Finding the niche:CSN
Mustard:TSN
Controversy creates Cash:Sportsnet
Recent Posts
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Burn Through the Witches: Blackhawks 1, Lightning 0 (OT)
With the Lightning coming off a hard fought overtime win against Winnipeg the night before, they came into the United Center looking to jump out early and hang on. Corey Crawford stood tall in the early going and it turned out to be all the Hawks really needed from him.
There was a Tyler Johnson post in the third but other than that, there weren’t a whole lot of opportunities to be had.
Meanwhile, the Hawks threw everything at old Kristers and he was more than ready to meet the task. Which shouldn’t be surprising seeing as though he stood toe to toe with a Canadian all star team in Sochi.
Jonathan Toews then decided enough with the silliness and went 1-on-3 to finish it off.
Onwards.
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Through All The Sleepless Nights And All The Endless Days: Lightning at Hawks Preview/Pregame Thread/Champagne Hour
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PUCK DROP: 7:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN For both, NHLN-US, Sportsnet
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: Raw Charge
Always ace scheduling from the NHL when they take their Stanley Cup Final rematch and stick it on a Saturday in October. One of the handful of games the casual fan outside the two markets might notice, and it’s on at the worst possible time. The NHL: 99 years with a thumb up their own ass.
Anyway, the Hawks will get a decent look at what they can do against a premier team in the league without their biggest weapon in Duncan Keith. The Panthers have a decent set of speed and skill on all four lines, but they would be the JV to the Lightning’s varsity squad that roll in tonight.
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Angry At Numbers
Now that Slak has taken away my angry ranting posts, and rightly so because I’m just not angry of a person despite what my appearance, music tastes, and general demeanor would indicate (“denial ain’t just a river in Egypt, hon). So I guess I’d better slink back into my other corner on this fun little prison riot, and that’s being a nerdy nerdy dweeboid with glasses who’s terrified of girls (the last two are actually probably quite accurate). So let’s do it, shall we?
48.9%
This is Toews’s season Corsi-percentage, and while that might not seem all that low, it’s basically 10% below where he’s been the past four years, which is canyon-esque, and the canyon I’m referring to is the one Affleck, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Peter Stormare jumped over in their lunar cruiser (Jesus Fucking Christ why do I know that?).
Now, there are a couple huge caveats to add here (and you can add you’re own terrible movie metaphor in your own head for that one). One, we’re still talking about seven games, a mere drop in the pond. Second, this is actually trending the right way because the first couple games of the season Toews was around 40%. He certainly kicked around the Panthers last night and was better against the Jackets, though that probably falls into the low-hanging fruit category. While Barkov is going to be a great player one day soon, he’s probably not quite ready to go toe-to-toe with the league greats like Tavares or Couturier were earlier in the season.
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Didn’t Notice You Were Gone: Panthers 2 – Hawks 3
There probably isn’t a more gentle way to start the first stretch without Duncan Keith than playing a young team that puts on a display that looks reminiscent to a group of teenagers having their first weekend with the parents out of town (which most of the Panthers aren’t that far removed from, either the teenagers or the parents depending on the player). They were sloppy and disjointed, and the Hawks stable enough that they could basically step back and let the roof cave in on the Cats just enough to walk away with a 3-2 win. Also helps when you spend nearly half of the last 40 minutes on the power play.
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Stray Cat Strut – Panthers vs Hawks Preview, Fire Suppression System Testing
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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Jimmy Buffett Sucks: Litter Box CatsIn today’s episode of the family favorite series Not Tone Deaf, the following is presented free of comment:
Tune in to @WGNRadio's "The Coach Q Show," presented by @Hooters, as Joel Quenneville previews tonight's game! https://t.co/WialiEkAvt
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 22, 2015
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Morning Links 10.22.2015
Not the good kind of cap relief:NBC
You can’t replace him:Blackhawk UP
Nothing Cooking:SunTimes
TVR ready:Daily Herald
This would be perfect for me:TSN
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Less Than Optimal
Going into the season, the one thing most Hawks fans and analysts said the Hawks couldn’t have was an injury to Duncan Keith. Time to break the glass on that case, then.
It came out today that Duncan Keith had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee. He will be out 4-6 weeks. And this is clearly the one injury the Hawks couldn’t cope with. Even if Toews had to miss a month, there are enough competent centers that they could stay afloat. An injury to Hossa or Kane, the Hawks have enough depth with their wings that they probably could have made it work. But this…, like with Miranda Priestly, there is no Plan B.
