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Game Time: 8:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, Channel Formerly known as Vs, CBC/87.7FM
Schlafly Drinkers: SLGT
Here we are coming off the Blues best game of the series and the Hawks worst but yet we also saw the Hawks eek out a win, largely on the back of one Corey Crawford. After just barely getting a desperately needed win, there are still plenty of questions up in the air. Fels did a great job of covering most of them surrounding line up changes and other ideas in his post yesterday. There were some glaring and some minor issues we saw on Monday night so the question now is, will Q do anything to address them?
The answer, of course, is no. No he won’t.
Reports are from all those at the morning skate that there have been no changes to the line up so far today. Things could change before the later than usual puck drop but you’ve probably got better odds doubling down on 20 than you do at seeing much change. For those keeping track at home, we saw these combinations this morning.
29-19-88
10-26-81
23-65-20
52-16-28
The only thing of note coming from the Blackhawks was Keith not taking part in the practice. Though with the amount of TOI he’s had the past few games, he’s most likely just taking some time off his legs… though still practicing his two handed tomahawk chop he’s deployed so often this series. Seriously, no more slashing Keith.
Now – over in St. Louis’ camp, there is plenty of news to talk about. Reports are that Backes may have had a miraculous recovery and the odds of him returning to the lineup tonight are above 50%… if you can really measure them in that way. With the return of Berglund in the last game, that would put the Blues back at 100% of their roster which would clearly be a welcome sight down in St. Louis. I don’t like playing the skeptic but I would clearly have my concerns on seeing Backes return. The only quotes I’ve actually read from Hitchcock have been “No update” but there seem to be those who believe we may see their captain return. He’s not out there for their skate though, so it’s probably a longshot that he’ll return for the game. Brenden Morrow also isn’t out there for their skate. No word though if that’s precaution after his return or if he’s aggravated his foot injury again. Roy, who was bumped with Berglund’s return, has taken his place.
With the lineups more or less the same then from Monday’s game, the question will be, can the Hawks actually find their game and if not, can Corey catch lightning in a bottle twice? The Hawks only had brief stretches in game 3 where it looked like they were a threat (none on the power play, of course). That simply won’t work if they hope to take 3 more from the Blues. While Miller has let in at least one bad goal in each of the three games thus far, you can’t count on him doing it every night. He’s just as capable as stealing a game as Crawford is and we’ve already played that hand. The Blues are going to come at the Hawks defenders hard on the forecheck, they’ve had 3 games to adapt to that but seem to just be getting worse. Shorter, quicker passes are going to be the key to the game. We know the Hawks are capable of more, the question just is, will we see it?
Lets make this a best of three.
Lets Go Hawks
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