Just keep swimming: LGH
Get Well Mr. Hockey: SI
Don’t tell SunTimes readers: ESPN
But does it ? TSN
Probably Not: GnM
Perfect:PD
It seems like a recurring dream, where the Hawks fling rubber like monkey feces at an opposing goalie for 60 straight minutes, and yet can’t seem to make any twine ripple. Yet this one feels like the first time a goalie really had to channel Houdini to get out of some of the jams the Hawks put him in, as John Gibson was excellent. Throw in a couple posts rang as well, and you get yet another frustrating night. Still, there’s hardly much to complain about, as the Hawks were just a shade better than the Ducks everywhere but in goal (and they weren’t much worse there either).
It seems like a recurring dream, where the Hawks fling rubber like monkey feces at an opposing goalie for 60 straight minutes, and yet can’t seem to make any twine ripple. Yet this one feels like the first time a goalie really had to channel Houdini to get out of some of the jams the Hawks put him in, as John Gibson was excellent. Throw in a couple posts rang as well, and you get yet another frustrating night. Still, there’s hardly much to complain about, as the Hawks were just a shade better than the Ducks everywhere but in goal (and they weren’t much worse there either).
Been a while since I’ve taken a hack at one of these, so let’s get to it. These should obviously come with something of a caveat, as five games isn’t much of a sample size. However, seeing as how my time machine is on the fritz and I can’t zoom into the future a couple months and then come back with numbers with a bigger sample size, this will have to do. Blame the dog. She chased her ball in there and knocked something loose. Engineering isn’t really her thing.
65.5%, 64%
That’s Duncan Keith’s Corsi-percentage, which is tops in the league among defensemen, and in fact tops the every single player. Better yet, Niklas Hjalmarsson’s 64% is second in the league. Again, these numbers were piled up against some awful teams, other than Dallas. So you’d expect these numbers to be pretty high. But for comparison’s sake, Keith’s season long Corsi% last year when he won the Norris is 57%. Hammer’s number is impressive because A)he’s not really required to push the play as much as defend, B) he spent three games playing with both van Riemsdyk and Oduya and flipping from the left to the right and back again. While I still worry about Keith being now over 30 and maintaining this form, the opening signs are very positive indeed. We’ll find out more this week on the road, of course.
So much for that LTIR: LGH
Probably in front of the 17th pick of the 2009: CSN AP
Notes from Rock Vegas: TMI
Farewell Brave Lion: HockeeNight
The Pee-Wee team in Garden River is insulted: TSN
This is what happens when you build a rink in the Everglades: CBS
and I don’t present a problem to an unlimited lobster dinner: SN AP
Rapid Overreaction: NHL
Damn Real: HockeeNight
Crow: LGH
Kaner: CST
If the shoe fits: Chicago Tribune
Comcast is allowed to get away with it: SN
Yes it is: ESPN
vs. 
FACEOFF: 7:30 PM Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN Radio 720
YEE HAW!: Defending Big D
Here we go. The curtain raiser on the sometimes confusing, sometimes frustrating, sometimes slog, 82-game story of the 2014-2015 season. And while the Hawks certainly have some new parts to show and some questions to answer, the excitement will mostly be contained on the other side of the ice.
