Just cleaning up some discussion points from Sunday’s opener.

-While some are claiming the Hawks won yet another game where they were outplayed for long stretches, I’m not so sure. Yes, the 2nd period wasn’t pretty (and that’s something the Hawks will have to correct), but everything around that looks pretty all right. The first period saw the Hawks better in Fenwick 10-7, and the 3rd period was even at 6-6.

What is more encouraging is that once the Hawks took the lead, the shot-attempt per Fenwick was only 11-8 in favor of the Kings. Being even in the 3rd when the Hawks had the lead they weren’t completely bombarded, though maybe it felt like that at times. We know this was an issue against the Blues, and against the Wild the Hawks actually didn’t have the lead that much late (only in Game 5 did they protect a one-goal lead late, and once they did they were out attempted 12-5).

We lamented about the shell in the first two rounds, but yesterday the Hawks saw it out through suffocating, aggressive defense which then got the killer goal as the Kings pressed at the wrong time (thank you, Jake Muzzin!). I like that.