As was noted in the preview, Sergei Bobrovsky was never going to allow much tonight, what with his .970 and total of 10 goals allowed for the month coming into tonight. Fortunately Corey Crawford was every bit of Bobrovsky’s equal tonight, while the rest of the team never really had to get out of third gear.
There’s a line I like to use, I wish it was mine. Most of the shit I say isn’t mine. Anyway, I took it from something someone said about the first era of Mourinho’s Chelsea. It was, “The way to beat them is the same way you get flattened by them.” It works for this Hawks team.
I don’t think the Penguins had the wrong plan, even though they have maybe half of their strongest roster right now. You can’t beat the Hawks trying to be conservative, or trapping, or toeing carefully in the offensive zone. Give the Hawks too much space, doesn’t press their weak points.
You do beat them by going right at them. Trying to get speed to the outside, which the slower-than-accustomed Hawks defense can’t really deal with. You get your defense involved, ahead of forwards the Hawks might have left too high. You make the same, short passes at your line that the Hawks do at theirs to bypass the third forward and possibly a pinching d-man.
The problem though, is that if you don’t take the chances that creates, or the Hawks are at the absolute top of their game, or your goalie isn’t anywhere near his, or you go just a touch overboard, or some combination thereof, you’re going to turn the neutral zone into a runway for the Hawks. While they may not have the wheels out of the back they used to, they have more than enough d-men who can pass their way out of trouble if you give them the space.
The Hawks tried something new tonight. After getting decked on the shot-board the past three games and asking Crawford and Darling to go Barnum and Bailey to get them two points, they methodically controlled the Leafs, who of the past four opponents contained the most high-end finish and thus could have made the Hawks pay for their wayward ways. Although this time the Hawks were trailing early, and thus had to chase a bit until Hayden equalized.
A third period that saw both teams go for it early and then look at each other and say, “You good with overtime?”, gave way to an exciting if not artificial OT where Hartmania ran wild on the Leafs, faking out Andersen from the circle to beat him to the stick side. And with that, the Hawks are now five points up in the division, thanks to their best March under Joel Quenneville.
Let’s clean it up:
“Some guys look at this glass and say it’s half full. Some guys would say it’s half empty. I’m bettin’ you’re one of the half-empty guys.”
“Well what would you, if every day was exactly the same, and nothing you did mattered?”
“That about sums it up for me.”
The last bit of life ennui is brought to you by Guy Boucher, who in high school was voted most likely to take lemons and make it a Chekhov play. Some coaches would look at a roster of 12, fast, and at least decently skilled forwards and think, “Hey, I can make some things happen offensively here!” Guy Boucher looks at a roster of 12 fast, decently skilled forwards and thinks, “Hey, I can use this speed to make sure they all get back to the neutral zone to trap in plenty of time and make every fan question the meaning of existence!”
Because the internet never, EVER forgets, a Russian language video of Artemi Panarin from 2012 has resurfaced showing him making racist comments on film.
On this week’s edition, John makes his triumphant return while Cieslak is doing god knows what in Vegas. We discuss the Hawks recent goaltending NON-troversy, as well as Artemi Panarin channeling Kris Versteeg and we eventually get around to what the hell is afflicting tonight’s opponent, the visiting ‘Ning, and what it’s symptomatic of league wide. Grab a listen after the jump.
During this time of year, particularly at home and against the drecks of the league, any points gained in regulation are to be taken happily. And while the parts of the second and the early parts of the third period reeked of a team taking its foot off the gas against a lesser opponent, the Hawks grabbed a win while inching the Canucks and their fans closer to the sweet release of the season ending.
This week has seen Jonathan Toews be the target of more vitriol and criticism from Blackhawks fans than the rest of his entire career combined. Some of it is most certainly justified. Toews is on pace for less than 15 goals this season, his possession numbers have cratered in a lot of ways, and he just has not been noticeable on the ice most of the time. As we pointed out in the podcast, the coup de grace was doing his angry-Toews act in the press on Friday after the Hawks were picking parts of the Caps’ boots out of their chests for hours, and then getting completely worked over by Mikko Koivu on Sunday in response. This is just not something we’ve seen from Toews very much, if at all, in his now 10 years in the NHL.
It has been this blog’s contention, or maybe just this lone derelict’s, that Duncan Keith’s game has slowed so far this season as well, no matter how much Eddie Olczyk yells at me and no matter how much he piles up secondary assists.
Maybe it’s time we wonder if these things are at least partially linked.
That’s harsh on the Hawks. For the first time on this homestand, the scoreboard mostly reflected the play on the ice. The Hawks were certainly better in the first and second periods than at any point against Carolina. And they led on the scoreboard for most of the game, unlike the Buffalo encounter.
But when you get that jammy goal that marked the winner, and the Preds hit three posts in the final frame, you have to admit you have something of a horseshoe up your ass. And it’s been that way for the Hawks most of the season. But you’ll always take the points, no matter how they come, and the Hawks will remain on top of the West for longer.
Let’s clean it up.
You have to say the Hawks are learning.
Over the years, we’ve lamented the Hawks fear of A) playing hardball with any of their players who are reaching restricted free agency (or even unrestricted) and B) their irrational fear of an offer sheet. While no two free agent situations are alike, it would appear the Hawks have learned some lessons in losing Brandon Saad or feeling they had to trade others like Our Special Boy (TM).
Tonight, the Hawks have inked Artemi Panarin to a two-year bridge deal, with $6 million a year. It’s about as good as either side could do, if you think about it, given what the constraints were.
