In the aftermath of last night’s entertaining tilt with the equally fast and dinged up Penguins, the Hawks held practice today in anticipation of tomorrow night’s home tilt against the Islanders and then Saturday night in Nashville. And while it was for the most part an ordinary late-season practice, the organization showed its hand a bit in the process.
As we were recording, there were actual trades going on in the NHL, and Cieslak was somewhere over the Atlantic, as he is being extradited to The Hague for his various war crimes. Sam has escaped from the maw of the Internet Monster to actually be able to engage in the conversation. Of course, by the time this posts, half of what we discussed could be irrelevant, but isn’t that always the case anyway? And the title is interpreted at the reader’s discretion. Audio after the jump.
vs 
Game Time: 6:30PM CST
TV/Radio: NBCSN, WGN-AM 720
Dexter Fowler’s Biggest Fans: SLGT
Now that the Mike Yeo era began a little quicker in West East St. Louis than most outside of this outlet anticipated, the Blues still find themselves at a crossroads organizationally. This is still basically the same group that Ken Hitchcock couldn’t do anything with, and now that the Blues have fired their fourth of the four winningest coaches of all time, they’re left wondering if it’s at all worth going through another one-and done playoff visit, being essentially locked into their current playoff position. And of course that mean bringing their usual brand of bullshit into the UC tonight.
If the Hawks keep putting together performances like they have in the past two games, they may want to petition the league for more bye weeks in the seasons ahead. The Hawks, once again, ran roughshod over the opponent. The only difference this time, Robin Lehner was no Cam Talbot.
The Hawks got production from all four lines as each line scored with Kane and the Russian Spies scoring twice. Additonally, 10 of their 12 forwards scratched the scoresheet. Only Vince Stroh’s and Dr. Rasmussen came up empty but that was hardly any indictment on their game.
On the defensive side, the Sabres really were only able to generate offense when the Hawks were guilty of turning the puck over just inside the offensive blue line. This was happening quite a bit in the second period which is why we saw a lot of end-to-end chances with both teams trading prime opportunities. Once the Hawks cleaned up their zone entries and capitalized on their opportunities, the Sabres were toast.
The Hawks defensemen played another strong game of cutting down shooting lanes, efficient breakout passing and of course, active sticks. As Sam mentioned, all they’ve conceeded in the past 48 hours was a softie from Lucic and a great play by Eichel. If this keeps up, the remaining regular season may not be the slog we expected.
Other things…
–Ryan Hartman has a real shot at scoring 20 goals this year. He scored another impressive goal tonight that makes the memory of Andrew Shaw dissipate like a McFly family portrait. Hartman made a power move at the top of the blue line to gain separation from the defender and then ripped off a wrist shot right over Lehner’s shoulder.
He serves as an important reminder that not all prospects are created equal. Hartman cooked in the AHL for two seasons before finally getting his turn this year. While we’re quick to point out that the great ones don’t need much to establish themselves, the good, or productive, ones can take a little longer. And Hartman is on the path to carving out a productive NHL career. He may not be able to hang against top competition but plenty of millions have been made by slaying bums.
–For a guy who has won three Stanley Cups, one Hart trophy, a Conn Smythe and played in an Olympic gold medal game, it was a little strange to see Patrick Kane celebrate like he scored an OT game-winner in a 5-1 game. Not to mention, this wasn’t the first goal he’s ever scored in Buffalo. Weird.
–Well, this is certainly the Jonathan Toews we all remember. We’ve spent a lot of time this season examining what seems off with Toews and I’ve pointed to that lack of jump he seemed to be missing. Since Nick Schmaltz has been recalled and put on his wing (and probably a little before then), Toews has that explosive burst in his first few strides again. Maybe his back is finally 100%; maybe he finally feels comfortable with his two line mates; or maybe he grew a batch of kale in his garden laced with amphetamines.
Either way, with a top line creating chances like this to supplement Kane and the Russian Spies, the Hawks look like they could be the class of the West.
–Thought it was a little strange to see Joel Quenneville toss out his top power play unit on the ice with less than 4 minutes left in a 5-1 game that was clearly over. In the years he’s been behind the Blackhawks bench, I don’t think I can recall him ever doing that and he certainly had his opportunities in the first few years.
In last year’s meeting versus the Sabres which the Hawks won in ridiculous fashion, you may recall there was a moment where Byslma stalled for a good two minutes before deciding whether he wanted to challenge a goal. The camera cut to Quenneville whose face was that familiar shade of pink and purple.
Almost wonder if that helped form his opinion on Byslma and played into his decision tonight.
–That seems like enough of that. Next one is in Minnehaha. Until then.
By now the stats have been beaten into the ground, that teams coming of the newly mandated bye week are like 3-948-3, and naturally the Hawks fell victim to it themselves, and in doing so snapped a 5 game winning streak, all of which came on the road. But while they lost another winnable game on home ice as their chances for the division rapidly evaporate, the main fear was that they would look disinterested or lethargic, and that was anything but the case.
at 
Game Time: 7:00PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, TVA, WGN-AM 720
A New Name For Everything: Arctic Ice Hockey, Illegal Curve, Jets Nation
As the Hawks stay in the snow blasted prairies of the Midwest, they take their road show to the MTS Center in downtown Winnipeg, where they hope to actually win a game against the Jets this season in their last head-to-head meeting of the regular season.
at 
Game Time: 7:00PM CST
TV/Radio: NBCSN, TVA-S, SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
Makes No Sense At All: Hockey Wilderness
And so it is now here, the most important regular season game in the history of the sport…at least until the next one. The Wild are still playing .900 hockey and have three games in hand on the Hawks, and a regulation win tonight should effectively salt the division away for them, and there’s nothing more that Bruce Boudreau likes than the taste of salted divisions. And the entire hockey world, such as it is, will be watching, as this is the only game on the docket tonight.
at 
Game Time: 9:30PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon: Fear The Fin
Now that the All Star wank-fest weekend has concluded in L.A., the NHL resumes what can be construed as the beginning of the end of the 82 game road to nowhere- the month between the the break and the trade deadline. And the Hawks will begin this stretch in San Jose at the start of a six game road trip while looking to correct some mistakes made to some of the also-rans of the league last week.
vs.
Game Time: 7:30PM CST
TV/Radio: CSN, WGN-AM 720
Cliché Guevara: Raw Charge
As this stretch of the schedule lurches ever forward like a herd of Fifth Feather John’s beloved zombies, the Hawks welcome a team that is basically walking dead to the United Center for the penultimate game before the All Star break in the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning.
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.
