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Somebody To Shove: Wild 1 – Hawks 4 (Hawks Lead 2-0)

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I doubt you’ll see a more h0-hum game in the second round of the playoffs than this afternoon’s. It’s clear that the Wild haven’t completely caught the attention of the Hawks’ faithful yet, and they haven’t caused the Hawks to think that they have to pull out the full arsenal. At least not yet. And the Hawks still lead this series 2-0 heading back to St. Paul.

The Hawks exerted a lot of control in the 1st period, without using it to strangle the Wild. They held them to two shots while only managed seven themselves, though they the attempts were 12-4. While the 2nd shows the Wild got 13 shots, half of those were piled in during a power play and almost all of them came on one goalmouth scramble. The 2nd wasn’t really any looser than the 1st, and came capped off with a Brandon Saad laster into the top corner right after a power play after the Wild didn’t fully deal with a cross-ice pass from Bickell.

While the Hawks weren’t as aggressive in the 3rd, it didn’t feel like they were completely turtling. The Wild got one goal off a really well-worked rush from Erik Haula and Cody McCormick (what?) but after that the Hawks soaked up whatever pressure there was and waited for a chance to seal it. They got two. Hossa hit the crossbar. Bickell didn’t. After the Wild goal they only managed six more shot attempts and it was pretty easily seen out.

Shall we? We shall.

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Standing In The Middle Of Nowhere, Wondering How To Begin: Blues 3 – Hawks 4 (OT)

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It’s about 10 hours later and I’m still not sure how to sum up what went on last night on Madison. It was about three games in one, much like Game 2 was. The swings in this series are about as violent as I can remember, not from game-to-game but within the games. It’s not just one team controlling play and then the other, but each team is taking turns absolutely throttling the other. Maybe that’s what you get when you have two fragile teams? And I can’t believe I’ve described the Hawks that way, but it certainly feels like that with the way they’re finishing periods.

So many strange things, topped with this felt like doom even though the first 38 minutes of this one were probably the best the Hawks have put together this series. It certainly was possession wise. The Hawks after one had a team Corsi % of 81%. Before things went stupid at the end of the second, the even-strength scoring chances were 7-1 for the Hawks. At 2-0 and rolling, they had this in their pocket (very strangely, they were doing this while getting crushed at the dot. And then when the Blues turned all this around in the 3rd, they were getting crushed at the dot).

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Turn On The Water – Hawks 4, Jackets 3

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With both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane missing a concurrent, protracted amount of time for the first time in their careers, the Hawks could probably be forgiven for looking a bit adrift during this final kick, which they are apparently conceding to a certain degree anyway. But other than a few brief stretches over the past two nights, that hasn’t been the case, and they’ve been learning to adapt while earning 4 points in the process.

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Whatever: Wild 2 – Hawks 2 (Hawks win Cowboys And Indians)

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Well they won’t box up the video of this one and send it off to Toronto for safe keeping. This one looked every bit like two teams missing some key players who really don’t have much on the line just getting through the schedule. But I suppose when you’re missing two of the five best players in the league and then are stripped of one of your top four, you’ll take the points however they get there. So it goes.

And in reality, I liked the Hawks’ structure tonight for the most part. They were hitting the line with five, they were coming all the way back to be available, and when they do that they really keep the other team from getting sustained pressure. The Wild had their moments, but I don’t feel like Crawford ever had to be a poltergeist to keep the puck out of the net. Sure, he still looked behind him twice but those were results of some fluky bounces and deflections.

Of course, a deviation from that structure is what caused the tying goal, but we’ll get to that.

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Angry At Numbers

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Time for that portion of the program where I turn into JenLC from Second City Hockey for a post. Though she definitely wears it better and with much better charisma. But anyway, let’s dig a little deep and see a little light on our beloved Hawks.

10, 9

The first number is Bryan Bickell’s goal total this year in 48 games. The second number is his total in 48 games last year. What I haven’t included is his paycheck, which apparently has fogged everyone’s lenses when viewing the Pit Bull Hero. But let’s go even deeper. For the most part, Bicks has played on the 3rd line this year with Andrew Shaw at center, just as he did last year. His Corsi-For percentage this year with Shaw is 57.5%, which is quite good and above the team rate actually. Last year? 57.3% with Shaw.

His overall Corsi-percentage is actually better this year, at 57.7% which is 2% above the team-rate, compared to 55.3% last year.

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Rocket From Russia – Hawks at Rangers Preview, Pregame Thread, Charm School Reunion

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oldschool at RangerSmith

Game Time: 6:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NHLN (US), WGN-AM 720
Without MSG I Am Nothing: Blueshirt Banter, Scotty Hockey

Now that the international nightmare known as the Sochi Olympics is finally over, the NHL can get back to business as usual. With 22 games left, the Hawks will start their final quarter of the season tonight in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers.

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Back To The Matter At Hand

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Now that we can stop talking about the bigger ice and lineups and other coaches, perhaps it’s time to reset where we are with the Hawks and where it’s going.

The Hawks have a few days here to get the legs back under them, though the seven Olympians who went the route through the weekend probably won’t rejoin practice until Wednesday or maybe even Thursday’s morning skate. Obviously, for a little while the Hawks are going to need the non-Olympians to carry them a bit (a Brandon Saad binge would be most welcome, as well as Andrew Shaw coming in from the cold). I’d also look for Bryan Bickell to be more effective (not that he’s been as bad as everyone wants us to believe) as he really needed more time for his deteriorating knees to heal. Hell, maybe he’ll even crack 10 minutes per game.

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And Now We're Done And We Can Go Home: Hawks 0 – Yotes 2

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I’m kind of anxious to get onto the break so I’m just going to hammer this out in the aftermath instead of waiting a bit to reflect as usual. I’m sure you all understand. Let’s get right to it.

-I don’t think the Hawks weren’t interested tonight. The effort was there, which I feared it might not be. What they weren’t was interested in the right ways. What you can’t do against the Coyotes when they’re on their game is fancy-pants your way through the neutral zone and you certainly can’t put your dump-ins where Mike Smith can get it. It’s hard to do, and it takes a fuckton of patience, but you have to chip pucks into the corners or go cross-corner with your dump-ins. The Hawks didn’t do much of either. If you don’t, Smith is going to smother your forecheck by himself.

Secondly, the Coyotes while blocking off the middle of the ice were also determined to outnumber the Hawks in every board battle in their zone. Two guys vs. one, or three guys vs. two. And the Hawks were reluctant to even match them in manpower. They Hawks aren’t blessed with guys who can outwork a numerical disadvantage along the wall. They have Hossa and… well, Hossa. They needed to be a more aggressive in matching the numbers on the wall tonight.

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And Now We’re Done And We Can Go Home: Hawks 0 – Yotes 2

By Sam Fels 1103 0

I’m kind of anxious to get onto the break so I’m just going to hammer this out in the aftermath instead of waiting a bit to reflect as usual. I’m sure you all understand. Let’s get right to it.

-I don’t think the Hawks weren’t interested tonight. The effort was there, which I feared it might not be. What they weren’t was interested in the right ways. What you can’t do against the Coyotes when they’re on their game is fancy-pants your way through the neutral zone and you certainly can’t put your dump-ins where Mike Smith can get it. It’s hard to do, and it takes a fuckton of patience, but you have to chip pucks into the corners or go cross-corner with your dump-ins. The Hawks didn’t do much of either. If you don’t, Smith is going to smother your forecheck by himself.

Secondly, the Coyotes while blocking off the middle of the ice were also determined to outnumber the Hawks in every board battle in their zone. Two guys vs. one, or three guys vs. two. And the Hawks were reluctant to even match them in manpower. They Hawks aren’t blessed with guys who can outwork a numerical disadvantage along the wall. They have Hossa and… well, Hossa. They needed to be a more aggressive in matching the numbers on the wall tonight.