vs. 
FACEOFF: 6pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN for both
FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES: On The Forecheck
The Hawks continue their late season homestand with another encounter with a bottom-feeder of the league, this time in their own division with the Nashville Predators. While the Carolina Hurricanes barely roused the Hawks’ attention, the Predators’ recent success against the Hawks should have them more tuned in whatever their current standing.
Time to step up: CSN
New Blood: Chicago Tribune
Not a new concept to us around these parts: The Score
As the kids say”Filthy” CBC
So this happened: Puckdaddy
A couple things to cover today, so let’s get to it.
-The Hawks took back second place last night, as the Avs decided to give Semyon Varlamov a week off and threw J.S. Giguere and Reto Berra out there with a straight face. Which completely exposed just how bad their blue line is as both the Habs and Jets lit them up.
As we know, the Hawks won’t get the tie-breaker due to significantly less regulation wins than the Avs. But the schedule ahead for Colorado is not exactly a popsicle (first of all, it’s Fudge-cical).
On this blog recently, we’ve spent a lot of time debating whether the Hawks are either bored or tired (the answer is probably both, but what fun is that to settle for?) We’ve seen the holes in the game, the dead-ass performances, the spikes of dominance, and wondered what it all meant for when it really counts.
Based on tonight’s and other recent “big” games, I suppose I’m starting to lean towards bored. And it’s not in the glow of this performance only, though the Hawks did completely muzzle the team with the most points in the league. On other occasions where the bright lights are on and the opponent has the Hawks complete attention, we’ve seen it. Detroit was one victim. The Ducks in Anaheim another. Boston’s trip to Chicago saw the Hawks play extremely well and take a shootout. There are a couple others I haven’t mentioned.
Maybe it’s both in that the Hawks can do it when they really want to but can’t bring it every game due to fading legs when they don’t particularly. I guess we won’t know until the season’s over, as you can bet Joel Quenneville is going to demand they snap into gear full-time heading into the postseason.
But for one night, the Hawks brought the game we’ve come to love. It could have been any of the league’s premier teamed that was swallowed whole by the Hawks’ complete game and I’d feel as good (well, maybe not all the way). It’s still there when they need it. Let’s be happy with that.
We are all bigots
So full of hatred
We release our poisons… like styrofoam
There are no more cultures left to slide
There are no more people to be tried
We’re in our minds, five billion pieces so defined
Read it in a book, it was underlined.
There are no more races to be run
There are no number left to be won
Everybody’s down
We pulled each other down.
@ 
Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN/WGN720
Moo: St. Louis Game Time
Last night’s game was the kind that makes me want to pull my hair out. The game was intense in all the wrong ways. The Flyers aren’t a better team than the Hawks but they were able to pull Chicago down to their level. The Hawks allowed them to dictate the pace and feel for the game. The Hawks do their best when they’re shoving their game down the other teams’ throat, not when they’re running around like lunatics on bath salts. Two fights in a game isn’t unheard of, even as fighting loses favor, but the Hawks had only 9 fighting majors for the season total. Two in a game shows how much they were out of it last night.
So how do the Hawks now respond when they have to face a team that has notoriously tried to bring the Hawks down a level and away from their game? Count me as someone who is not terribly optimistic.
It burns: Cheer the Anthem
Lackluster:HockeeNight
Lucky to Escape from Philly: SCH
That was clearly not how you felt at the time: TSN
vs. 
FACEOFF: 6:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, NBCSN, WGN Radio 720
GET ALONG, 76ers: Broad Street Hockey (but good God don’t ask about our cheesesteaks)
After getting some things back aligned against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday, the Hawks look to keep it going with a return to the scene of the crime (the first one, not the second. God I love writing that).
News out of the morning skate sees Antti Raanta taking the start. While I fear for how he will deal with Wayne Simmonds, Scott Hartnell, and others in his smallish grill all night, let’s all be relieved that Q wasn’t tempted to try and wheel Crawford out for both halves of this back-to-back (especially as tomorrow night basically constitutes the Hawks Central Division Last Stand). Michal Rozsival and Brandon Saad will both miss out with injuries to various parts. While some will cower in fear at the thought of Brookbank drawing in, by every measure he’s been just about Rozie’s equal this year and whatever problems he’s had could be attributed partially to lack of sharpness.
