Everything Else

Game #26 – Hawks vs. Stars Preview

By Sam Fels 1884 0

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks 12-9-4   Stars 14-10-1

PUCK DROP: 8pm

TV: NBCS CHICAGO

WE GOIN’ HONKY TONKIN’: Defending Big D

The back half of a traditional, divisional home-and-home comes tonight in North Texas, with the Hawks looking to greatly improve on what was a pretty piss poor effort on Thursday. We knew fatigue would come into play somewhere in this hellacious five-in-seven stretch, and at least for the first two periods the Hawks looked leggy. They almost pulled it back in the 3rd, which shows you the flaws in this Dallas team, but their power play problems clipped their hopes.

Obviously, not much can change with these teams in just two days… unless it’s the Hawks and an injury to Corey Crawford puts their whole season teetering on the edge of the Great Abyss. Make no mistake, if Crow were to miss two to three weeks–as he very well might–and the Hawks have a complete balls-up during that, they could be utterly fucked without any of the customary fun before you’re singing Auld Lang Syne. Anton Forsberg has been better than his numbers suggest–that belch-with-barf in Denver skews things–but the Hawks in no way wanted to depend on him full-time this early in the season. Or at all. And J.F. Berube has a terminal case of being J.F. Berube. With his 21 games in the NHL and middling AHL numbers, the Hawks won’t want to break that glass unless it’s a total emergency. Yes, you should be uneasy.

The Stars also play tomorrow night in Denver, so there’s a chance that the Hawks could get a look at Kari Lehtonen tonight which would help the cause, or at least would be likely to. There look to be a couple lineup changes for the Stars as well. Curtis McKenzie was called up to write a sermon that no one will hear as Antoine Roussel has apparently picked up something, and I’m just going to go ahead and say some combo of syphilis and plague because I want to. Martin Hanzal will still miss out, and Julius HONKA! HONKA! won’t get in the lineup so they can keep trained ox Jamie Oleksiak in.

What’s a little worrisome is that with the matchup-advantage at home, the Hawks were still unable to keep Tyler Seguin’s line under control at all. So Hitch can be confident of throwing them out against Toews again and getting chances, or throwing them at the bottom six and having battle station alarms going off in the Hawks zone all night. Expect to see the Seguin line out against Forsling and Rutta at every chance, and don’t expect Q to chase matchups too much because he just doesn’t do it much in the regular season.

Even with Faksa’s and Janmark’s scratching the sheet on Thursday, with Spezza’s wrong-chalice-like decay and Hanzal’s injury, this is still pretty much a one-line team. The Hawks did keep them from scoring at least on Thursday… and lost anyway. So… not encouraging.

With Forsberg in net the Hawks might be tempted to play it a little safer on the road, keeping the third forward as high as possible and dropping their d-men back at the first hint of trouble. Hitch won’t take the foot off the gas too much at home and with the Hawks on the their back up ‘tender. He also won’t stand for the Stars racking up seven penalties again.

Not to keep beating a dead horse–and I don’t know why you keep bringing me down–but given how jammed up things are in the West wildcard picture and given how the strata in the Central have separated, the Hawks can’t afford to drop too many points to teams that are joining them in this mud-covered rabble. They got a point against the Stars last out but really can’t give them more than the two they already did. It’ll be hard to lose touch, but it’ll also be even harder to make up ground. Getting to overtime is something of a loss. Need a regulation win here.

 

Game #26 Preview

Preview

Spotlight

Q&A

Douchebag Du Jour

I Make A Lot Of Graphs

Lineups & How Teams Were Built

Everything Else

Sigh, Hawks

By Sam Fels 2917 0

As most people know by now, I’m not a huge fan of “Kiss Cam.” But then again, I’m not really a fan of all the timeout entertainment, given how shrill and downright stupid it can be. And seeing as how I follow the Zappa school of “Love Is For Assholes,” Kiss Cam is particularly bothersome. But I accept it’s part of the American sports scene and isn’t going anywhere, and mostly just treat it as noise.

However, last night I was struck by yet another instance of the Hawks, or more to the point their gameday staff, unable to even get a finger in the wind. I don’t make every game like I used to, so I don’t know how long this has been going on. But now, Kiss Cam has an introduction from a young woman who has become something of the in-game, in-building host for all of their promotions. I can’t seem to find her name anywhere so if someone can help me via Twitter or email I’ll change this. Anyway, before Kiss Cam starts she approaches Tommy Hawk in a “Kissing Booth,” and well, you can pretty much figure out where it goes from there (he fixes the cable?). It’s nothing lurid, but it’s uncomfortable to watch this woman kiss a mascot.

I’m not sure what exactly the payoff here is supposed to be. Kiss Cam itself can be seen weird and somewhat creepy. And one day every arena is going to have to actually put a gay couple up there, but let’s save that discussion for another time.

In this current atmosphere, what exactly is gained by having this woman, clearly a little uncomfortable, kiss a mascot? And really, what is gained by having a mascot meant to entertain kids sexualized in any or slightest way? At best, it’s just awkward and weird. It could be viewed as something worse, and again there’s just no gain from it. It’s not funny, it’s not cute, it’s not anything but bad.

You’d think the NHL itself would want to put a stop to this, given that the Kings mascot is currently being sued for groping a woman, and we certainly don’t need to get into the litany of charges hurled at Benny the Bull for the bullshit he perpetrated in the very same building. You’d think someone in the Hawks organization would be aware of any of this, but then again we gave up on the Hawks have any kind of awareness long ago.

This clearly isn’t the first time the Hawks have tried to place their logo as the definition of “tone-deaf .”  (and boy could you examine that sentence for a while) And we don’t need to rehash all those instances that came before. But you’d have to be either incredibly stupid, naive, or worse uncaring to see all the stories and men in high places crashing down because of acting in an inappropriate or downright dangerous fashion toward female coworkers and think it’s all right to have this on camera in front of your home crowd. Again, what are the Hawks gaining from it? As silly as it might sound, the United Center is a workplace and on some level, those two are coworkers. Does anyone read or see the news in that place?

Usually, this is the part where I say it doesn’t matter because the Hawks are selling every seat. And that’s still true, but there are a lot more unfilled ones than there used to be. And I can’t help but notice that the t-shirt giveaways have tripled or more during timeouts, and I can’t help but wonder why that might be. Sure, the Hawks right now are only losing out on parking and concessions and merchandise sales when there’s only 18-19K in the building. But I’m willing to bet they’ve noticed. So why take a risk on anyone being offended, and rightly so, by this dumb sketch? Is it as bad as Ryan Kesler’s naked walk through the Ducks’ offices? No. But is it in the same genus? Yeah, sure is.

This really isn’t all that hard, and it’s hard to believe that no one anywhere in the building went to the gameday presentation staff and was like, “Uh, that’s not a good idea.” Hell, run it by us. We’ll do it for a beer (HA! A Wirtz giving away free booze! Let’s all sit on that one for a sec!) Why risk it? I really don’t know if the wave of disclosure of sexual harassment and assault is going to come to the sports world, I’m kind of skeptical it will given the different parameters and loyalty from the public. But if it does, why would you want this on your record? Why make this something of a gateway to what we know (or highly suspect) are a fuckton darker and worse actions that have happened from members of that organization?

As we know, the Hawks put the Ice Crew back in the mini-skirts after a season of trying to duck that controversy after it was brought up to them at the convention and they had them in pants for the following season. The Hawks and most of their fans may think things like this are hardly a risk or don’t put them anywhere near the line. They’re closer than they think and the wave might be coming. As my father used to say, “Mighty oaks from little acorns.”

Everything Else

It Ain’t Broke, So Don’t Go Fixin’ It

By Adam Hess 1822 0

The worst kept secret in hockey right now is that Alex DeBrincat is tearing up the NHL. After getting off to bit of a slow start, with just four points in his first 11 games, he went on a tear in November, with 15 points in his 14 games (including October 28). In that time, he’s had two point streaks of three games and one of four, and notched four points in the Hawks’ Monday-Tuesday back-to-back against Anaheim and Nashville this week, including his first career hat-trick against the Ducks, before scoring another goal Thursday night against the Stars.

When we did the player previews back in September, I wrote in pretty good detail about how much scoring potential Top Cat had. He tore up the OHL year after year, and basically only fell as far as he did in the 2016 draft because hockey can’t get over it’s fascination with size and girth. Despite all of our nerves that the Blackhawks would ignore his strong pre-season and make him start the season in the A, he forced the issue and was able to make the team out of camp. And he hasn’t disappointed at all.

Among the Blackhawks, Whiskers is second on the team in both goals and points, with 10 and 18, respectively. In the league, he’s tied for 36th in goals and tied for 70th in points, which is pretty damn good for a 19-year-old with 24 games under his belt. He has as many or more goals than the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, and several other stars. Again, that’s good.

What’s really good is the fact that he’s done all this despite the fact that he’s spent most of the year condemned out of the top six by his mustachioed coach for a reason that has yet to been made public. And though I’m not here to re-hash arguments made on here already, as Sam detailed the other day, Q hasn’t explained himself in any way to lend justification to ADB’s tethering to Patrick Sharp’s opposite wing, or Nick Schmaltz playing wing instead of center, which is pretty much definitely keeping ADB on that third line. Lucky for Q, I am here to do it for him.

We don’t really need an explanation from Q, anyhow, because we all know that any explanation we might get would be completely unsatisfactory and/or filled with some random bullshit. We’d probably hear some reference to the idea of him being on the third line if it’s meant to avoid tougher competition, but at this point Top Cat has proven that he’s worthy of, at the very least, an opportunity to face that competition with higher quality teammates, so that argument would fall flat with most Hawks fans. Even with that, though, I still wonder if any sort of lineup promotion is really best for DeBrincat right now.

We’ve been stressing our desire for DeBrincat to play on a wing with Schmaltz and Kane for so long that there’s hardly any of the dead horse left to beat, but his hat trick on Monday gave us an even better look at the fit those three could have. Twice during line changes, he added goals that were assisted by – guess who – Schmaltz or Kane. The three of them have such similar skill sets and playing styles that the fit seems obvious, but with the recent success of the Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane second line, it’s hard to imagine Q making too many changes to the lineup right now. Schamltz is still probably better off playing the pivot than the wing, but that’s a conversation for another time. The point is, all three of the guys on that second line have been playing well this year, especially in the most recent stretch of games, so you could question if breaking up that line even makes any sense at all right now.

DeBrincat, though, has also shown that he’s good enough to elevate whoever he ends up on a line with at any given time. Look no further than the Hawks’ first goal against Nashville on Tuesday, when he won a puck battle deep in the offensive zone, on a rush, during a line change, and then threaded a pass through all five Predators that was so perfect even Tommy Wingels couldn’t fuck up the tap in. If the Hawks want to roll out three scoring lines – which we know they do – there really isn’t a better fit to be the main threat on that third line right now than Top Cat. Do you trust Richard Panik to produce meaningfully away from Toews and Saad? What about Anisimov without Kane? Do you really want Patrick Sharp to be the focal point of a scoring line at this point? Me either.

So while Top Cat is most definitely not a third line winger by any stretch of the imagination, and having him on another line might provide a better fit for his style, he might actually be best off left alone for now.

Everything Else

Game #25 Lost My Shape Trying to Act Casual – Hawks 3, Stars 4

By Rose Rankin 2389 0

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Corsica

Tonight was a bit of a tutorial in what not to do in a hockey game. Malaise on special teams and defensive stupidity thwarted the Hawks tonight, making it fortunate they at least got one point. It wasn’t like Ben Bishop did anything to write home about (his SV% was a whopping .864), so we can’t say it was one of those miraculous goalie performances. To the bullets:

– Admittedly, I didn’t see much of the game against the Predators, so I’ll reference the two games prior: If in those games against the Panthers and Ducks the offense masked the ugliness of the Hawks’ defense, tonight said ugliness was fully exposed. Cody Franson was a hot mess on the power play. On their first man advantage early in the first period he had a shitty pass get picked off and Crawford had to bail him out. That turned out to be a veritable Power Play of Christmas Future because a couple power plays later, he did the exact same thing that led to Patrick Kane’s desperation hook, and the resulting penalty shot. The power play in general was a disaster, but that’s another rant. Franson single-handedly ruined two.

Second, there was the obligatory Seabrook fuck up, which this time led directly to Dallas’ third goal. He fumbled an attempt at pinching (at least, I think that’s what he was going for?) at the blue line, and Remi Elie (who??) waltzed right by him and caught Crawford off-guard.

And for good measure, Forsling shared some blame too. Yes, he had a key assist in the third, don’t get me wrong. But before those heroics were necessary, he splayed out in a stupid block attempt way back in the first, and Mattias Janmark was left open to score the first goal. So there’s a taste of our defense tonight…need I go on?

– On a related note, tonight wasn’t Crawford’s worst night but it also wasn’t his best. He was spectacular on a series of shots by Elie (again, who the fuck??) in the third, but he ended the game with a .886 SV%. He got frozen on the penalty shot and wasn’t the absolute monster we’ve come to both expect and rely on. It’s nights like these when the rest of the team needs to return the favor and bail him out. Goaltending is not the problem here, I think we can all agree on that.

– The second line played the role of top line tonight. There was yet another goal from ‘ole Wide Dick—in fact it was the only power play goal out of their seemingly endless chances when Kane made a beautiful pass to Anisimov who was positioned right at the top of the crease. Kane then had a redirect to tie it in the third (that aforementioned Forsling assist), and Schmaltz drew about 85 penalties. At least we have one line, eh?

– Alex DeBrincat is good. I just thought you should know that.

– The Hawks power play is not good. I just thought you should know that too. No, really, they were 1 for 7 tonight, including over two minutes of a man advantage thanks to John Hayden’s face getting mauled by Klingberg’s stick and they still couldn’t score. The Hawks had four power plays in the first fucking period, and yet their shots remained in the single digits until well into the second (and a few more power plays). With the exception of the Garbage Dick—Wide Dick play in the second, it was clown shoes all night.

–Something on the Stars is named Pitlick. So, ya know, whenever you think you’ve got it rough, imagine going through life with that name. It’s helping to cheer me up right now.

–Beer de Jour: Fistmas by Revolution. Because I’m in the holiday spirit, damnit.

The Stars are an eminently beatable team, and we’ll get another chance on Saturday. I don’t know if tonight’s fuckery will lead Q to #FreeKempny, but if this doesn’t do it, I don’t know what would. Or rather, I don’t want to know. Onward and upward.

Everything Else

It ain’t broke, so don’t go fixin’ it

By Adam Hess 1636 0

The worst kept secret in hockey right now is that Alex DeBrincat is tearing up the NHL. After getting off to bit of a slow start, with just four points in his first 11 games, he went on a tear in November, with 15 points in his 14 games (including October 28). In that time, he’s had two point streaks of three games and one of four, and notched four points in the Hawks’ Monday-Tuesday back-to-back against Anaheim and Nashville this week, including his first career hat-trick against the Ducks, before scoring another goal Thursday night against the Stars.

When we did the player previews back in September, I wrote in pretty good detail about how much scoring potential Top Cat had. He tore up the OHL year after year, and basically only fell as far as he did in the 2016 draft because hockey can’t get over it’s fascination with size and girth. Despite all of our nerves that the Blackhawks would ignore his strong pre-season and make him start the season in the A, he forced the issue and was able to make the team out of camp. And he hasn’t disappointed at all.

Among the Blackhawks, Whiskers is second on the team in both goals and points, with 10 and 18, respectively. In the league, he’s tied for 36th in goals and tied for 70th in points, which is pretty damn good for a 19-year-old with 24 games under his belt. He has as many or more goals than the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad, and several other stars. Again, that’s good.

What’s really good is the fact that he’s done all this despite the fact that he’s spent most of the year condemned out of the top six by his mustachioed coach for a reason that has yet to been made public. And though I’m not here to re-hash arguments made on here already, as Sam detailed the other day, Q hasn’t explained himself in any way to lend justification to ADB’s tethering to Patrick Sharp’s opposite wing, or Nick Schmaltz playing wing instead of center, which is pretty much definitely keeping ADB on that third line. Lucky for Q, I am here to do it for him.

We don’t really need an explanation from Q, anyhow, because we all know that any explanation we might get would be completely unsatisfactory and/or filled with some random bullshit. We’d probably hear some reference to the idea of him being on the third line if it’s meant to avoid tougher competition, but at this point Top Cat has proven that he’s worthy of, at the very least, an opportunity to face that competition with higher quality teammates, so that argument would fall flat with most Hawks fans. Even with that, though, I still wonder if any sort of lineup promotion is really best for DeBrincat right now.

We’ve been stressing our desire for DeBrincat to play on a wing with Schmaltz and Kane for so long that there’s hardly any of the dead horse left to beat, but his hat trick on Monday gave us an even better look at the fit those three could have. Twice during line changes, he added goals that were assisted by – guess who – Schmaltz or Kane. The three of them have such similar skill sets and playing styles that the fit seems obvious, but with the recent success of the Schmaltz-Anisimov-Kane second line, it’s hard to imagine Q making too many changes to the lineup right now. Schamltz is still probably better off playing the pivot than the wing, but that’s a conversation for another time. The point is, all three of the guys on that second line have been playing well this year, especially in the most recent stretch of games, so you could question if breaking up that line even makes any sense at all right now.

DeBrincat, though, has also shown that he’s good enough to elevate whoever he ends up on a line with at any given time. Look no further than the Hawks’ first goal against Nashville on Tuesday, when he won a puck battle deep in the offensive zone, on a rush, during a line change, and then threaded a pass through all five Predators that was so perfect even Tommy Wingels couldn’t fuck up the tap in. If the Hawks want to roll out three scoring lines – which we know they do – there really isn’t a better fit to be the main threat on that third line right now than Top Cat. Do you trust Richard Panik to produce meaningfully away from Toews and Saad? What about Anisimov without Kane? Do you really want Patrick Sharp to be the focal point of a scoring line at this point? Me either.

So while Top Cat is most definitely not a third line winger by any stretch of the imagination, and having him on another line might provide a better fit for his style, he might actually be best off left alone for now.

Everything Else

Ain’t It Fun?

By Sam Fels 2502 0

There’s many things you can label the ’17-’18 Hawks so far, but one of them isn’t “boring.” Whether they’ve been playing like dogshit earlier in the year or this current form where they’ve played pretty well (whatever last night’s result), the Hawks haven’t been dull. In previous years, even when they were the class of the league, things could get rote. The past two years when they’ve had their wonky periods, it hasn’t been nearly as interesting at this team even when it’s not playing well.

You’ve heard us mention it before, but the Hawks are the highest-event team in the league. By that we mean there are more total attempts, both for and against the Hawks, in their games than anyone else’s. What’s staggering is just how high-event they are.

Ok, it’s going to get a little number-y here, so I’m putting that out there so you can get your glasses on or make some tea or stretch a bit. Whatever you need to do to receive the data about to be thrown at you. Ok, here we go.

So far this year, the Hawks have 108.4 total attempts at even-strength in their games per 60 minutes (adjusted for score and such). This is tops in the league, and by some distance. The next highest is Anaheim at 104.5. That gap between 1st and second of four attempts per 60 minutes is the same between Anaheim and the Rangers in 11th.

What’s a bit staggering is that if this were to continue through the end of the season, it would be the highest mark by miles in five seasons. No team in the past five years has had more than 103 attempts in their games in the past five years (Ottawa in ’13-’14). The Hawks are basically miles above what has come in recent history.

But ah…. it’s not so simple. If you liked the homer binge in MLB this year, then hockey might just be for you this year as well. At the moment, 11 teams are averaging more than 100 attempts in their games per 60 minutes at even-strength. In the previous four seasons, no more than four teams have averaged more than 100 attempts in their games per season. Clearly, something is going on.

Now, as we know, things tend to flatten out as the season goes along, players get bored/hurt, coaches start reining things in to consolidate position, whistles go in pockets. We’d have to see what the marks look like in previous years at this point in the schedule. But still, it’s something of a different environment. Has the crackdown on slashing and such opened up a little more room on the ice? So far it sure looks like it, given how many teams are becoming more high-event. As we said, the Senators back in ’13-’14 had the highest event games in the past five years, and currently six teams are above that mark so far this season.

What does it mean for success? That’s a little more sobering. Currently, the six teams above that 103.5 mark are the Hawks, Ducks, Flames, Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Penguins. None of these teams are atop their divisions, though the Flames and Penguins are at least in touching distance. Last year, the top five event teams were the Leafs, Penguins, Stars, Islanders, and Coyotes. That’s a pretty decent team, champs, and three non-playoff teams.

In ’15-’16, the top five event teams were the Stars, Flyers, Leafs, Avs and Islanders. That’s three playoff teams and two big bags of suck in the Leafs and Avs. And none of the Flyers, Stars, or Islanders saw the conference final.

In ’14-’15, the top five event teams were the Stars (sensing a theme?), Islanders, Sharks, Coyotes, Flames. The Islanders and Flames made the playoffs, and only the Flames won a round.

In ’13-’14, the top five event teams were the Senators, Leafs, Sharks, Hurricanes, and Stars. The Sharks were a 111-point team that blew a 3-0 lead to the Kings (you might have heard about it), the Stars made the playoffs before getting whacked by the Ducks.

So yeah, you can make the playoffs if you’re this entertaining, but of the 26 teams we just discussed only one went on to win a Cup and there hasn’t even been another conference finalist on that list.

When looking at just the Hawks, this is a huge increase in their attempts for and against. So it’s not like you can just say, “Oh their defense is responsible.” Quite simply their games are just more open, their offense creating more than it has in five years. But we’ve never see a Quenneville team surrender over 50 attempts per game, and it doesn’t appear to be a recipe for success.

Everything Else

Game #22 You Will Find a Fortune, Though it Will Not Be the Fortune You Seek – Hawks 4, Panthers 1

By Rose Rankin 2958 0

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Corsica

The Hawks were absolutely dominant in the first, not so much in the second and third, but no harm was done. To the bullets:

– So we can all feel a little better about the top line. Saad and Toews scored, and even though Toews’ was a total fluke of him batting at a flying puck that then trickled through a classically hapless Luongo, it’s still better than nothing. Saad’s goal in the first was the result of him being in the right place at the proverbial right time, and basically capitalizing on a high-danger chance in the exact way you want to see it done. Saad had seven shots in the first (unfortunately only one after that but still…), and it was simply a relief to see some production and the drought ended. Don’t get me wrong, there were still plenty of bad passes, shots with no finish, and missed opportunities by this line, but they were good enough, which is all we really needed them to be. Hopefully this augers well for the near future.

– Kane’s goal midway in the second period was crucial. Even though it only made the score 3-1, it took the momentum right out of Florida, who had been kicking the shit out of the Hawks for the entirety of the second up to that point. It was looking like we were heading for yet another hot start where the Hawks then promptly shit the bed, but Kane’s patience with the shot showed his give-a-shit meter was at about a 7.5, and once they had a two-goal lead again the win started to feel like a foregone conclusion.

– Which brings me to my next point: why the fuck can’t these guys maintain the pressure and momentum beyond the first period? Is it age for some guys? Inexperience for others? I don’t have the answers, but this whole awesome-first-then-blow-a-lead thing is fucking old already. They can get away with it against teams like the Panthers (especially since in this case they didn’t blow a lead but only tried to), but as we saw on Wednesday against the Lightning, when they’re playing a good team this shit just doesn’t work. If this is how it’s going to go, the Hawks need to at least score 5+ goals in every first period, and then try to just not take dumb penalties.

– The fourth line was serviceable tonight. Bouma, Wingels, and Hayden all had a CF% over 60 at evens, and Hayden and Wingels even got some PK minutes. Hayden scored too, so that obviously helps things. Granted, they had plenty of stupid shit like Bouma whiffing on passes, but overall they were…acceptable.

– Who’s this MacKenzie Weegar asshole? His name sounds like that of a mean-spirited character in a Roald Dahl book. He pissed me off in the second period, but luckily it amounted to nothing.

– Speaking of amounting to nothing, the power play remained terrible. They only had one, and they did absolutely nothing with it, despite the fact that Florida is dead-last in PK percentage. I know the Hawks have had some success on the power play as of late, but they couldn’t even get a zone entry against the worst PK in the league so…that should tell you something.

– The defense was iffy tonight, in my opinion. The Panthers got 38 shots, and while there were 11 blocks and two successful penalty kills, there were enough shaky moments to keep me on edge. For example, Crawford totally bailed out Franson on a Trocheck shot late in the second, Forsling and Rutta on the PK were scrambling, and of course Seabrook fell down a few times for good measure. Yes it worked out, and I know these are the pairings we’re stuck with for now, but it wasn’t exactly a confidence-inspiring performance.

– However, Crawford is god. He finished the night with a .974 SV%. Yes, he let in one goal that he probably should have had, but come on, even gods make mistakes occasionally, right? I mean, look at the state of Alabama.

OK, in all seriousness the Hawks’ possession numbers were worrisome in a way that has become a shitty trend: 83 CF% in the first, 44.7% in the second, and 43% in the third. It’s definitely not what you want to see, and again it won’t result in two points against good teams. But, they needed this win just like they need every win right now, so even though it wasn’t always pretty, it was what had to get done and they managed to pull it off. Onward and upward.

Everything Else

The Winds Of Thor Are Blowing Cold – Quarterly Report

By Sam Fels 3565 0

As Pat Foley was very anxious to tell you on Saturday night, the Hawks passed the quarter-mark of the season. Well, technically they’ll pass it with ten minutes to go in the second period tomorrow night, as that would be the actual quarter of 82 games. But I’m not writing this post in the middle of the game tomorrow, because like all of you I’ll most likely be elbow deep in a pilsner of some sort on Black Wednesday. So let’s just do this now, huh?

Let’s divide this up into “What We Know,” “What We Think,” and “We Don’t Know Anything” because it makes for a nice Mad Season reference. On to it:

What We Know

Corey Crawford is really good – This is the most obvious one. For at least the season’s first 10 games, maybe longer, Crawford was the only reason the Hawks were picking up any points at all. He was carrying a save-percentage over .940 for a while there, and his underlying numbers under that were pretty stupid.

The concern is that he’s not going to be able to maintain this standard for a whole season. Luckily, at least in some ways, his numbers are flattening out to things he’s put up for. His current even-strength SV% would not be a career-high, as he was .933 in ’15-’16 against his .932 now. He also put up .931’s at evens in ’14-’15 and 2013.

Crow hasn’t even had to perform quite as many miracles this year as in years past, at least at the moment. Expected save-percentage isn’t a perfect stat, but it’s what we have to go on. It’s basically trying to show how much above average a goalie is playing, by illustrating what a neutral goalie would surrender if seeing the same chances as the goalie in question is. The difference between expected save-percentage and a goalie’s actual one would tell you just how unconscious he’s been or how below par he’s been. Crow’s difference of 1.09 between his expected save percentage and actual would only be the fourth-highest of his career, and only a touch above his average of +1.00 the past five years. Basically, this is what he does, and the Hawks aren’t asking him to do quite as much as he has in the past, even if it feels like it.

If there’s an area of concern, it’s work on the penalty-kill. Crow’s SV% there currently is .918, and that blows anything he’s done before out of the water and into orbit. His previous career-high was .894 in 2013. The difference between his SV% and xSV% on the kill is also astronomical, though it isn’t among the league-leaders at the moment. If the fall comes, it’ll be on the PK and with the Hawks still having a much worse five-man acoustical jam on the power play, that could be a real problem.

Brent Seabrook is woof-tastic – You knew we would get here. There’s really nothing encouraging about any of it, as Seabrook’s underlying numbers continue to sink into the gravy boat he also likely lost his keys in. And it’s clear that Q has noticed. As Pullega pointed out earlier today, his time on ice is dwindling, not even getting 14 minutes of ES time in three of the past four games. Even more tellingly, at the end of the game on Saturday where the Hawks had to protect a one-goal lead it was Jan Rutta with Duncan Keith out there.

But in some ways, that’s encouraging? You have to ignore the context, but there is some hope that i the right pairing Seabrook can survive as a third-pairing d-man. Give him someone with mobility, be it Forsling or Kempny, and softer assignments, and there’s a decent chance the ice won’t look like After The Fall when he’s done.

What We Think

Connor Murphy might be getting it? – It sounds strange to say because lately he’s been partnered with Seabrook. But Murphy’s CF% the last seven games: 72, 76.1, 65.6, 43.8, 60, 55.5, 50. And he hasn’t had sheltered zone starts. So much of this season is pinned on Murphy and Forsling being really good, and both seem to be trending that way. In some ways Seabrook, in a vacuum (make your stomach-pumping joke here) is a perfect partner for Murphy, because both, in theory, are something of a tweener when it comes to roles. Seabrook was always too gifted offensively to be merely a center fielder, and Murphy skates well enough to get himself in the play–though he’s never going to score a lot. I’d still like to see Murphy play the foil to a pure puck-mover like Keith or Forsling, but all good things to those who wait, Clarice.

We Don’t Know Anything

The Hawks 3rd line – It’s been something of a hole all year. It was bad with Anisimov there, but he’s had a revival moving up to play with Kane and Schmaltz. Sharp, Hartman, ADB, Wingels, and Working Class Kero have all taken turns trying to straighten it out and nothing has really worked. The fourth line has played well enough to cover it up for now, but what’s frustrating is there do seem to be solutions in-house. They could either be moving Schmaltz back to center, getting Top Cat into the top six and moving either Toews or Anisimov around wingers that they can do something with (yes, I would put Schmaltz between Saad and Panik and Toews lower down the lineup and I wouldn’t think twice). A call-up of Vinnie Smalls also would seem to be worth a try. His speed would have to have some effect, but this might just be a player Q doesn’t like. We’ll find out soon enough.

Everything Else

High On The Hog: Hinostroza’s Hot Hand

By Jon Fromi 3470 0

You’ve likely heard this several times from a number of sources, but here goes; Vinnie Hinostroza’s play is screaming for a call-up to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Whether there is a place for him on the Hawks roster or not, the young forward has played his tail off down in Rockford. He’s done just about all one could expect from a prospect looking to make an impression with the parent club.

The IceHogs took two of three games this week. Both wins were punctuated with highlight-reel shootout attempts from Hinostroza. Against Grand Rapids Saturday night and Chicago Sunday afternoon, Hinostroza confidently bewildered his opposition in net on the way to winning both affairs.

Oh, yeah. Hinostroza also opened the scoring Sunday with a great individual effort, deftly weaving his way around a trio of Wolves before beating C.J. Motte in front of the net.

Hinostroza maintained his point-a-game pace this weekend and leads Rockford with eight goals and nine assists on the season. He has either the game-winning goal or shootout winner in each of the Hogs last three victories.

When a player is sent down to the AHL, all they can control is their attitude and performance. After Sunday’s win, Hinostroza was asked by Chris Block of thethirdmanin.com about keeping focused on his game while in Rockford. His response:

I’m still pretty young. I’m here right now; I want to come here and work hard every day. I know in the end it will pay off. (There’s) a lot more hockey to play.

So far this season, Hinostroza is a textbook example of how to deal with the situation; he has been a dominant player for the IceHogs.

 

Never Forget Your First Time

After pointing out that Alexandre Fortin hadn’t been very noticeable on the ice early this season, the rookie forward had himself a solid week. Fortin potted his first AHL goal Wednesday morning on a nice bit of skating across the Iowa crease. In Sunday’s win, Fortin picked up a pair of assists on two goals by Luke Johnson.

Also picking up his first goal of the season was Andreas Martinsen, who opened the scoring in Friday’s win over Grand Rapids. The primary helper on that goal was by Robin Norell; it was his first point of the season.

 

Powerless Play

One trend that continued this week was the lack of goals on the man advantage. The IceHogs have now gone five straight games without a power play goal. In fact, they are in a 1-for-35 slump over their last eight contests.

To make matters worse, Rockford gave up shorthanded goals against Iowa Wednesday and Chicago Sunday. The one scored by the Wild cost the IceHogs at least a point; the Wolves picked up a point when they tied Sunday’s game late in regulation.

Before embarking on this dubious streak, Rockford used three power play strikes to pull off a come-from-behind victory against Grand Rapids October 28. At times, the passing has looked impressive, though that also leaves the Hogs open to turnovers.

The last time a Rockford power play was successful was in Iowa back on November 9. It’s definitely an area of concern right now.

 

Roster Stuff

Anthony Louis has been a scratch for the last four games. Following Sunday’s win, Hogs coach Jeremy Colliton revealed that both Louis and Darren Raddysh, who sat out the weekend,were nursing injuries. I would guess that neither was serious, as no players have been brought up from the Hogs ECHL affiliate in Indy.

Laurent Dauphin returned to action on Wednesday after being out for a couple of games after a big hit in Iowa November 9. At this time, the Hogs have just 12 healthy forwards and six defensemen on the roster. If Louis or Raddysh is going to be out much longer, I’d look for someone to come up this week.

That player could possibly be Alex Wideman, who has 11 points (6 G, 5 A) for the Fuel in 14 games. Nathan Noel, on an NHL entry deal with Chicago, had a pair of goals against Kalamazoo Friday night. Maybe the Hogs feel he’s ready to get into a game for Rockford. Perhaps Robin Press is recalled is Raddysh isn’t ready to roll by Wednesday.

 

Recaps

Wednesday, November 15-Iowa 2, Rockford 1

For the second time in six days, the Hogs were on the short end of a specially-timed school day special. Wednesday, it was a young BMO audience that witnessed an Iowa triumph.

The IceHogs took a 1-0 lead midway through the opening frame immediately following a faceoff at the right circle. David Kampf won the draw, with Fortin scooping up the loose puck and skating right to left across the goal mouth. Fortin reached the left post ahead of Wild goalie Niklas Svedberg and cued the horn at 11:27 of the first period.

A Landon Ferraro tripping infraction gave Rockford a shot to stretch the advantage. Unfortunately, some sloppy play in their own end cost the Hogs the lead.

The power play started with some decent puck movement. However, Zack Mitchell was able to swipe possession from Matthew Highmore along the half boards and break out the other way with Colton Beck. Mitchell’s shot was stopped by J.F. Berube, but neither Highmore, Vinnie Hinostroza or Luke Johnson were able to control the puck and end the Iowa scoring threat.

Instead, Beck was able to beat three Rockford skaters to the loose puck and slide it to the waiting stick of Mitchell, who had looped behind the net to the left post after Hinostroza vacated the area. Berube never had a chance; Mitchell tied the score at the 16:43 mark.

The score remained 1-1 until halfway through the third period. Rockford was just finishing killing a Graham Knott tripping penalty. As the penalty expeired, Iowa’s Brennan Menell threw a puck wide of the goal that bounced off the end boards. The puck came to the blade of Sam Anas, who found Justin Kloos at the back door. Before Knott could even get on the ice, Kloos had given the Wild the eventual game-winner at 8:36.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Vinnie Hinostroza-Matthew Highmore-Luke Johnson (A)

Tomas Jurco-David Kampf-Alexandre Fortin

Andreas Martinsen-Laurent Dauphin (A)-William Pelletier

Tyler Sikura-Graham Knott

Erik Gustafsson-Darren Raddysh

Viktor Svedberg-Ville Pokka (A)

Carl Dahlstrom-Robin Norell

Luc Snuggerud

Jean-Francois Berube

Scratches-Matheson Iacopelli, Anthony Louis

Power Play (0-5 allowed shorthanded goal)

Highmore-Hinostroza-Johnson-Dauphin-Pokka

Jurco-Martinsen-Kampf-Gustafsson-Raddysh

Penalty Kill (Iowa was 0-4)

Dauphin-Johnson-Dahlstrom-Norell

Hinostroza-Highmore-Svedberg-Pokka

Martinsen-Sikura-Snuggerud-Gustafsson

 

Saturday, November 18-Rockford 3, Grand Rapids 2 (SO)

The Hogs attack wasn’t razor sharp, but a strong performance by Jeff Glass made the difference for Rockford as they came out on top of the Griffins via shootout for the second time this season.

Andreas Martinsen got the IceHogs on the scoreboard in opportunistic fashion late in the opening period. Robin Norell got a puck past Grand Rapids goalie Tom McCullom from just inside the blue line. The offering clanged off the left post and came right out to Martinsen at the bottom of the left circle. The back-door chance found the back of the cage for Martinsen’s first of the season and a 1-0 Rockford lead at the 16:33 mark.

Some loose play in the neutral zone led to Grand Rapids taking a 2-1 lead early in the second period. Tomas Jurco lost the handle on the puck as he was approaching the red line, allowing the Griffins Eric Tangradi to drive into Hogs territory and score 1:52 into the period.

Minutes later, a Jurco clearing pass went unclaimed by Rockford. Some quick passing by Grand Rapids allowed Dominic Turgeon to skate to the right post and roof a backhand over Glass. Just 4:28 into the middle frame, the Hogs found themselves down a goal.

Rockford evened things up in the ninth minute after Luke Johnson won an offensive draw at the right dot. Vinnie Hinostroza collected the puck, did a quick back and forth with Ville Pokka, then sent a shot toward the Griffins net.

The puck never arrived, either striking Matthew Highmore or Grand Rapids defenseman Dan Renouf. Highmore collected the loose puck and fired over the glove of McCullom at 8:23.

That was it for the scoring in regulation, as both Glass and McCullom denied several excellent scoring chances. Neither team could find cord in Gus Macker Time. In fact, only Hinostroza was able to parlay some razzle-dazzle with the biscuit into a shootout tally. Glass had to stop three Griffins shooters to claim the win for the Hogs and that’s just what he did.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Graham Knott-Tyler Sikura-William Pelletier

Vinnie Hinostroza-Matthew Highmore-Luke Johnson (A)

Tomas Jurco-David Kampf-Alexandre Fortin

Andreas Martinsen-Laurent Dauphin (A)-Matheson Iacopelli

Luc Snuggerud-Ville Pokka

Eric Gustafsson-Viktor Svedberg

Carl Dahlstrom-Robin Norell

Jeff Glass

Scratches-Darren Raddysh, Anthony Louis

Power Play (0-5)

Highmore-Johnson-Dauphin-Pokka-Snuggerud

Jurco-Martinsen-Kampf-Hinostroza-Gustafsson

Penalty Kill (Griffins were 0-2)

Dauphin-Johnson-Dahlstrom-Norell

Hinostroza-Highmore-Svedberg-Pokka

Martinsen-Sikura-Snuggerud-Gustafsson

 

Sunday, November 19-Rockford 4, Chicago 3 (SO)

Rockford nearly dropped this one after surrendering a two-goal lead in the final minutes. They did, however, rally to take the shootout from the Wolves for their second-straight win.

Vinnie Hinostroza opened the scoring with a spectacular bit of skating midway through the first period. Taking a pass from Tomas Jurco out of the Rockford zone, Hinostroza skated up the right side into Wolves territory.

The IceHogs leading scorer slid into the high slot, then masterfully wove around three Wolves defenders to the doorstep of the Chicago net. Hinostroza flipped home the lamp-lighter over the glove of C.J. Motte to put Rockford up 1-0 11:21 into the opening frame.

The Wolves tied the score four minutes later when a shot by Paul Thompson slid under the pads of Hogs goalie Jeff Glass and settled right on the goal line. Ivan Barbashev tapped it across before Glass could locate the puck.

Rockford was able to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission with a late tally. The play got started in the left corner of the Chicago zone, where Luc Snuggerud dug out the puck and found Alexandre Fortin open at the left point. Fortin’s shot was redirected by Luke Johnson past Motte and into the goal with just 29 seconds remaining in the first.

Following a scoreless second period, the IceHogs got a second goal from Johnson. Knocking in a nice pass from Fortin from the right post, Johnson made it 3-1 Rockford 5:39 into the third period.

As the final stanza wore on, that score held up and it appeared that the IceHogs were in control of what was a pretty even game up until that point. However, the Wolves mounted a late charge and forced Gus Macker Time with a pair of goals in the final 6:07 of the contest.

Jake Walman got a slap shot through after a clean Wolves faceoff win to close the gap to 3-2 at 13:53. A few minutes later, Rockford had a power play opportunity to slam the door on the Wolves. Instead, Ville Pokka’s cross-ice pass to Snuggerud was picked off, leading to a 2-on-0 shorthanded rush that ended with Thompson beating Glass glove side at 16:53.

It looked as if the game had gotten away from the Hogs, more so when Erik Gustafsson was called for interference in the extra session. Chicago had 1:25 of 4-on-3 to finish the comeback. Instead, Glass held firm and Rockford weathered the storm.

Jurco was denied by Motte in the opening round of the shootout before Hinostroza stick-handled his way into the net in the second-round attempt. Glass stopped Teemu Pulkkinen and Brandon Pirri before David Kampf ended the game with a successful attempt.

Lines (Starters in italics)

Alexandre Fortin-David Kampf-Tomas Jurco

Vinne Hinostroza-Matthew Highmore-Luke Johnson (A)

Matheson Iacopelli-Laurent Dauphin (A)-Andreas Martinsen

Graham Knott-Tyler Sikura-William Pelletier

Erik Gustafsson-Carl Dahlstrom

Luc Snuggerud-Ville Pokka

Viktor Svedberg-Robin Norell

Jeff Glass

Scratches-Darren Raddysh, Anthony Louis

Power Play (0-4, allowed shorthanded goal)

Highmore-Johnson-Dauphin-Pokka-Snuggerud

Jurco-Martinsen-Kampf-Hinostroza-Gustafsson

Penalty Kill (Wolves were 0-3)

Dauphin-Johnson-Dahlstrom-Norell

Hinostroza-Highmore-Svedberg-Pokka

Martinsen-Sikura-Snuggerud-Gustafsson

 

Previewing This Week

After winning their first two games with Iowa this season, the IceHogs dropped a pair of morning games with the Wild. Rockford will get two shots at that squad at the BMO Harris Bank Center this week. The Hogs host Iowa on Wednesday and Friday nights.

The Wild, who are right behind Rockford in the AHL’s Central Division standings, are paced by Zack Mitchell, who has 16 points (5 G, 11 A). Longtime AHL vet Pat Cannone is also a player that has victimized the Hogs in the past, mostly with the Chicago Wolves. Cannone and Colton Beck each have six goals and five helpers on the season.

Iowa has been effective in slowing the IceHogs attack in recent games. The Wild are capable of putting some bigger bodies on the ice and forcing Rockford away from scoring areas. Things could get a bit chippy with Iowa with two games in three days.

Rockford closes out next week’s action in Chicago. The Wolves gave the Hogs fits in Allstate Arena last season; Rockford was 1-4-1 in that building in 2016-17. Chicago in an uncharacteristic 4-9-1-1 and at the bottom of the Central Division. However, Sunday’s clash showed that the Wolves can turn momentum quickly.

Follow me @JonFromi for thoughts on the prospects in Rockford all season long.

Everything Else

Game #20 But it was Saturday Night, I Guess That Makes it Alright – Hawks 2, Penguins 1

By Rose Rankin 3783 0

Box Score

Hockey Stats

Natural Stat Trick

It feels like I should have some exciting takeaway or some great insight for you from this match-up of two perennial Stanley Cup contenders…but I don’t. It was an entertaining game to be sure, but it was also a midseason game (well, one-quarter-season to be exact), and it was a workaday performance turned in by the Hawks. Remember when they kicked the shit out of the Penguins to open the season? This game was not that, by any stretch of the imagination. To the bullets!

– Corey Crawford is a more worthwhile human than you or me. You probably already knew that—I know I did—but it bears repeating. He got domed by Evgeni Malkin in the first period, who was being the piece of shit that he is, then he went off for the quickest concussion protocol ever, and proceeded to give up just one goal and hold a .972 SV%. Yes, this got helped out by the second goal for the Pens getting called back for interference, which it was, but Crow battled through a lot of bullshit tonight including a bunch of shots at the end. The Hawks wouldn’t have won without his performance tonight, not like that is any kind of surprise. (And kudos to Anton Forsberg for covering those three minutes competently…not even being sarcastic, I mean it).

– Gustav Forsling scored on the power play. Did you ever think you would read such a ridiculous sentence? Yeah, I didn’t think I would ever write it either. Ready for another one? Both Hawks goals came on the power play. Wait, wait, I got another one: Artem Anisimov has 10 goals. Can you believe all this? After how terrible the power play has been I’m downright delighted to see this shit. Forsling finished with a 56.8 CF% tonight, so fine, whatever, if Kempny is going to get marooned in the press box forever you better fucking do something, asshole. And Anisimov with double-digit goals? Fine as well…if Toews is going to continue to fail at finishing, we need some center to do something. Have at it, pal.

– Nick Schmaltz continued his general awesomeness. He had speed all over the ice, some great breakaways in the first period, and somehow someway this second line is working. Schmaltz’s possession numbers with Anisimov and Kane at evens was over 50%. And the assholes on the Penguins were targeting him right up until the end of the game, when it was clear they weren’t going to do anything other than inflict pain and fuck him up, so that has to tell you something about this guy’s effectiveness.

– Look, I know in my rational mind that Phil Kessel is a very talented hockey player, but can we all just agree on something: this guy looks like he’s an insurance adjuster from Scranton and he’s playing men’s league on a Tuesday night just for fun. Seriously, this guy does NOT look like he should be in the NHL. I just, I just can’t get past it…I’ve never been able to get past it. Wherever he goes, I’m just flummoxed by this doughy dipshit-looking guy, who fortunately couldn’t get anything past Crawford tonight.

– Adam Burish can talk on TV? Who knew? I’ve actively tuned him out when he’s on the intermission desk-in-the-midst-of-obnoxious-assholes. So I never bothered to listen, but in the isolation of a studio I noticed he put rational thoughts together with the camera right on him…well done.

When it’s all said and done, the Hawks needed this win as they need every point they can get right now. And two PP goals? Love it. Their next game is against the fucking Lightning so I honestly expect an embarrassment…at least they’re walking away with this win. Onward and upward…