Everything Else

On That Dirty Boulevard: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Stitch Removal

By 1484

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks – 18-8-4  Rangers – 20-9-1

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: CSN Locally, NBCSN elsewhere

NEW YORK DOLLS: Blue Shirt Banter

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.1 (15th)  Rangers – 47.8 (23rd)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 47.8 (21st)  Rangers – 51.9 (14th)

POWER PLAY: Hawks – 16.7 (18th)  Rangers – 22.6 (5th)

PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 72.7 (30th)  Rangers – 85.9 (4th)

Once more, with feeling. Two of the top teams in the NHL will have a passionate discussion for the second time in five days, this time upstairs from the teeming, gross, and poor masses of Penn Station. This time however, the Hawks are a little better armed than they were last Friday when they dropped an overtime decision to the Blueshirts.

Everything Else

Green Hell: Stars at Hawks Preview/Spin Class

By 1362

 vs. 

RECORDS: Stars 11-12-6  Hawks 17-8-4

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: CSN

HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS?: Defending Big D

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUST TEAM xGF%: Stars – 49.5 (17th)  Hawks – 47.7 (22nd)

ADJUSTED TEAM Corsi %: Stars – 49.0 (19th)  Hawks – 50.0 (15th)

POWER PLAY: Stars – 17.4 (15th)  Hawks – 16.1 (19th)

PENALTY KILL: Stars – 76.7 (27th)  Hawks – 72.1 (Dead ass last)

For the second game in a row, the Hawks will play an already beat-up team on the back end of a back-to-back. This time instead of blue it will be green. as the Stars coming in licking their wounds after blowing a third period lead to Brayden Schenn yesterday afternoon in the Illa-delph. Not that the Hawks are anywhere near full-strength themselves.

Everything Else

This Is The Best We Can Do: Rangers 0 – Hawks 0 (Rangers Win Musical Chairs)

By 1264

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick 

Hockey Stats

So let’s burn a couple things off the top here. After watching these things for a while now, 3-on-3 OT is just as much of a gimmick as the shootout so we’re just going to list them as a tie with the joke qualifier from now on. At least I will.

Second, any point gained where the Hawks are missing their top center, a top-4 defenseman, and their starting goalie should be viewed as a point gained. It feels like a certainty we’ll look back on these in a couple months and marvel that the season didn’t get away from them.

That said, the Hawks faced a team also missing their top center, a very productive winger, a wiener tucker, and going with their backup, though he’s played better than the most handsome man in the world, and couldn’t pull off two points. It feels like opportunity lost. Will it matter in the end? Probably not.

Let’s clean it up:

Everything Else

The World Is Flat

By 1775

We’ve moved beyond the quarter-mark of the season, almost at a third of it. In the first month of the season, we all sort of marveled at how sloppy the hockey was. We blamed it on the World Cup, with most teams not getting to have a training camp with their full rosters for more than a few days. While play has tightened up a little bit, as the season enters its third month we’re still left with a product that quite simply, isn’t very good.

What’s become clear is that the salary cap has flattened the entire league so that there’s little difference between the best team and the worst team. If you toss out overtime losses, which are essentially ties settled by glorified skills competitions, no one in the Eastern conference is below .500. Only 12 points separate the conference leading Habs from the bottom-dwelling Islanders. While that’s not a gap that’s going to be made up (likely), it’s not all that large for an entire conference.

Thinks are a little more split in the West, where the conference-leading Hawks have a 17 point gap over the wooden spooners, the Avs. But we’ve all seen what a conference-leading Hawks team in the past looks like, and it’s pretty obvious this isn’t the same vintage. Adding to the Hawks somewhat shaky hold on the West is that they lead the league in wins in overtime, which isn’t really a true test of what kind of team you are. They’re 13th in regulation wins.

Essentially, we have a mishmash of a lot of the same things.

Everything Else

Wrecked Up And Paralyzed, Desert Dogs Are Sableized – Coyotes vs Hawks Preview, Insurance Audit

By 1357

nathan-arizona vs. Hawk Wrestler

RECORDS: Coyotes 8-12-4  Hawks 16-8-3

PUCK DROP: 7:30pm

TV: CSN

LOTTA STORIES IN THE DESERT: Five For Howling

Projected Lineups

coyotes-lineup-card

blackhawks-lineup-card

SCORE-ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Coyotes- 44.0 (30th)  Hawks – 50.1 (15th)

SCORE-ADJUSTED xGF %: Coyotes – 39.5 (30th)  Hawks – 47.4 (24th)

POWER PLAY %: Coyotes – 15.3 (21st)  Hawks – 15.7 (19th)

PENALTY KILL %: Coyotes – 80.8 (21st) Hawks – 70.7 (dead ass last)

If the Hawks could schedule it themselves, and really given the pull they have with the league they may want to try it, they’d schedule the Yotes four or five times while they’re without  Toews and Crawford. Because curveballs don’t hang much worse than this, and it’s boosted with the Coyotes having played last night in Ohio. Whatever is ailing the Hawks, this is how you medicate it.

Everything Else

Here Come The Warm Jets: Jets at Hawks Preview/Satellite Dish Cleaning

By 1419

warm-jets vs. Hawk Wrestler

RECORDS: Jets 12-13-2  Hawks 16-7-3

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central 

TV: CSN, Rogers for the creepy-ass Hometown Hockey Mishegas in Canada

COLDER THAN A WELL DIGGER’S ASS: Jetsnation.ca, Arctic Ice Hockey

Projected Lineups

jets-lineup-card

blackhawks-lineup-card

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Jets – 47.5 (24th)  Hawks – 50.4 (15th)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Jets – 48.3 (21st)  Hawks 48.2 (22nd)

POWER PLAY%: Jets 15.2 (20th)  Hawks – 16.3 (17th)

PENALTY KILL%: Jets – 78.4 (25th)  Hawks – 71.3 (dead ass last)

The Hawks get an immediate chance to get the Listerine out to wash out the taste of yesterday’s loss. The Winnipeg Jets dance on in here, though if the Flyers speed was something of an issue, there’ll be no reprieve from the Jets. It’s been augmented by a return to health for Bryan Little and analytic darling Mathieu Perreault, which they didn’t have last time the Hawks saw this squad. And that one didn’t go all that well anyway.

Everything Else

In This Room, Another Lonely Afternoon: Hawks 1 – Flyera 3

By 1230

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Hockey Stats

On a day that started with possibly the first ever combination of the words “NHL” and “Temple University,” the Hawks got a glimpse of the results their play has deserved lately but Crawford has kept from happening. That’s not to say Scott Darling was bad, he was far from it. But it’s an example of the other-worldly play Crow has had to put forth at time to get the Hawks two points consistently. When you go from other-worldly to just pretty good, the chances these Hawks surrender right now make for less than two points.

And it’s not even as the Hawks were 60 minutes bad. For long stretches they were better, though those came after they were down two goals and could be partially attributed to score effects and having to throw more and more caution to the wind. Given the lineup though, even when the Hawks have the upper hand there are some shifts where they are running around their own end like a kids birthday party where someone gave them all soda. Or they make a mistake at the other line or neutral zone to cause odd-man rushes. Crow’s expected absence for a couple weeks will be an excellent chance to shore this shit up.

Let’s clean it up:

Everything Else

Looks Like I Pulled A Homer: Hawks 4 – Devils 3 (OT)

By 1420

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick

Hockey Stats

If the Hawks weren’t very good to open the contest against Florida, they decided to see how much more the bottom could fall out and still get out with two wins against the Devils. The opening 10 minutes of tonight’s game might be the worst we’ve seen a patch of hockey from the Hawks in years. They were skating in mud, and not the good Mississippi kind. The Devils were three steps quicker all over the ice and worse yet the Hawks didn’t seem all that bothered to do anything about it.

Then again, I guess you don’t have to care when you know that Corey Crawford is almost never going to let a game get away from you. He did it again tonight, pulling off several saves in the 1st that could have basically ended it. The longer the game went on with the Devils in reach, the more chance it would be that their shoddy defense and a not yet full-strength Schneider would crack. One nifty play from Rasmussen to Kruger and the Hawks were on their way.

And for the second game in a row, they blew a third period lead that they’ll be able to cover up with victory in a post-60 gimmick. That’s not a trend you want to count on, but it’ll work for now.

Everything Else

Before The Devils Make You Dead: Devils at Hawks Preview/Car Tow

By 1655

jon_lovitz-devil-snl-46_2 vs. Hawk Wrestler

RECORDS: Devils: 10-7-5  Hawks: 15-6-3  

PUCK DROP: 7:30pm

TV: CSN

SWAMP SITTERS: In Lou We Trust

Projected Lineups

devils-lineup-card

blackhawks-lineup-card

ADJUSTED CORSI%: Devils – 49.4 (18th)  Hawks – 50.8 (12th)

ADJUSTED xGF%: Devils – 46.1 (28th)  Hawks – 47.4 (22nd)

POWER PLAY %: Devils – 13.7 (25th)  Hawks – 17.3 (16th)

PENALTY KILL %: Devils – 84.3 (9th)  Hawks – 70.7 (They’re above 70%!!!)

The Hawks begin the December portion of the schedule tonight in the most coma-inducing way possible, with a visit from the New Jersey Devils. If there’s a chance to look good in regulation against a team, which the Hawks haven’t really done since San Jose, this would be it. But then again, no one looks good against the Devils. That’s just their way.