Everything Else

Three Feet High And Not Rising: Blues 2 – Hawks 1 (OT)

By 1427

Boxscore

Event Summary

War On Ice

There are several ways you could look at this one. I’m not sure any of them matter. On the one hand, the Hawks kept one of the better Western Conference teams to barely a threat without their best d-man and three forwards. They had chances to make it a bigger lead. In another way, they only put up one goal, weren’t a constant threat, got pretty well stepped on in possession and coughed up a lead to lose for just the second time when leading after 40 minutes. You could say that the Blues haven’t beaten the Hawks without a gimmick this year. You could try and project what it means for next week. In the end it all seems a bit futile.

Everything Else

Reasons For Optimism… No, I’m Serious. Don’t Look At Me That Way

By 1405

You might say things look a little dark in Hawkdom these days. You might say they look darker than a black steer’s tookus on a moonless prairie night. Their most important skater is facing a suspension that has a chance of seeping into the playoffs. They don’t know when their goalie who is most responsible for their record this year is going to be able to return. Their other MVP isn’t scoring at near the rate he has before as teams have focused on that line and the top one hasn’t been able to bail him out. We’ve been over the defense.

But all is not lost, my friends. There are reasons that the Hawks could yet have a long spring. I’m totally serious. Let’s go through them. Caveat: None of these mean shit if either or both of Keith and Crawford miss significant playoff time. Then they’re totally boned. Sorry.

Everything Else

What A Way To Run A Railroad

By 1784

Another banner day in great Hawkdom and hockey in general. It’s gone beyond comedic to the surreal at this point. A listless, 5th straight loss to the decidedly in-the-middle Wild, the Hawks most important player looking at some sort of suspension, an organization continuing to act in a most callous, cowardly fashion, and a league that if it were any more balloon-handed would be able to carry the dude’s house from UP to Jupiter and back. Let’s see if we can’t get through it all without opening wounds on our collective faces.

-Let’s start with Duncan Keith. While his elbow on Shooty Twin from 2012 and his high-stick can’t actually be considered in whatever discipline is coming his way, past displays of behavior can, which essentially is the same fucking thing. I suppose the technicalities would come up in any sort of appeal, which I’m fairly sure is going to come up.

Everything Else

Holy Fiver: Hawks at Wild Preview/Long Jump

By 1270

Hawk Wrestler vs. EW_Ygritte_promo_shoot_a

PUCK DROP: 7pm 

TV/RADIO: CSN, WGN

OUT BEYOND THE WALL: Hockey Wilderness

Wild Stats

Wild War On Ice

It only seems like the 12th time the Hawks and Wild have played this year. But going back over the last four seasons, this will be the 34th time the two have met including playoffs. So yeah, it can seem like a bit of a slog by this point. This is also the first chance for the Wild to sweep the season series from the Hawks, and I honestly can’t remember the Hawks losing to any team five times without reply since Quenneville took over. Which is kind of hard to believe but then it’s hard to be a team like the Hawks this much.

Everything Else

Ds Equal Degrees: Hawks 3 – Canucks 2

By 1452

Boxscore

Event Summary

War On Ice

At this time of year, and with the way things had been going, points are pretty much all that matters. You can worry about the style points later. Which is good, because the last two wouldn’t really have any outside of the 4th line and Scott Darling. The Hawks clinched a playoff spot, not that that was in doubt, and can at least claim a mini-winning streak. They did what they had to, even if it was by the skin of their teeth, Dave Mustaine.

On the other side, needing you goalie to bail you out against the dreck of the Pacific Division isn’t going to cause anyone to write songs. The Hawks gave up 15 shots in the 3rd period to a team with four forwards (maybe) and two defensemen that you’d call NHL quality. I think the past two games are more the Hawks struggling to find interest more than anything structural, as past games against better teams probably have been. But whatever changes they have in store we’re not going to see for another two weeks, so let us deal with what is.

Everything Else

I Think Feather Has Made A Dr. Feelgood Joke Before So I Can’t: Hawks 4 – Flames 1/It Could Happen To You: Hawks at Canucks Preview

By 1408

Boxscore

Event Summary

War on Ice

Let’s spin it all in one today.

I’ve seen a few on Twitter, nearly begging for reasons for optimism in this March Of The Pigs (as Slak called it and I’m going to use for the last four days of March and again next March). Last night was clear evidence of what one of those pieces can be. Though it was only the Flames, the Hawks’ 4th line essentially ran the show on yet another night where it looked like the rest of the team could barely be arsed.

Piece of evidence of that: Marcus Kruger’s line started 8 shifts in the d-zone and two in the offensive. They were still double-digits in the black in attempts. This is what Kruger does, and why he’s making more money than most of the hockey world can fathom. Again, only the Flames but it’s hard to think of a team that is going to toss out an equivalent 4th line. If the Blues didn’t insist on dressing professional rodeo clown for the insane Ryan Reaves they might. The Stars are close. But Desjardins-Kruger-Shaw is probably the best 4th unit you’ll find.

Everything Else

Angry At Numbers: I Make A Lot Of Graphs

By 2196

Something of a new approach to this bit today. One of the things that people have pointed to in this current Hawks’ streak of silliness is that the second line hasn’t scored much. Kane and Pantera have only combined for four points in the past nine games. We’ve been commenting that the top line hasn’t really pulled its weight at even-strength for any length of time this season, and I wanted to see if this has affected how teams have played them. It kind of looks like it has:

Kane and Toews graph

Everything Else

Another Fuck Up, Yet Another Chance

By 1412

Boy this season just gets more and more fun.

Close friend of the program Chris Block tweeted out a story last night about Hawks’ prospect Garret Ross being charged with one count of non-consensual dissemination of sexual images, or in terms you might have heard “revenge porn.” I’m not going to go into what it is for those who don’t know, but just understand it’s thoroughly disgusting and basically if guilty Ross should be beaten across the face with a piece of heavy mining equipment, to quote one of my favorite philosophers.

Where the discussion should turn at some point is how the Hawks handled yet another story of sexual misconduct, or didn’t. Whatever you think of how the Kane story went down and how the Hawks handled it, this is the second straight season that a story of sexual impropriety is being told about the Hawks organization. I think we’re definitely approaching “trend” designation if we’re not there already.

Everything Else

I Want His Face… Off… To Stop Being Talked About

By 1526

The past couple weeks, I’ve seen more noise about the Hawks “faceoff struggles” than I have in a long while. It’s almost like people seem to feel that the Hawks were a dominant faceoff team for the entire Quenneville Era, which they most certainly have not been. And it’s almost like we didn’t figure out that faceoffs don’t really correlate to wins and losses and good and bad team, which we kind of have. Let’s delve deeper, hmmm?

Here are your top five best faceoff teams: Arizona, Carolina, Minnesota, Anaheim, and St. Louis. That’s two surefire playoff teams, two teams completely out of it, and one on the very borderline. Yes, you’ll find only non-playoff teams in the bottom five, but you’ll also find Nashville and Chicago in the bottom 10. That hasn’t stopped the Predators from being one of the best even-strength teams in the league.

Everything Else

4th Time’s the Charm: Wild at Hawks Preview/Sunday Dinner

By 1453

Zakk-Wylde-by-Ivan-Chopik vs. Hawk Wrestler

PUCK DROP: 7:30 Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio

GOIN’ CRAZY OUT BY DA LAKE DERE: Hockey Wilderness

Wild Stats

Wild War On Ice

The Hawks get to round out their tour of Central Division jobbers tonight with a home date against the Green and Red from the Twin Cities. Even though the Wild are going to have scrape and claw to just get the last playoff spot over the Avalanche, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been a total headache for the Hawks this season. It’s something you’d think the Hawks want to set straight, but at this time of year we’re never certain where the Hawks focus is.