Most Impressive:NHL
Team NA is my dark horse:ESPN
For Example:Philly
Hardware coming:NESN
Larmer still got screwed:SB Nation
This title is really misleading:SI
Sign me up:CBC
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 11:30am Central
TV/RADIO: NBC, WGN Radio
CALLING TED KENNEDY GAY: Japers Rink
As if there wasn’t going to be enough buzz in the building, at least as much as there can be on a Sunday Morning Coming Down, with the NHL-leading Capitals invading the United Center, the Hawks will be showing off some of their new toys as well. Not all of them, as Dale Weise is awaiting visa clearance and Christian Ehrhoff is going to need to prove to Q that he should be in the lineup (and it’s anyone’s guess how long that could take). Still, Andrew Ladd’s appearance alone would have the place jumping, and he’ll be joined by Tomas Fleischmann.
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Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN, SportsNet East, WGN-AM 720
Napalm The University of Tennesee Athletic Department: On The Forecheck
Tonight’s game will conclude the season series between the Hawks and Preds. And while the Hawks have already won the season series outright(3-1-0), the Predators have exposed some of the flaws in the composition of the Hawks’ roster in the process. And they’ll catch the Preds during their most productive streak of the season, having taken points in 7 straight games, and winning four straight games on the road, and eight of their last nine.
So I could go on about the Hawks problems on the blue line, with all of the bottom four taking turns technicolor yawning to let a goal in. Or the Hawks lack of a bottom six. But we’ve all been over that. So we’ll just go anti-DLR here. This is pretty much the sound of Seabrook trying to move in musical form anyway.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 2:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBC, WGN Radio
GOPHER, EVERETT?: Hockey Wilderness
While it isn’t the last spike, however minuscule, on the EKG of the NHL season, today’s Stadium Series game is certainly the only “event” left on the Hawks’ schedule before the games really count. Matchups with Dallas and St. Louis will still matter a little more considering the standings (though Dallas’s goaltending will see what they can do about that), and next Sunday’s game against Washington will probably be more hyped. But those don’t take place outdoors, and today’s does. So at least it’s unique.
Box Score
Event Summary
War On Ice
There are road wins, and then there are goalie wins. And then there are combinations of the two, which is what happened tonight.
vs.
FACEOFF: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio
CBGB Refugees: Scotty Hockey, The Hockey Rodent, Blue Shirt Banter
Only seems like six years ago that the Rangers were in town for the reverse fixture on this on Banner Raising night, where it became obvious to everyone that Trevor Daley was not going to work out here as the Rangers walked out 3-2 winners (you probably were watching Jake Arrieta get in up to the elbow against the Pirates. I know I was). The Hawks finally wrap up the season series with their Original 6 brethren on Broadway tonight. They’ll find a weird squad when they get there.
We here at the C.I. Labs often like to dispel any myth or the storyline that’s floating around at any given time. What can we say? When we’re not doing that we find children’s birthday parties and go pop all the balloons and steal the cake. It sustains us. It is our oxygen. Yes, we need help.
The current one going around these days, that I’ve seen far too often from people who should know better, is that Brent Seabrook is somehow a dark horse Norris Trophy candidate. This is ludicrous on a ton of levels, the first being that you can already set the three finalists as Karlsson, Doughty, and Klingberg and Karlsson should win it unanimously and the other two should apologize to him for taking up any of his time. Then Karlsson can worry about making a run at the Hart, which he has a serious case for but will never get because the Senators won’t make the playoffs, or aren’t likely to. But that’s not why you called.
vs.
FACEOFF: 7:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN, NHL-N, WGN Radio
RABBIT SEASON: Anaheim Calling
The Hawks will try and break what constitutes a losing streak for them, all of two games, with their third straight home game against an automatic Western Conference playoff spot holder (there’s a title) in the Anaheim Ducks. Both the Sharks and Stars were able to walk out of the UC with regulation wins which is only the second time all season the Hawks have dropped consecutive home decisions (and the first both have been in regulation). In order to snap the streak, they’ll have to do it against an Anaheim team that is no longer the comedy outfit they were in the season’s first half.
vs
Game Time: 7:30PM
TV/Radio: CSN, SportsNet Pacific, WGN-AM 720
Jim Nill’s Liberator: Defending Big D
While tonight would be a premiere matchup between the conference’s top two teams jostling for inside position for the division, and both playing a high-octane brand of hockey, none of that is receiving top billing. Even Johnny Oduya’s return to the building after being a key role player on two Stanley Cup teams is a footnote.
Because tonight is Patrick Sharp’s first regular season game in the United Center as a visitor in over ten years.
