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FACEOFF: 7pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN, NBCSN, Sportsnet, WGN 720
WHERE YOU GOIN’, CITY BOY? On The Forecheck
The Hawks hit the home stretch before the All-Star break with a trip down south. It starts in Nashville before doing the Florida swing later in the week. They’ll see a Predators team that last week thought it had solved its biggest problem, and this week may have figured out it has one it can’t do anything about.
I was thinking tonight right before the 3rd period that at this point, the lack of drama Hawks games have when they lead going into the 3rd have. They haven’t lost one in a the past season and a half, and when they’re taking a two-goal lead into a 3rd, you basically know it’s over. This would be the very definition of hockey 1st world problems, because this is what every fandom wants. The Hawks weren’t particularly spectacular tonight, but they didn’t have to be. But at this point, no team is better at knowing exactly what it takes to get two points out of a game, and once they bunched two goals at the end of the 2nd, it was basically over.
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Game Time: 6:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN Ch. 9, SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
I Get It, French Class: Habs Eyes On The Prize
Once again in the NHL’s infinite brilliance, with the unbalanced divisional schedule in place, they are wiping out an interconference rivalry within the span of 72 hours. And even this time, two teams with ACTUAL history in the Hawks and Habs (apologies to any of the olds now having ’65, ’71, or ’73 flashbacks) as well as some of the most telegenic threads in the sport not getting a national American audience. Better to keep everyone talking about this John Scott waste-of-breath-from-every-conceivable-angle than to actually promote the product using two heritage franchises with history who both have Championship aspirations.
Sometime last week I tweeted out that if Corey Crawford kept all the points he’d stolen for the Hawks this season for himself he alone would still be ahead of the Jets and Avs and Preds in the standings. You can throw one and possibly both tonight on that stack, at least for the 2nd period and parts of the 3rd.
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PUCK DROP: 6:30pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN for the locals, NBCSN for the outer rim, WGN Radio
THE QUEBECOIS: Habs Eyes On The Prize
The Hawks will take their scorching performance art piece on the road the next two nights, and into the cradle of hockey. If you don’t believe it is, just ask the citizens of Montreal and Toronto. It’s an Original 6 week for the Hawks. What they’ll find when they get to “The Keg” is a team and fanbase that’s been pulling it’s hair out for so long and so aggressively parts of their brain are flicking out of their scalps. No one does panic quite like the Canadiens.
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PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN for both
ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY: Mile High Hockey
It’s the sound of the Avalanche coming to the United Center. Because they’ve won five of the last six here, even though by any measure the Hawks should be painting the walls of their new dressing room with the brains and innards of the Avs. But they don’t seem to here. Certainly not last time, when Semyon “Kiss With A Fist Is Better Than None” Varlamov walked out with his 73rd shutout of the Hawks, or at least that’s how it feels.
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Game Time: 7:30PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, NHL-US, WGN-AM 720
Don Beebe’s House Of Speed: Die By The Blade
Last month when the Hawks visited Buffalo for a Saturday matinee, surprisingly their hometown hero, the Prodigal Son, received less than a warm ovation, receiving boos every time he touched the puck. Since then, the Sabres’ own Kane, Evander, is now the subject of a rape investigation of his own, and it would stand to reason that those in attendance tonight would feel turnabout is fair play to return the favor because no one even tangentially affiliated with the Blackhawks has had any degree of self awareness for months. Fans on both sides of this equation who feel the need to do such things while not realizing the bigger issues would be well served just to stay home if not walk into oncoming traffic on the Eisenhower.
Well it was certainly better than Sunday’s what-have ya.
It started out a little slow, as the 1st period was certainly a tame affair with the Hawks trying to play “a good road game” (hockey term) and the Penguins still a little antsy about everything they’re doing these days. It would need a goal to open up, and it got one when Cullen, Malkin, and Kessel all watched Brian Dumoulin pinch down from his point and thought to themselves, “Boy his point is open, someone should do something about that.” That led to a YeastMode & The Douche (thanks to Anthrax that might be the official new name) on a 2-on-1 and that only ends one way.
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Game Time: 6:00PM Central
TV/Radio: CSN, SportsNet, WGN-AM 720
Ben Roethlisberger Is A Gray Dicked Rapist: PensBurgh
In a matchup of rivals that never were, much to the chagrin of Gary Bettman and NBCSN (despite what they’re pitting tomorrow’s game as), the Hawks travel to Pittsburgh for the first of yet another inter-conference mid-week home and home knocking out the season series in 27 hours. And in an even more remarkable turn of events, both Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby are upright for at least tonight’s contest, something that’s eluded both of them in this non-existent battle. Though to what degree is debateable.
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PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV/RADIO: CSN Locally, NHL-N Nationally, Sportsnet Canadian Nationally, WGN Radio
FUCK THE POOR!: Silver Seven Sens
