Everything Else

Eyes On The Captain And Other Thoughts On This Nervous Night

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Lately I’ve been expressing concern over Jonathan Toews, and as I normally do I ripped it off one of my blogmates because they’re smarter (and handsomer!). Fifth Feather was the first to raise a question about Toews’s condition, noticing that he was misplacing passes and losing board battles more often than we are accustomed to seeing (basically, at all). I thought I’d dig a little deeper.

I guess the most concerning number bouncing out at me is that over the past four games Toews only has four shots. That’s his lowest stretch of that length all season. If it wasn’t for Michal Neuvirth pretty much gifting him two goals against the Islanders, he wouldn’t have scored for nine games. His only points in the last four were the result of a blocked shot leading to Shaw’s empty-netter against Carolina.

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Power Outage: Rangers 1 – Hawks 0

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Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

That one stung a bit. I really wanted that one, and I’m guessing after Q’s mini-explosion at practice yesterday the Hawks did too. It feels weird to say after a tough loss like that, but there were more positives than negatives coming out of it. The negatives are just more glaring.

Still, after a 1st period that wasn’t as one-sided as the shot board would have you believe–the attempts were even–the Hawks held a very potent Rangers team to just 19 shots the rest of the way. They out-attempted them too. Talbot didn’t have as many big saves to make as Crawford did, but he made them just as well.

Sadly, the Rangers are one of the teams you don’t want to see 4-on-4 (though that list is getting larger) and it didn’t take long before the Hawks were made to pay for the slower pace they play at right now.

If you want to be positive, 4-1-1 without Kane and Oduya (and Oduya’s presence looks pretty vital right now) is a pace you’d take. There are a couple softer games up the next week with Arizona and a free-falling Sharks team. Yes, they’re both on the road but they’re still doable. It’s a point gained on the Wild, who had been roaring up on the outside like Easy Goer. It’s five back of the Preds, who look the more likely to be caught than the Blues.

It stings, but it’s not the end of the world. Let’s do how we do.

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Thursday Throwaways

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Just some notes to cover.

-We never did get around to analyzing the Smith-for-Desjardins trade, mostly because most of us here think it doesn’t matter in the long run. At least hopefully it doesn’t. If Ben Smith becomes the difference between winning a Cup and not, then there were probably bigger issues at play.

By now, everyone’s realized this is a cap move. Smith was signed for one more year, and there are alternatives for his 4th line/PK role next year. While Nordstrom’s past few strong games are hardly sample size enough to have convinced the front office to do away with Smith, it does at least offer hope that any gap will be made up pretty quickly. Looking ahead to next year, Nordstrom, Hartman, and/or Danault could all find themselves on the 4th line. If Garret Ross gains 30 pounds, he might even get a look too. (I also have this sneaking suspicion that if Tyler Motte were to leave Michigan after this season he’s going to be the kid who surprises everyone at training camp. But I doubt he leaves Michigan this year).

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Bogey: Avs 4 – Hawks 1

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It’s come to me to clean this one up. Oh joy. I made sure to have my new favorite snack before I attempted this (peanut butter and rib belly sandwich. Trust me, it’s the tits). There’s a few games every year where it feels like something has truly gone wrong. And then you take a breath, a moment, and realize you didn’t learn anything new. It’s just some things about that particular defeat rankle more than normal.

The Avs are the Hawks’ bogey team. It doesn’t matter where they are in the standings or how they are playing. They’re just going to play well against the Hawks. It’s been going on for three seasons now. Maybe even five.

And hey, that pisses us all off. Because by any measure the Avs are not a good hockey team. They are coached by a lunatic who isn’t very good at his job (so might the Hawks be, but that’s another discussion for another time). They’ve learned all the wrong lessons about last year. They have annoying players up and down the lineup who have been made more annoying by their dumbass coach. No getting around it, not pounding them into dust sucks.