When it comes to international competitions, there are really only three team sports anyone cares about. Basketball, hockey, and soccer. Maybe one day the World Baseball Classic will catch on, but we’ll all be either in the ground, in the wind, or not aware of our surroundings when that happens. And as a Yank, it can get dispiriting to see how the overlords of the sport in hockey and soccer run things. And it wasn’t so long ago that USA Basketball had to have an awakening, when gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships suddenly were not automatic. You wonder if such a thing would have to happen in the other sports, when the US has never been on top.
As was noted in the preview, Sergei Bobrovsky was never going to allow much tonight, what with his .970 and total of 10 goals allowed for the month coming into tonight. Fortunately Corey Crawford was every bit of Bobrovsky’s equal tonight, while the rest of the team never really had to get out of third gear.
vs. 
RECORDS: Jackets 49-19-8 Hawks 49-21-7
PUCK DROP: 7:30 at The Westside BoogeyDown
TV: CSN
LOVE ROLLER COASTER: Jackets Cannon
PROJECTED LINEUPS
ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Jackets – 50.8 (12th) Hawks – 50.9 (11th)
ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Jackets – 50.4 (14th) Hawks – 49.5 (16th)
POWER PLAY %: Jackets – 20.5 (9th) Hawks – 18.3 (17th)
PENALTY KILL %: Jackets – 82.9 (8th) Hawks – 77.7 (25th)
It’s been a while since the Hawks saw this third of the Triumvirate of Doom that resides in the Metro Division. When the Hawks saw the Jackets in the opening throes of the season, the Hawks couldn’t kill any penalty and the Jackets hadn’t quite caught fire yet. That was their first win of the season, and they’ve gone on to collect 48 more. They have the second least amount of regulation losses, and now look poised to host the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs, the first time they’ve ever had home-ice in a playoff series.
But of course, hockey fans and especially bloggers being curmudgeons, we have to wonder if this is real.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 6pm Central
TV: CSN
THE HOCKEY BLOG: Jackets Cannon
Projected Lineups
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SCORE ADJUSTED POSSESSION: Hawks – 50.3 CF% (11th) Jackets – 48.2 CF% (20th)
POWER PLAY: Hawks – 35.7% (3rd) Jackets – 40% (2nd)
PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 47.1% (Dead ass last) Jackets – 85.7% (12th)
Trends: Cam Atkinson only has three goals and seven points in 10 games agains the Hawks. It only feels like has 27 and 43.
The Hawks take it out on the road again tonight, to face a certainly well-rested if oddly-cobbled Blue Jackets squad in the Ohio capital. It’ll start a three-in-four stretch for the Hawks, who return home tomorrow for the Leafs Saturday and Flames Monday. What they’ll find in Columbus is a team built to play a game that no longer wins in the NHL, and one under that that could be a useful NHL team if they let it.
Follow him on Twitter @bzarcher. You can read his work at JacketsCannon.com.
So as fans of a team that is coached by John Tortorella, how horrifying was the World Cup?
-Terrifying, but I think it’s worth considering that Torts was given a roster that I’d consider schizophrenic at best. Still, it was a very dramatic demonstration of how NOT to win against international competition, and Torts seems to be applying some of what he learned with the increased emphasis on speed and generating chances in Columbus.
There isn’t much I can add to what everyone else said last night about Team USA. We basically knew this team was doomed the minute the preliminary roster was released and Justin Abdelkader was on it. We knew they were further doomed when the U-23 players wouldn’t be available, though we were suspicious that they would have been picked anyway given USA Hockey’s, and really hockey in general’s, adherence to veterans and #GRITHEARTSANDPAPERFAAAAARRRT.
Last night I spent a fair amount of time baffled at how Dean Lombardi had put together two Cup winners (though I guess it’s really one team that won twice when they’re that close together) if this is what he prioritized for Team USA. But the thing is, there was a time when Lombardi totally got it. While the Kings first Cup team was big and nasty and relied on Quick to bash their way to a parade, the 2014 team beat the Hawks at their own game. Lombardi saw what needed to be done and added Gaborik, called up Pearson and Toffoli and let them run. All of that was added to Doughty, Martinez, Voynov, and Muzzin who could really push the play. Remember the pace at which that Conference Final was played. That wasn’t neanderthal hockey. That was hockey as it should be. Where did that Dean Lombardi go?
Apparently he was lost long ago as he tried to back it up after that with the likes of Milan Lucic, Brayden McNabb, and Vinny Lecavalier. Maybe he was on drugs in 2014?
So as training camp approaches, it’s time for us to announce a couple changes going on here at our humble home.
First and foremost, the gameday program I have done for the past eight seasons is not coming back this season. I have a couple other projects I’m working on that really wouldn’t allow for the time to do it, and more importantly I just don’t feel it anymore. Those of you who read it every game are owed a level of dedication and focus that I just don’t think I’m capable of right now.
However, I won’t leave you totally bereft. If you feel the need to “complete the set,” I’m making every back issue available here. It’s $10 bucks for each season, and all three commemorative issues are included with the three seasons they won the Cup. If you feel you need it, it’s there.
A day later than I had planned due to some planning snafus getting out of Montreal. Though I maintain Quebec is a weird vortex that just changes the date on your flight without you knowing so you can never leave (yes, I am Kat Stratford maintaining that boy kicked himself in the balls).
First off, let me say that I really wanted to like the World Cup. In my mind, it really did have a chance to be better than the Olympics, and if the league is willing to have it regularly for a while (correctly) it still could be with a built up reputation. This is for a couple reasons.
One, some of the reasons I am the hockey fan I am is the ’87 and ’91 Canada Cups. Ok, I barely remember ’87 but I do remember that even at six-years-old seeing Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line was a really cool thing. It was like seeing Jupiter and Saturn combine. I saw one of the of the warm-up games in ’91 at the Stadium between the US and Canada that featured a Roenick penalty shot on Belfour (saved) and the first sighting of the unholy monster that was Eric Lindros and Chris Chelios bouncing off of him like a superball. The US taking the first World Cup in ’96, with a completely loaded roster that is still kind of hard to fathom, is a cherished memory for a lot of us this age. This tournament, in whatever form, has certainly shone bright at points.
at 
Game Time: 9:30PM CDT
TV/Radio: WGN, TSN, WGN-AM 720
The Truth Is Out There: Nucks Misconduct, Canucks Army
With last night’s OT loss to the hapless Flames in Cow Town, the Hawks are officially in the midst of their longest losing streak since the 9-game debacle that nearly completely derailed the 2011-2012 season. And while things aren’t nearly that dire yet, the Blues have already tied the Hawks for first in the Central and have games in hand, and the road trip prior to the Olympics takes a much sharper turn toward icky starting tonight with their old friends the Canucks. Though given the state of things in Vancouver of late, just how icky can be debated.
at
Game Time: 9:00PM Central
TV/Radio: WGN Ch. 9, NHLN (US), CBC (Hosers), WGN-AM 720
Blackfish: Nucks Misconduct
Now the circus trip moves to its most western destination in British Columbia, where where the Hawks and Canucks will renew acquaintances and rekindle what’s now left of one of the more volatile rivalries within the boundaries of Lockout 2.0 and Lockout 3.0.
