Everything Else

Learn How: Bruins At Blackhawks – Game 2 – Preview/Pre-Game Thread/Alleycat Race

By Matthew Killion 1309 0

bruins country bear jamboroo vs AltLogo

Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: The Channel Formerly Known As Versus, CBC (Anglo), RDS (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Some People Try To Pick Up Girls And Get Called Assholes: Cup of Chowder, Days of Y’Orr

Well now, has everyone stocked up on caffeine and other crucial supplies? Ready for another 5 hour hockey game? No? Well me either. If there’s one thing to take away from Wednesday’s game, it’s that there aren’t going to be any easy victories for either team in this series. The Hawks started the game as the team looking like they had a message to send. I don’t think we’ve seen them be quite so physical right from the drop of the puck in a while. Everyone knows the Bruins are the bigger team with the nastier reputation, so the Hawks clearly wanted to send a message that they would not be intimidated. Interesting strategy…

Everything Else

The World Is In Your Way – Game 1 – Bruins vs Hawks Preview, Pregame Thread, Freshman Orientation

By Matt McClure 1449 0

bruins country bear jamboroo vs AltLogo

Game Time: 7:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBC, CBC (Anglo), RDS (Franco), WGN-AM 720
The Impression That I Get: Cup of Chowder, Days of Y’Orr

Now the real fun begins. After an abbreviated 48 game season of intra-conference play and three playoff rounds with their fair share of scares for each team, the Hawks and Bruins will meet in the post season for the sixth time ever, and for the first time ever in the Stanley Cup Final. With the Bruins two years removed from their last title and the Hawks three, it’s a juggernaut matchup that the league has dreamed of, but probably doesn’t deserve after what it’s put everyone through. And though superficial analysis would have one believe that these two teams are diametrically opposed stylistically, they’re actually far more similar than one would expect.

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Morning Links (Finals: Game 1)

By Joe DeTolve 1188 0

Here’s to hoping Sam has to write another one!

This is stupid: Chicago Tribune

Hawks once again to face “an all world goalie” CSN Autoplay

But they will be important: Cheer The Anthem

New History for Old Rivalry: Mr. Verdi

Hopefully Fro-Yo can contain himself: PuckDaddy

Education for the unwashed masses: Globe and Mail

From the ghosts of 2010:Suntimes

Hopefully our Governor will be drunk again reading proclamations on Michigan Ave: Daily Herald

Everything Else

Overthinking, Over-Analyzing Separates The Body From The Mind: Hawks 1 – Kings 3 (Hawks lead 2-1)

By Sam Fels 1419 0

Well, sometimes that’s gonna go happen.

I can’t decide what’s the more obnoxious trend after losses like this. The people actually losing their mind or the people so eager to make fun of the people losing their mind that they haven’t actually bothered to notice that no one is losing their mind. I’ll let you all debate that.

While the Hawks weren’t near the top of their game and the Kings certainly upped theirs, we’re talking about a broken-stick goal and some pretty nifty Quick saves in the 3rd leading to a one-goal loss in a building where the hosts haven’t lost in two months. Excuse me while I set my hair on fire. Oh wait, I don’t have any hair. So I guess we’ll just calm ourselves down with the notion that it was highly unlikely that the Hawks were going to get both of these games and move on to Thursday night. Deal?

Everything Else

To Another Abyss – Game 3 – Hawks at Kings Preview, Pregame Thread, Script Punch-Up

By Matt McClure 1235 0

AltLogo at centerpiece-king

Game Time: 8:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, TSN (Anglo), RDS (Franco), The Loop 97.9 FM
All I Wanted Was A Pepsi: The Royal Half, Jewels From the Crown, Battle of Cali

And now the scene shifts westward with the Hawks taking a 2-0 series lead onto Figueroa Ave. Sunday’s Game 2 loomed large at the time, as the Kings have yet to lose on home ice this post season, and have won 14 straight at Staples. Based on that, this series is still far from over, as it could very well be tied heading into the weekend. Had the Kings taken one on United Center ice, this could very quickly have looked like an imminent 3-1 hole for the second straight series. But that, they say, is why they play the games.

Everything Else

Ren Said It With Authority: Kings 2 – Hawks 4 (Hawks lead 2-0)

By Sam Fels 1320 0

In all the visions I’ve had of this series in my own mind, not one of them contained Jonathan Quick getting pulled from a game. Hasn’t happened in the playoffs since 2010 (that’s nice symmetry), and though I don’t think it marks some sort of landmark or sea change more than just a quirky note, it does feel good. But then again, this is why The Fifth Feather is simply a manly man among just men, because he said the floodgates would open at some point if the Hawks maintained this kind of pressure. He knows so much, and is so handsome. He really doesn’t belong on this planet.

It’s a funny old game though, because it was the reverse of Game 1’s 1st period in that it ended with a false scoreline. While the Hawks were up 2-0, they really didn’t deserve to be based on balance of play. Just like the Kings had no business being up 1-0 after 20 in Game 1. But thanks to a couple handy saves from Crow, some wayward finishing from the Kings, and utter ruthlessness from the Hawks, they were already halfway home. To me, a two goal lead is nearing the horizon for this Kings team (especially without Richards), and a three-goal one requires a team from NASA. They just don’t generate that much.

Once again, the Hawks speed didn’t have an answer from L.A., and now they face all the questions going into Game 3.

Bullets after the jump.

Everything Else

The Next Episode – Game 1 – Kings vs Hawks Preview, Pregame Thread, Casting Call

By Matt McClure 1285 0

centerpiece-king vs AltLogo

Game Time: 4:00PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, CBC (Anglo), RDS (Franco), WGN-AM 720, The Loop 97.9FM
Mommy’s Little Monster: The Royal Half, Jewels From The Crown, Battle of Cali

In the next of a series of seemingly preordained matchups in the West, the Kings and Blackhawks will meet for the first time since 1974 in the post season for the right to ignore the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl. Both of these teams have been on similar trajectories after bottoming out in the middle of the previous decade, and already have their names etched in silver recently (as you might have heard). And though this is the first meeting between these iterations of these two teams of consequence, it hardly feels like it will be the last.