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Game #69 – Coyotes vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels March 11, 2019 1236 0

Notes: Couple injuries the Yotes are dealing with. Derek Stepan is out from four-to-six weeks, which could be a real problem, and Schmaltz is done for the season after his knee exploded…Which has vaulted Christian Dvorak up from the minors and into the #1 center role. He’s also a LOCAL GUY, so he’s going to score tonight…Alex Galchenyuk, the American with the Russian name who used to be a Canadien, was on a real heater but only has two points in his last six…Kuemper has a .925 in the calendar year of 2019 and won nine of his last 10 starts…oh Vinnie Bag O’ Donuts, how we miss you…Nick Cousins is a rapist…

Notes: After two wins in a row wouldn’t expect too many changes. Sikura had a turnover that led to a goal against in Dallas but looked more in place with 19 and 20 than Hayden did…Forsling returned with Seabrook and nothing turned into a gas leak so expect that to remain, though Koekkoek could slot in for Dahlstrom for no reason…Perlini had six shots against the Sabres but one against the Stars. Yes, Dallas is a far better defensive team but it’s that kind of inconsistency that drives his teams nuts…YARRRRR

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Game #68 – Hawks vs. Stars: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels March 9, 2019 1268 0

Notes: There’s little reason to think they’ll change from a winning lineup from Thursday, such as it was. Hayden will barely play so Saad and Toews will just rotate wingers. We’d actually like to see what Sikura could do there for a game or two…Perlini was a nice add for the Otter Boys. He gives them more speed to open up space, though not nearly the defensive responsibility that Kahun provided. Whatever, anything’s worth trying these days…Has Colliton given up on Forsling? He should, and he’s been out for a couple…Power play has gone stale, as teams are on to the entry now and Hawks aren’t getting as much movement, should try and change it up soon…

Notes: Faksa could return to the lineup tonight, and would likely replace Nichushkin and slot Ritchie down to the 4th line…Radulov had a hat trick in their last game, and lit up the Hawks for three points the last time they met…Bishop has given up one goal in his last three appearances, so it’ll be a task to solve him enough…Seguin has one goal in his last seven…Lindell and Heiskanen have swapped spots, and Klingberg and Heiskanen have really clobbered the opposition together, though they start every shift in the offensive zone…

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Game #66 – Hawks vs. Sharks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels March 3, 2019 1325 0

Notes: Please, for the love of God, shoot Gustav Forsling into the sun….Ward will get the start. Last time he saw the Sharks it did not go so well…If the Hawks aren’t going to get goals from their loaded top line, they’re going to lose…Perlini can’t do anything but be fast and shoot, but that should be enough, right?…Colliton was shuffling all over the place yesterday, had great effect as you could tell…

Notes: Couple injuries to note. Karlsson definitely won’t play and very well might be put in cotton wool until the playoffs. Evander Kane missed the last game and is questionable, but they don’t need him for this, do they?…Vlasic’s metrics are ugly but he’s doing all of the dirty work to keep Burns in the offensive end and against bums…Pavelski has 11 points in his last eight games…Hertil has only scored one in his last eight…

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Game #65 – Hawks vs. Kings: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels March 2, 2019 1249 0

Notes: With Caggiula’s injury, Saad slides up to form a super-unit, such as it is. Yeah, the bottom six is gross now, but it won’t matter against the Kings. Or at least it shouldn’t. Kampf will sort that out when he returns. Whatever, let’s see it…Wars probably goes this afternoon to save Crawford for the firing squad that will be the Sharks tomorrow night…Perlini and Sikura actually looked good together earlier in the season. It’s a lot of speed on the wings, though Arty will have to catch up…

Notes: The Kings are doing something of a reshuffle with their forwards, so we have no idea what it’ll look like. We’re not sure we care. We know it doesn’t matter…Phaneuf has been awful of late, which won’t come as much of a surprise to you…Quick has given up 16 goals in his last three appearances…Doughty has one goal in 2019…

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Game #64 – Ducks vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 27, 2019 1023 0

Note: Corsica is shut down, so we don’t have xGF% stats. We’ll have it replaced by the weekend. Sorry for the missing info and thanks for your patience.

Notes: Crawford may start tonight, but with the two off-days before the back-to-back on the weekend, you’d imagine they’ll get him one or more practices before tossing him out there. But then again, there’s no softer landing for a returning goalie than the Ducks here…Gustav Forsling should be shot into the sun for his turnover Sunday, but he might crowbar in over Koekkoek, who also sucked this weekend. Everyone sucks…Sikura gets his first goal on this trip somewhere, we’re calling it…At least there will be a nice contrast between Kesler and Toews. Kesler is only two years older, which is uproarious…

Notes: Take this with a grain of salt. The Ducks lineup could look like anything. Prized kids like Sam Steel and Troy Terry are up, so you’d think they’ll get in here somewhere. Miller didn’t play on Monday and no one seems to know why, so he might not even start. We do know there are several absences, but only Kase is out for sure. Getzlaf could play, so could Miller, so could even John Gibson. The rest of this is trash…

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Game #63 – Stars vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 24, 2019 1278 0

Note: Corsica is still down, so the Stars xGF% were not available.

Notes: These don’t include yesterday’s game…There could be a couple changes from this. If Radulov is healthy enough to go, he’ll replace Nichushkin, and slot up with Seguin with Spezza on the third line. The Stars also acquired Ben Lovejoy yesterday, and he could make his debut in place of Fedun…Benn has dropped down with Faksa to form a checking line, which is a use for him, we guess…Klingberg and Lindell aren’t pushing the play nearly the way they did last year…Seguin has 12 points in his last 10 games…Klingberg has one goal since January 10th…all Cogliano does is get the play in the right end. Might be a sneaky cheap signing this summer to push Saad back up into the top six…

Notes: Our best guess on defense. We wouldn’t think that Colliton would want to hang Koekkoek immediately out to dry after his game-costing turnover against the Avs, but Forsling could replace him. Dahlstrom will probably go right back in…Perlini could come in for Kunitz or Hayden…Strome’s line had their first dominant game in a while against the Avs, with all three above 60% in Corsi…Kane had 13 shots against the Avs, tying for a team-record…

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Game #62 – Avalanche vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 22, 2019 1313 0

Notes: IMPORTANT: Corsica is still down so we were not able to update players’ individual xGF%. We hope to have another way soon…the top line has been split up to try and even out their secondary scoring problem. They’ve won their last two by a combined 10-1 since doing it, something is clicking…Soderberg had three points in their last game, which is good because he had gone six scoreless before…Strangely this is ThreeYaksAndADog’s first 30-goal season…Boy they don’t want Barrie and Graves anywhere near the defensive zone, huh?…Varlamov shut out the Knights and held the Jets to one in his last two starts, so he will get the nod tonight…

Notes: The defensive outlook is a guess. Dahlstrom was sick, Seabrook won’t play, and Jokharju was recalled but it wasn’t clear if he would play. We say let him play and grab the brass ring. It’s what Dahlstrom did, after all. It’s not like there’s a better solution…Caligula is back in after missing most of the last game after getting a Toews stick in the eye…But boy, Saad sure did look good up there, huh? He’s been creating his own shot of his late, which is a new trick…Sikura continues to do well in limited, sheltered work, with a 62% share against Detroit. You feel if he gets one goal he might get a few…

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Game #61 – Hawks vs. Red Wings: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 20, 2019 1263 0

Notes: Brendan Perlini was sick and missed the morning skate, and is being called a gametime decision. One thinks this allows Chris Kunitz to come back in either way…Delia has probably played himself out of splitting starts, though with Crawford’s timetable still nebulous, you don’t want to ride Ward too hard either. Maybe Friday against the Avs, a team Delia has already beaten twice, will set him right…with the last change you would think the Wings would want Larkin’s speed out against Anisimov as often as they can get it, so Coach Cool Substitute Teacher is going to have to save that line for on the fly changes or offensive zone ones…Forsling and Gustafsson together again, everybody duck….

Notes: Been a bit of a reshuffle in the lines, as Bertuzzi and Mantha have joined Larkin, punting Abdelkader to the fourth line where he belongs. More speed there now, though why they won’t just pair Anathasiou and Larkin is a mystery, as that would be just about unplayable…Trevor Daley is back, so morons can pine for him as if he would have fixed the Hawks the past couple seasons…next week the Wings could be stripped of Howard, Nyquist, Vanek, and a few others if they’re lucky…

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Game #60 – Senators vs. Hawks: Lineups & How Teams Were Built

By Sam Fels February 18, 2019 1336 0

Notes: Boedkerr has been out for a couple weeks with injury, but he returns tonight and we think that’s where he goes…Anderson has been hurt so Nilsson has run with it, though his last three starts have seen him give up 10 goals while not facing more than 37 shots in any game, less than 30 the last two…Duchene’s push for a trade has seen him score seven goals in his last eight games…same thing for Stone as he’s put up five goals in his last five…That’s a nifty fourth-line they have there, getting the dungeon starts and yet turning the play. We’ve always been Paajarvi fans as a checking winger…

Notes: Delia back in net for Ward, who didn’t get much help on Saturday but could have come up with a big save somewhere…Dahlstrom sits after a rough outing on Saturday. Replacing him with Forsling does not smooth anything out, though…Perlini in for Kunitz…The forwards probably need reshuffling. You can’t get your head beat in like this possession-wise and defensively and argue everything is ok…Leave Saad with Sikura, because that’s an awful lot of speed on the wings on one line…

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