Everything Else

Life Goes On: Eastern Conference 2nd Round Preview

By 2207

The West kicks off tonight, so let’s get the previews done before we settle in for what really is shaping up as a pretty intriguing second round (except for Sens-Rangers, and that has Erik Karlsson).

HOLY FUCKING SHIT CAPITALS-PENGUINS!!!

Look, any hockey fan worth his or her salt has known this was going to happen in the second round and that it’s essentially the Stanley Cup Final. Barring some injury weirdness or Henrik Lundqvist going Fantastic Four in net or something equally unpredictable, either of these teams is going to annihilate the Rangers or Senators. These are the two best teams in the NHL by some distance. This is the Steamboat-Macho Man to the Final’s Hogan-Andre The Giant. I doubt we’ll remember the Final as much as we’ll remember what might happen here. Instead of rolling our eyes at the same matchup for the second year in a row and our exhaustion of the NHL trying to force this down our throats for years before both teams were ready to provide classic series years in a row, we should just be anxious to watch the best the sport is going to offer.

Everything Else

On That Dirty Boulevard: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Stitch Removal

By 1381

 vs. 

RECORDS: Hawks – 18-8-4  Rangers – 20-9-1

PUCK DROP: 6pm Central

TV: CSN Locally, NBCSN elsewhere

NEW YORK DOLLS: Blue Shirt Banter

PROJECTED LINEUPS

ADJUSTED TEAM CORSI %: Hawks – 50.1 (15th)  Rangers – 47.8 (23rd)

ADJUSTED TEAM xGF%: Hawks – 47.8 (21st)  Rangers – 51.9 (14th)

POWER PLAY: Hawks – 16.7 (18th)  Rangers – 22.6 (5th)

PENALTY KILL: Hawks – 72.7 (30th)  Rangers – 85.9 (4th)

Once more, with feeling. Two of the top teams in the NHL will have a passionate discussion for the second time in five days, this time upstairs from the teeming, gross, and poor masses of Penn Station. This time however, the Hawks are a little better armed than they were last Friday when they dropped an overtime decision to the Blueshirts.

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This Is The Best We Can Do: Rangers 0 – Hawks 0 (Rangers Win Musical Chairs)

By 1199

Box Score

Natural Stat Trick 

Hockey Stats

So let’s burn a couple things off the top here. After watching these things for a while now, 3-on-3 OT is just as much of a gimmick as the shootout so we’re just going to list them as a tie with the joke qualifier from now on. At least I will.

Second, any point gained where the Hawks are missing their top center, a top-4 defenseman, and their starting goalie should be viewed as a point gained. It feels like a certainty we’ll look back on these in a couple months and marvel that the season didn’t get away from them.

That said, the Hawks faced a team also missing their top center, a very productive winger, a wiener tucker, and going with their backup, though he’s played better than the most handsome man in the world, and couldn’t pull off two points. It feels like opportunity lost. Will it matter in the end? Probably not.

Let’s clean it up:

Everything Else

Rangers Spotlight: 2016 – A Statistical Oddity

By 1439

A few years ago, 2013 to be exact, those of us who pay attention to possession numbers couldn’t wait to tell Toronto Maple Leafs fans, and their coach really, that their record was something of a mirage. The small sample size of that particular schedule and some excellent play from James Reimer had masked what really wasn’t a very good team, and their Corsi number showed it. The counter that came from the organization itself and a good portion of their fanbase was that they quality of shots they gave up and that they engineered made up the difference. We all laughed and laughed at this notion, even though one day someone was going to actually do that.

Maybe it’s this year’s Rangers?

Everything Else

The World Is Flat

By 1685

We’ve moved beyond the quarter-mark of the season, almost at a third of it. In the first month of the season, we all sort of marveled at how sloppy the hockey was. We blamed it on the World Cup, with most teams not getting to have a training camp with their full rosters for more than a few days. While play has tightened up a little bit, as the season enters its third month we’re still left with a product that quite simply, isn’t very good.

What’s become clear is that the salary cap has flattened the entire league so that there’s little difference between the best team and the worst team. If you toss out overtime losses, which are essentially ties settled by glorified skills competitions, no one in the Eastern conference is below .500. Only 12 points separate the conference leading Habs from the bottom-dwelling Islanders. While that’s not a gap that’s going to be made up (likely), it’s not all that large for an entire conference.

Thinks are a little more split in the West, where the conference-leading Hawks have a 17 point gap over the wooden spooners, the Avs. But we’ve all seen what a conference-leading Hawks team in the past looks like, and it’s pretty obvious this isn’t the same vintage. Adding to the Hawks somewhat shaky hold on the West is that they lead the league in wins in overtime, which isn’t really a true test of what kind of team you are. They’re 13th in regulation wins.

Essentially, we have a mishmash of a lot of the same things.

Everything Else

Wait Until They Get A Load Of Me

By 3309

You know we’ve reached the depths of summer when the announcement of the national TV schedule, which doesn’t start for another three months or so, is basically the only news of the day. And once again, just as they are every year, the Hawks are in the middle of all of it.

The Hawks will appear 21 times on either NBC or NBCSN this season, most of any team. This is nothing new nor really all that controversial. The Hawks remain the league’s most popular and recognizable team. Of course NBC is going to center their coverage around them in search of ratings they’ll probably never get. But this always starts a raging debate about how the league markets itself.

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Cause We All Was Ridin’ Right On The Subway Train: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Pop Up Dinner

By 1186

Hawk Wrestler vs.Night ranger

FACEOFF: 7pm Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio

CBGB Refugees: Scotty Hockey, The Hockey Rodent, Blue Shirt Banter

Rangers Stats

Rangers War On Ice

Only seems like six years ago that the Rangers were in town for the reverse fixture on this on Banner Raising night, where it became obvious to everyone that Trevor Daley was not going to work out here as the Rangers walked out 3-2 winners (you probably were watching Jake Arrieta get in up to the elbow against the Pirates. I know I was). The Hawks finally wrap up the season series with their Original 6 brethren on Broadway tonight. They’ll find a weird squad when they get there.

Everything Else

This Ain’t No Mud Clubb Or CBGB: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Pregame Thread/Taco Truck Gathering

By 1077 0

Hawk Wrestler vs. chris-rongey1

FACEOFF: 7pm Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, SPORTSNET UP THERE, WGN RADIO 720

MY BLUE HEAVEN: Blue Shirt Banter, The Hockey Rodent

After a satisfying win last night, the Hawks get about five minutes to enjoy it before they focus on the task at hand tonight. Because the New York Rangers on Broadway are going to require the A-game if the Hawks want to continue collecting points that they’re going to need.

Everything Else

This Ain't No Mud Clubb Or CBGB: Hawks at Rangers Preview/Pregame Thread/Taco Truck Gathering

By 1174 0

Hawk Wrestler vs. chris-rongey1

FACEOFF: 7pm Central

TV/RADIO: NBCSN, SPORTSNET UP THERE, WGN RADIO 720

MY BLUE HEAVEN: Blue Shirt Banter, The Hockey Rodent

After a satisfying win last night, the Hawks get about five minutes to enjoy it before they focus on the task at hand tonight. Because the New York Rangers on Broadway are going to require the A-game if the Hawks want to continue collecting points that they’re going to need.

Everything Else

Power Outage: Rangers 1 – Hawks 0

By 1118 0

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.