It took a month longer than it usually does, but the Blues are rapidly approaching the event horizon of the platonic ideal of Bluesness.
Like this wrap was ever going to come last night.
Normally, you’d come here for some shrewd analysis and a couple insults/jokes about the game. Today I don’t feel like that. Feels like something a little more emotional is needed. For most of the season, I’ve been accused of being overly negative, much too extreme. And you know, that’s basically correct. While I think it is our job to poke holes in common narratives (for instance, the utter hokum that was “Dark Horse Norris Candidate) there have been times where I’ve been sour just for the sake of it. As most of you know, this season hasn’t been all that much fun for any of us here. Whether you agree with that or not, I think we’ve illustrated pretty clearly why so you could understand. The Hawks have made themselves a hard organization to root for, and those complaints and feelings are still very much present. I’ve let that boil over at times, and I know that. I’ve openly rooted for opponents or made it clear I didn’t care if the season ended on Thursday or last night. That’s over the top.
And then games like last night happen, and you are thoroughly reminded why you bothered in the first place.
at 
Game Time: 8:30PM CDT
TV/Radio: CSN, NBCSN, SportsNet360, TVA-S, WGN-AM 720
If A Urinal Cake Were A Town: St. Louis GameTime
As far as inevitabilities go, the Hawks and Blues meeting in the first round of the playoffs this year is right up there with death, taxes, and David Haugh writing something profoundly ignorant, stupid, and damaging. And with this series, all of the old war horses once again will be trotted out, from the Hawks “turning it on” and hockey followers everywhere from local to national believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that this time it will be different for the Blues.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 6pm
TV/RADIO: WGN for both
WAITING TO DOT THE I: Jackets Cannon
As has been the case for the past three seasons, the Hawks last game of the season doesn’t amount to much more than a glorified scrimmage. There aren’t even individual milestones to grab. Hossa isn’t going to play, so 500 will have to wait until October (and none of us thought that would happen when this season started), Kane already has his 100 points. I guess they could go David Robinson here and try and get Kane six goals to get to 50. About the only thing worth watching is Corey Crawford getting one dress rehearsal before the playoffs. And considering the amount of players that the Predators are putting in suits, you can be pretty sure it’s going to be in St. Louis.
At this time of year, and with the way things had been going, points are pretty much all that matters. You can worry about the style points later. Which is good, because the last two wouldn’t really have any outside of the 4th line and Scott Darling. The Hawks clinched a playoff spot, not that that was in doubt, and can at least claim a mini-winning streak. They did what they had to, even if it was by the skin of their teeth, Dave Mustaine.
On the other side, needing you goalie to bail you out against the dreck of the Pacific Division isn’t going to cause anyone to write songs. The Hawks gave up 15 shots in the 3rd period to a team with four forwards (maybe) and two defensemen that you’d call NHL quality. I think the past two games are more the Hawks struggling to find interest more than anything structural, as past games against better teams probably have been. But whatever changes they have in store we’re not going to see for another two weeks, so let us deal with what is.
They didn’t even have to play this game.
Because we’ve seen it already. We saw it twice last year. We saw it twice the year before that. And the year before that. If you’ve watched the Hawks for any length of time, though you might not have fully admitted it, you knew deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties how this one was likely to go.
Jammy, annoying Matt Duchene goal followed by his rich kid punchable face smile. Another Avs goal from some jamoke that isn’t on their top line or top pairing, this time Zach Redmond (but it could have been Holden or Guenin or Skille or Mitchell or anyone else, it really doesn’t matter). The only variable is whether the Hawks would toss a ton of shots at Varlamov or just a bunch. Not that it matters, because we already know he’s going to stop them all. In the meantime the Avs top players will basically run wild over an either uninterested or ill-equipped or both Hawks team.
And so it went. It’s hard to think of another matchup that feels quite as scripted as this one. Anyway, to it…
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 4pm Central
TV/RADIO: WGN, NBCSN, WGN Radio
DUCK TALES (Woohoo): Anaheim Calling
Some games you know that the opponent has had circled on the schedule, even if the Hawks know better than to make too much of a regular season game. Then again, the Ducks are so practiced at seeing teams that had beaten them in a Game 7 the previous year maybe they don’t make that much of a deal out of it anymore. Either way, the Hawks return to Anaheim for the first time since they got to partake in the annual giveaway of a playoff series in Orange County last spring.
vs. 
PUCK DROP: 9pm Central
TV/RADIO: NBCSN, WGN Radio
CAGE IN THE WATER: You know what… just follow @stace_ofbase on Twitter. I have no idea who’s writing Fear The Fin these days.
The 2nd leg of the annual Circus Trip begins tonight, and the degree of difficulty goes up a bit for the Men of Four Feathers as they will face the hottest team in the league in San Jose, before doubling up in SoCal on the weekend with what might be the only legitimate teams in the Pacific (whatever the Ducks record might be). Considering the Hawks have only started this trip 1-1-1, it might look a little daunting.
If the Norris Trophy were simply about defense and only defense, Niklas Hjalmarsson would have to be a contender every season. Hammer is in the bottom 20 of all NHL d-men in the amount of shifts he doesn’t get that start in the offensive zone. He takes on the toughest competition every night, and has done so for the past three years at least (allowing Duncan Keith to become Fireball Mario). Last year, he was on the ice for the third least amount of goals against per 60 minutes despite those obstacles. And having just turned 28, he should be right in the heart of his prime as a d-man (we can only hope). Hammer might enter the season as the player with the least amount of questions about him. He’d be manning 75% of the other teams’ top pairing.
But we still need to find a way to have a stick laying on the ice that he can swat away dismissively on the few occasions he scores.
