Everything Else

Angry At Numbers

By 1792 0

Haven’t done one of these in a while, and as the Hawks sit on the precipice of being halfway to another Grant Park Drunkening, seems like a good time to do it. Let’s get to it.

63%

That’s the third line’s Corsi-percentage over the past two games. In case you’re new to us and/or these analytics, 55% would be considered dominant. Now, only one of those games did that line see heavy offensive zone starts, and last night their zone starts were pretty evenly split between the o-zone, neutral zone, and d-zone. That’s the third line. 3rd. #3. In case you want to know what separates the Hawks right now.

447

That’s the career goals currently on the Hawks’ third line. It doesn’t really mean much, it just makes me feel good to see.

Everything Else

The Silence In This House, It Echoes Through This House: Hawks 1 – Wild 0 (Hawks lead series 3-0)

By 1372 0

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Seven straight Game 3 losses on the road, huh? Maybe the Hawks pulled this one out just because they were sick of that stat. Or maybe they pulled it out because they basically gave the Wild the Million Dollar Dream for the first 40 minutes, and then Crawford proved why he’s still the best goalie in this series for the 3rd (although he didn’t have to make that many highlight reel saves). Or maybe because Hjalmarsson. Oduya, Keith, and Seabrook were at or near their best. Or maybe all of the above. Still, this series kind of feels like the Hawks listened to all the chatter about how the Wild really meant business this time, and said, “Oh? Watch this.” And now they’ve got Minnesota’s nuts in a vice.

This one will go down in the end as a goalie win, but you don’t get through a deep run in the spring without a couple of those. The encouraging thing is that Crawford was aggressive, not getting too deep in his net and standing tall among the scrambles that took place in the 2nd and 3rd. He could have gotten caught a couple times early when he again dropped down too early and lost his net, but as the game went on that happened less and less, the prime examples being coming out to meet Granlund on his breakaway and stopping the Finn again late in the 3rd on a high rising shot. Also helped that Pominville once again lost his radar on where the net it. Most of all, Crow’s rebound control was superb, and that’s where the Wild really profit. Not so tonight.

Let’s go through the rest:

Everything Else

Fortune Teller

By 1624 0

Editor’s Note: This ran in last night’s print edition.

Now in year seven of the Joel Quenneville era of Blackhawks Renaissance, the Hawks actually find themselves in slightly uncharted territory. Not only is this the first time that they have been past the first round for three straight years in the post-expansion era, but the Hawks are trying to eliminate the same team three straight years for the first time ever, with their most recent opportunity having been thwarted by  Alex Burrows and Chris Campoli.

Everything Else

See A Little Light: Wild 1 – Hawks 4 (Hawks Lead 2-0)

By 1336 0

Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Coming into this one, the main story was always going to be how Mike Yeo adjusted the way his troops went about playing this one, and would the d-men who all made mistakes in Game 1 leading to goals would tighten up or not. Yeo did change tack, and it was the Hawks’ d-men who certainly tightened up. Sadly for Minnehaha, Ryan Suter most certainly did not.

The Wild came into this one deciding to lean heavily on what they do best, and that is gobble up space in the neutral zone and keep things to the perimeter in their zone. While it wasn’t an out-and-out trap, it certainly was more conservative than they were in Game 1. On the surface, it makes total sense. As we said in the program tonight, when judging how things were going for each goalie in these playoffs, the Wild did seem more likely to win a 2-1 game than they do a 4-3 one.

Everything Else

Seen Your Video – Game 1 – Wild vs Hawks Preview, Pregame Thread, SVU Marathon

By 1302 0

wildthings vs oldschool

Game Time: 8:30PM Central
TV/Radio: NBCSN, SportsNet (Anglo), TVA3 (Franco), WGN-AM 720
Mall of America: Hockey Wilderness

And so it was fated to be, for the third year in a row, and the second in the West semifinals, that the Hawks and Wild would meet. And for the first time out of those three, there is a feeling across the hockey community that the Wild will be more than just a foil or a speedbump for the Hawks.