Cyanide, Living Dead Inside

The Hawks traveled to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets Friday night, who were without their best players in Steve Mason, and Rick Nash. One would think the Hawks could roll through this one, without incident, but that was NOT the case.

The first period was a very odd one. The Hawks had 2 goals on 4 shots early and then seemed to willingly turn momentum over to the Jackets. The period ended with the Hawks up 2-1, but that wasn't an indication of the play. The second period was a complete clusterfuck of Blackhawk penalties with a double minor and a 5-on-3. The Hawks couldn't even blame the refs, because the calls were straight forward and rightly made. The blame could only be out on the undisciplined play of the Hawks. The only goal in the period was the game tying powerplay goal. I'm tired of emphasizing the disappointment that has been the Blackhawks, later in games. On to the third period. In the third it looked as though the Hawks were going to finish the epic collapse with a late tip in goal by the Jackets, but they got a gift to ties up the game and send the game into overtime. The Hawks had plenty of chances in the OT but never dented the net, and had to win on the last shot of the shootout.

For the life of me, I cannot understand what is going on with this team. They have enough talent and experience to know what needs to be done. To my knowledge, none of them had lobotomies in the off season, but they look like the Hawks of 3 years ago. No one is taking pride in their specific jobs, and they seem to think they can simply coast through on the fumes of last spring. I've read elsewhere that some people think that if they just win, no matter how ugly, it's a moot point. I disagree strongly. No one can play this way, and make it past the first round of the playoffs, much less a team that will most likely face the first of second seed in the entire conference. If we want to sit and hope their find their coconuts in time for the first round, we're going to be sadly disappointed. There should be some panic floating around, becasue the team they just barely clipped last night was simply INFERIOR! The Blackhawks played 6 solid minutes of a 65 minute game and managed to get a win. That is embarrassing.

The Good

• The Blackhawks opened up the scoring immediately after a huge Crawford save at their own end. Kaner and El Capitan had Fedor "Rootin" Tyutin filling his diaper, as they came in on a 2-on-1. Kaner looked off the defender, who backed off into Nowheresville and decided to undress Garon with a snapper. That, folks, was a big boy goal.
  
• A few minuted later, on a Hawks powerplay, Kaner hit Brent Seabrook through a sea of bodies in the crease,on the back door, for a 2-0 lead. You would have thought the flood gates would be opening, but THIS is when it all came crumbling down.
  
• Just a couple of minutes after Sammy Pahlsson put the Jackets up 3-2, Garon completely waved and missed a One Trick Bick wrist shot from about 40 feet out. Looked harmless enough, but ended up in the cage.

The Bad

• Faceoffs were about one might predict. Toews was a hair under 50% with his tired legs. Snake only took 3, but won 2 for them. Kopecky was 38%, Kruger...O-fer, Frodo...O-fer, and our hero, Ryan Johnson was his obnoxious norm of 73%. Any way Johnson can take every faceoff for the remainder of the season?
  
• After the two Hawks goals, the Jackets seemed to find some life, peppering Crow with an arsenal of shots. Just when you thought the Hawks were going to blow out someone, they turned retarded, and irresponsible.
  
• The Jackets gained a score back at about the ten minute mark of the first. Maxin Mayorov redirected a long wrist shot up and over Crow. Not really much that can be done about that kind of goal, except maybe a defenseman harassing him. Really it was a lucky one, but he was allowed too much time and concentration.
  
• After a Jacket penalty, with Frodo in the box, Matt Calvert came right out of the box and was able to work his way in on a break-a-way. He beat Crow and put himself in the net, but left the puck sitting in the crease. Seabrook hustled back and cleared the juicy puck, but the Hawks were playing with fire at this point.
  
• After the Hawks had to kill several penalties, including a 4 minute double minor, Derrick Brassard took a pass on a 5-on-3 and tied up the game. Another wasted lead. This shit isn't going to work in the playoffs. I don't care how ANYONE wants to downplay it.
  
• ANOTHER tip in front of the net resulted in ANOTHER Jackets goal for Sammy Pahlsson. I guess Deuce and Seabrook were far too busy to harass him. Might get their jerseys dirty or something. Why don't they care in their own zone?

The Ugly

• The amount of Blackhawks penalties in the second period was just ludicrous. Wild sticks and sloppy play led the Hawks to wear out a path to the penalty box time after time. You're suppose to get better and more disciplined during the season, not worse.
  
• Nick Leddy = 7:06, Dog Pisani = 4:16, Jake the Snake = 7:32. I understand riding your horses, but your horses aren't performing. If these guys are good enough to play all year, what has changed? They have been jerking Nick Leddy off all season, and all of a sudden he is a liability, and we are going to play with 5 D-men? The Forth line has been consistent all season, but now they aren't worth 10 minutes of TOI a game? Pisani is playing John Scott minutes, and as much as I think Pisani is average at best; he is MUCH better than John Scott. Rolling 3 lines and 5 D-men, in the playoffs, with this team, is going to result in a quick end to the Stanley Cup defense.
  
• How about that Kruger kid? Doing about what I said he would do, eh? In a little over his head? Think Jeff Taffe could do the same job? Just a thought.
  

The Shootout

• Maxim Mayorov couldn't beat Crawford.
  
• El Capitan couldn't even get a flippin shot off.
  
• Kubalik had the 5-hole shut by Crawford.
  
• Kaner was stopped on the backhand, by Garon.
  
• Voracek was beaten by Crawford.
  
• Pick-to-Click Vik beat Garon on a backhand shot that squeaked through.

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:

More Than a Feeling

Last night the Blackhawks had a TALL task ahead. I predicted before the game that they would be lucky to get a point from this game, because you have to look at the facts. They were playing one of the top Eastern conference teams, on the second night of a back to back, on the road, after playing an emotionally draining OT game the night before. The advantages were heavily against them, and it showed. I blame this one on the schedule makers, but Quenneville needs to find a way to keep these guys motivated or they will be out of gas come playoff time.

The first period was pretty much what we might have expected, with both teams having some chances, but neither scoring. Boston clearly had the advantage, and that couldn't last all game without biting the Hawks in the ass. The second period is where the Hawks started to fall apart. Two bad Bruins goals took any momentum they had and relentlessly pissed all over it. The Bruins extended their lead in the third period, and the Hawks just ran out of time and gas.

The Good

• Congrats to Mark Recchi on his career point milestone. That is the only nice thing I can say about this game.

The Bad

• Stromboli was on the ice yet again, along with Soupie, for an opposing breakaway. There are just too many defenders that are getting behind him, bottom line. He needs to get his head out of his tuchus, and make sure he's the deepest man, especially if his partner isn't. It's getting old extremely fast, and I know Crow can't be enjoying these shenanigans. I also noticed him below the opponents hash marks FAR too many times. This isn't gym class hockey, where you can just run all over the place, aimlessly. I've seen puppies and small children with more self restraint.
  
• Excuse me, Dog Pisani? Don't shoot it on your own net. Just a small piece of advice. OK? Thanks, signed, Corey Crawford.
  
• Patrice Bergeron not only out fought Hossa for the puck along the boards, but he went in one-on-two, shorthanded, and ended up dangling our Norris trophy winning defenseman right onto his wallet. That's a lesson in defense, there, Duncs.
  
• It's pretty funny how the announcers repeatedly pointed out T-Brouw's horrendous slump, and yet Quenneville is jamming him down our throat, so he can suck the life out of our two top players. WHY? Stalberg has had some excellent games playing with the wonder twins. I suppose we HAD to break THAT up, because you can't have too much of a good thing, right?
  
• The Bruins took a 1-0 lead off a Chara shot that was redirected off Brian Campbell's leg and into the net. Poor Crow can't get ANY help, or even luck. Unfortunately, any wind the Hawks had in their sails was gone after this one. It might as well been 10-0 at that point.
  
• The Bruins pounded the nail in the coffin with Nathan Horton's third period goal, after he beat El Capitan and T-Brouw to the net, as the third man in. Were you a little tired guys, because it was a little obvious?
  
• The Hawks REPEATEDLY, lightly floated the puck towards Thomas from foolish distances, and he ate every one up. Just because the Bruins scored on one of those doesn't mean the former, and probably future, Vezina winning goaltender on the other end will allow one of those meatball goals.
  
• The Hawks were only outshot 34-32 but they looked completely tired and disoriented most of the game.
  
• Kruger and Snake were eaten alive at the dots, going a combined 2-13, but the rest of the team had respectable numbers. Kopecky was a surprise once again, going 8 for 10. Color me shocked.

The Ugly

• The Bruins Thornton should have been called for the knee on knee with Hammer. That was uncalled for, and he could have really jacked up an important player for the Hawks. Maybe he deserved that skate to the forehead, for that one. Karma is a bitch, nutsack. Maybe that's what the Hawks bench was chirping at him about.
  
• Just a few minutes after the Chara goal, the Bruins got a 2-0 lead on a seeing eye floater by Johnny Boychuk, that looked like a Gaylord Perry spitball. THAT, folks, is what we call an awful goal, and Crow needs to make that stop. No excuse for that one.

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Turkey Wings

Here the Hawks were, in Detoilet, playing a beaten up club, with their 3rd string goalie in net. Was this going to be an easy game? I think not. The way they fought back last week against Pittsburgh was really admirable, especially considering the weapons they have on IR and in the press box.

The first period was fast and furious with the Hawks scoring 2 and the Wings 1. Apparently, Defense wasn't on the agenda with 14 shots a side. The Second had no scoring, but 16 shots aside, which AGAIN led to a one goal third period lead. If you've heard this one before, stop me, but guess who surrendered a third period goal to lose another lead? With a little help from the refs, the Hawks were able to score in OT and win a big game.

The Good

• Three minutes into the game, and El Capitan put the Hawks up 1-0. Troy Brouwer kept the puck in the zone at the blue line, like a boss, and threw the puck at the net. Ronald MacDonald kicked a fat rebound right to Tazer, after he skated right past Ruslan Salei. Way to pay attention to your man, Woosy. After the Tazer roofed the puck, MacDonald looked up as to blame someone else for the rebound. The coverage was absolute dung, man, but that wasn't exactly a blistering shot.
  
• Finally, the Hawks powerplay showed some life, with Seabs sneaking in to Sharpie's usually backdoor position (yeah I know half the female Hawks fans are licking their lips at that one) and putting the puck past MacDonald.
  
• Crow was outstanding all game. Absolutely HUGE, when the Hawks needed him to be. He was the unsung hero of this game, and he deserves more credit than he'll get. Our little boy is growing up right before our eyes.
  
• All the bad defense aside (and you can't claim there was great defense in a game that had 76 shots on net), this was an extremely fun game to watch and was most definitely played with a playoff atmosphere.
  
• Boss 81 was far and above the Hawks best player, and had points on two of the three Hawks goals. Consider his balls out on display for the Detoilet fans to behold. He was obviously out to prove something to the Evil Empire, because he stickhandled through and around opponents multiple times. He could have easily had a hat trick, if he would have done ANYTHING but wind up from 15 feet in front of the net on a breakaway. Really Hoss?
  
• Hey, Mike Babblecock, thanks for keeping Lidstrom on the bench for that OT game winner.
  

The Bad

• Bertuzzi's ass hattery aside, the Hawks need to score on that five minute powerplay. It doesn't help when the refs call a borderline make up penalty like they did, but you need to score nonetheless, rather than give up a 4-on-4 goal.
  
• Speaking of the Lidstrom goal, I'm not sure what Bickell and Kruger were doing, but it was clearly ALL wrong. Eddie tried to defend Krugs, but all the Hawks needed to do was stick with each of their men, and they would have been alright. You can't leave a future Hall Of Famer with that much time. He'll find a way to get that puck to the net, and he did just that.
  
• As much of an adventure the Blackhawks defenders have been in their own zone at times, they can't hold a candle to Stromboli. Maybe it's as a result of bad habits from playing on that shithole team in Ottawa, but it needs to end YESTERDAY. There are times that he has the attention span of a six month old Labrador. Slow it down a little, Slick. You don't have to be EVERYWHERE on the ice, all at once.
  
• Did you really think you were going to get away with kicking that puck in the net, TomoKop? Don't act so surprised, Doofus.
  
• I really can't describe what style of defense the Hawks were playing in the third period, but it was clear that they didn't want to chase the puck anywhere and thought Crow didn't get enough work earlier. There are MANY times, where wide open Wings forwards were able to whack away at free pucks within feet of their own net. Seabrook SPECIFICALLY had a chance to plant someone into 1985, but just stood there and watched him whack at the puck.
  
• Kopecky skating around in circles, the offensive zone, with the puck on his stick, and his head down is accomplishing NOTHING. Work the puck to an open player, and cycle. You're not Hossa, and you never will be. Accept it.
  
• The Hawks got walloped at the faceoff dots. Kruger was 20%, Kopecky was 25%, Toews was 34%, and Ryan Johnson was the lone positive player, with 64%.
  

The Ugly

• Todd Bertuzzi proved that he is not only a criminal, but a complete degenerate. After his little "incident", in Vancouver years ago, you'd think he would be a little more cautious with his elbow. Apparently not. When you go ass first and elbow up, against a defender, you're not trying to do anything but hurt a defender. Fuck you, Todd Bertuzzi.
  
• The Hawks got really lucky that Hammer didn't get called for a penalty shot, when pulling down Holmstrom on a breakaway.
  
• The game tying goal was just pure bad luck. Originally, it looked like Brian Campbell let Dan Cleqary easily direct the puck in, and he DID let Cleary sit there, but it went off Stromboli's skate. Crow had no chance.

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Duck and Cover - Late Recap

"I love the let you down"


Saturday night the Ducks waddled into town to play the Blackhawks with the hottest top line in the NHL. Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, and especially Corey Perry have been torching the league. Lucky for the Hawks, they employ one of the other hot league players, Jonathan Toews. This was not going to be an easy game, and the Hawks knew it.

The opening twenty minutes saw the Blackhawks take a 1-0 lead and held the Quacks to only six shots for the entire frame. Both teams really opened up the ice in the second period, but neither could score. Both teams had twenty shots going into the third period. As has happened MANY times this season, the Hawks couldn't hold a lead and the Ducks scored one goal early, and one late in the period, to take home a 2-1 win. Next to the 3 Detroit games upcoming, this was the Hawks toughest game, and they blew it.

The Good

• The Hawks opened up that scoring on a goal by Boss 81. the puck was bouncing around along the board, and Frodo put a bad pass off Pick-to-Click Vik's skate and right to Hoss, who blazed it past Emery, with a one timer. Just too bad it was the first and last time the Hawks would put the puck in the net.
  
• Crow made a great breakaway save on Bobby Ryan and the follow up rebound by Corey Perry in the second period with Duece and Seabrook defending. This was the second breakaway of the came with only twenty five minutes played. Not a good stat, folks.
  
• The Hawks actually did very well in the faceoff dots. TomoKop was 74%, El Capitan was 60%, Snake was 57%, and Kruger was 50%. Frodo didn't win a faceoff all night, but he only took 4.

The Bad

• Stalberg showed everyone why you can't take too long once you get in the opponents zone with the puck, when a backchecking Ducks player stole the puck off his stick and sent Ryan Getzlaf in on a breakaway.
  
• Hoss had an identical chance in the second, to the one that he scored on in the first, and Emery beat him. The fact that Emery has played this well is really amazing, based on his injury history.
  
• The Ducks first goal was a 3-on-2 executed to perfection against the Blackhawks top defensive duo. It all started in the Ducks end, when Pat Kane couldn't get the puck to the net and Getzlaf sent it the other way. Ryan hung on to the puck long enough to let Getzlaf clear his defender, and Getzlaf fed Perry with a perfect backhand pass. Crawford had no chance.
  
• The game winning goal by Perry was a determined effort by Ryan Getzlaf to out muscle Brent Seabrook, and feed Perry. Perry then turned around in front of Deuce, and fired it over Crow. Game, Set, Match.
  
• The Ducks top line outmatched the Hawks top D pair, 2-0, and that was the game. The Offense needs to score more than one goal, no matter what.

The Ugly

• Corey Perry had 2 goals and could have easily had 4. The guy is just absolutely on a sick streak.

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Made With Bits of Real Panther, So You Know It's Good

Last night the Hawks were playing the 1st of the final 10 regular season games, against a recently familiar foe, the Florida Sex Panthers. With all the Brian Campbell and Marcus Kruger hoopla going on, in the days leading up to it, this game almost seemed overlooked. Once again, the Hawks would have to face former GM, Player, and Color man Dale Tallon. This was also the first time the Hawks faced their former player, Jack Skille. There is no doubt that the Panthers will use the win earlier in the month and the Tallon/Skille revenge factor as motivation in the game. The drama was abound, and the Hawks HAD to have this win and these two points.

The Blackhawks looked a little sloppy in the first couple of shifts, but tightened up a little later in the period. Even with some decent scoring chances either way, both teams were scoreless in the period. In the second period, the Hawks took a 1-0 lead and were outshooting the Kittens 24-13. In the third period, the clouds parted and the sun shined through, with the Hawks scoring 3 more goals and decidedly shutting out the Sex Panthers 4-0. Exactly what needed to be done.

The Good

• In the second shift of the game, Pick-to-Click Vik used his speed AGAIN, to drive hard to the net. He was blasted into Tomas Vokoun by Mike Weaver, but he had a couple of steps on the defenders, and drew a penalty. That's exactly what Vik needs to continue doing. He did the same thing, again, in the second and fed Kaner for a nice chance. He also scored a big goal, but I'll expand on that more later.
  
• Kruger started on the third line, and second powerplay unit. As would be expected and as I predicted, he wasn't very noticeable. Maybe our new swede is broken!
  
• After three pretty bad powerplays, Seabs unleashed a howitzer of a one timer on a feed from Deuce, to put the Blackhawks up 1-0. It was really a matter of time, because the Hawks had an advantage in chances. The new configuration, with Deuce at the point and Seabs on the trigger side, could work nicely.
  
• Kaner, El Capitan, and Vik played tic-tac-toe, forty six seconds into the third period, and got the Hawks off and running with a 2-0 lead. It SHOULD look that easy all game. The chemistry between those three is going to be important, if the Hawks expect to do anything but get booted in the first round.
  
• Kaner added to the lead, on a hot pass from Deuce. The shot changed speeds after it hist a defender and squirted through Vokoun's 5-hole. Might have been a softy, but Vokoun was pounded like an porn star all game long. The percentages were with the Hawks.
  
• Open up the flood gates with a little Czech connection. Boss 81 lead the rush and fed Frodo, who sent the puck back across the ice to Tomokop, who hit a GAPING net, and the Hawks were up 4-0.
  
• Crow earned a well deserved shutout, but lets face it, the Hawks SHOULD shut this team out. They are inferior and really should be whipped all over the rink.

The Bad

• Even with the Seabrook powerplay goal, the Hawks should have had MANY more chances against a team like the Panthers. I'm not sure what happened, but it started before Sharpie got hurt. Again, not a time to go cold, gentlemen.
  
• When Tomas Kopecky (3-4, 75%)leads the team in faceoff percentage, and Frodo (7-11, 64%)is right behind him, your team had a rough night at the dots. El Capitan was over 50%, but Kruger, Snake, and Johnson were all under 50%.

The Ugly

• In a 4-0 shutout, there can't really be much UGLY, so I'll give the team a break. I can't be a "Debbie Downer" every night.

Here are the video highlights for your viewing pleasure:

Marcus Krüger will Disappoint You All

GREAT, now I have your attention.

The intarweb has been abuzz with talk of newest Blackhawk center, Marcus Krüger, and probably for good reason. This season has been full of terrible let downs for Chicago fans, after winning the Stanley Cup last June, and we all need something to look forward to. The resulting Stanley Cup salary cap purge upset many fans even though we all knew, or should have known, it was coming. The signing of Marty Turco was suppose to lighten the burden of losing Antti Niemi to the turdly Sharks, but Turco has not been the important piece we thought he would be. The Hammer signing, though storied and dramatic, was important but he has been quietly and under the radar. El Capitan started very slow this season, and Deuce has his head firmly jammed up his tuchus for a majority of the year. New guys Stalberg, Skille, Dowell, Johnson, and Leddy have all done serviceable jobs, but didn't quite fill the shoes of their predecessors. Jack Skillington brought us Michael Frolik and Alex Salak, but we have yet to get anything special out of those two, yet. The trade from Stromboli brought us a game winning goal the other night, but he too has been up and down. The only real nice surprises have been the jump in production from Shooter, the 36 points of Bryan Bickell, and the unexpected success of Corey Crawford, which brings me to my initial point:

Marcus Krüger will disappoint you all.

Before I get a hundred nasty twatter messages, and a boatload of angrily typed Facebook comments, hear me out. When Kruger steps out on the ice, tonight, wearing his brand new #16 jersey, he will probably show some flash and talent. What he will NOT do, is become the next Chicago Hockey Messiah, aka Jonathan Toews. He is twenty years old, and has played European style hockey his whole life. It is going to take him time to adjust, and he might even have some awful games before he gets acclimated. This is what young, European, 5th round draft picks do. They take some time to adjust to the NHL. It wouldn't be the NHL if everyone could step right in, at 20, and do it. You're not going to see Toews, or Kane numbers out of him, maybe EVER. He has the tools to become a smaller, David Bolland, and that's not too shabby, folks. We should expect that he will get out muscled in his own zone a bit, but make some smart, and maybe even dazzling, plays in the offensive end. Young, smallish players can usually keep up offensively, but take some time to get use to the bigger and rougher NHL, not to mention the smaller ice surface. He's not going to be able to dance around people like Chris Pronger or Niklas Kronwall, so he's likely to be planted onto his doopa a time or two. Lets face it, if he was best thing since the "Slap Chop", StanBo and Quenneville never would have let him board that plane back to Sweden, in training camp. All this is fine and well, and I think the guy has some solid NHL talent, but lets all set our expectations at a reasonable level, before this bandwagon even gets-a-rollin, cowboys and girls.

Now, you can all now hit delete, on those hate laced messages. Remember, sarcasm; It's alive and well right here. I'll leave you on a slightly better note. Here is Krüger's first Blackhawks interview, this morning. Go Hawks!





Lastly, Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th movies have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In the crossover version, Jason Vorhees was Kruger's enemy, so all this "he should wear #13" jazz is just plain dumb. Come up with something that is actually CLEVER.

Tales from the Emergency Room

After the morning skate and press picnic, here are the latest updates on the Blackhawks developments:

• According to multiple sources, Quenneville says the Hawks HOPE to have Sharp back before the end of the regular season. Note the word HOPE, folks. Don't start planning the ticker tape parade down Washington Street, just yet. Nothing is set in stone, and that is purely an estimate. Though they indicated that it's "not serious", it's still a knee injury, and he's not going to be 100% when he comes back. Remember how Kaner came back early from his injury and took a good two weeks to be able to do anything productive. Best case scenario, the Hawks are without him for the 10 remaining games, with three against DIVISION rival, Detroit. Stellar timing on this one, and thank you, Rosty Klesla, for tripping over your own feet.
  
  
• According to Chris Kuc at the Tribune, The deal to bring Swedish Center Marcus Kruger to Chicago was in motion prior to the loss of Sharpie. The wheels were set in motion when Dave Bolland was injured, by a pointless elbow to the back of the head, resulting in "concussion-like symptoms". He is expected to be in Chicago for tomorrows morning skate. With Bolland and Sharpie out, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make his Blackhawks debut tomorrow night.
  
  
• Brian Campbell skated this morning with the team. He is a game time decision on Wednesday's game against the Panthers. He told reporters that he felt winded, but fine otherwise. That's good news for the powerplay, in time for Saturday's game against the Ducks, at worst.