CHICAGO, IL -- A lot has happened this past week--I'm not going to touch much on the whole Coach Quenneville situation, since I wrote a blog on it on Tuesday (see here).
But, wow, was this week a mild nightmare for the Blackhawks.
From the terrible loss to the Flames on Saturday, to Coach Q getting the boot, to Brandon Saad taking a puck to the face in practice on Wednesday, to Jonathan Toews getting a high stick last night against Carolina and nearly losing an eye--it's been a rough week to say the least.
Bad bounce after bad bounce.
But, I think there are some gems to be found among the debris and the wreckage, so let's just suck it up and get into it.
BLACKHAWKS @ CALGARY FLAMES - L, 3-5
Can I first start by saying that the refereeing in this game was all over the place? I don't think there were a whole lot of good calls in this game on either side--there was a way-too-long power play (I think that was more on the team than the refs, but it was dumb so it felt right to put it here), a bad offside call (Marcus Kruger argued with the refs over that one), David Rittich flicked a puck up to try and get it out but earned a delay of game penalty (this one is moderately understandable), David Kampf took a stick to the face with no penalty, no goaltender interference on the Hawks' third goal when there probably should've been--look, there were a lot, okay?
To be fair, I thought the Hawks played a great first period. They let the Flames score early, but Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau are practically unstoppable this season so I'll let it slide.
After that goal, the Hawks *gasp* scored on the power play?!
Okay, granted, it was a 5-on-3, which definitely helped, but I'll take a PPG any day. Icing on the cake? It was Jonathan Toews' 300th career goal. Even better? It was off a beautiful pass from none other than Patrick Kane. Boom, baby.
Shortly thereafter, Jan Rutta shot from the blue line and I legitimately rolled my eyes because of how much traffic there was in front of the net--no way was that shot going in. I quickly ate my words, and suddenly, the Hawks have a lead.
Yes, you heard me. The Hawks have a lead going into the second period.
The second period, though, wasn't much of anything to write home about, until Saad just barely slid the puck past Rittich, putting the Hawks up to an early 3-1 lead.
Worst lead in sports, mind you.
The Flames answered back quickly, getting the game within one thanks to a nice wrister from Matthew Tkachuk.
Still, a lead going into the third period didn't seem so bad, and I considered going to bed then, hoping they could finish the job.
Yeah, they didn't do that.
The Hawks let Monahan get another goal, then Michael Frolik scored, and things were going down fast.
The nail in the coffin came on a Hawks power play (shocking), when they allowed a shorthanded, empty-net goal from Mikael Backlund with just a minute left.
Dang it, guys.
They did play pretty well in the first forty minutes, but everything seemed to fall apart in that third period, which was a mess but not necessarily out of the ordinary for this team.
BLACKHAWKS V. CAROLINA HURRICANES - L, 3-4
This one was decidedly less bad.
It was Coach Jeremy Colliton's debut game as the head coach, and honestly, I don't think it went as bad as it could have, nor did it go as badly as I expected it to.
Well, the first period did, but that's neither here nor there.
Andrei Svechnikov, electric rookie and serious Calder contender, scored early. Nice boy Jaccob Slavin scored the second on a Canes power play. Phil di Giuseppe scored late in the third to make matters even worse.
Yes, the Hurricanes scored three goals in the first period. You saw that right.
The Hawks got a great chance on the power play just after the Slavin goal, but nothing came of it (because they don't know how to shoot, apparently), then they ended the first period on a penalty kill, which they did manage to kill in the first minute of the second period.
As angry as I was that nothing was going in for the Hawks, it should be mentioned that Blackhawks Legend/Stanley Cup champion/Lemont, IL, native Scott Darling stood on his head last night. He looked unbelievable, and as I longtime fan of his, I was certainly glad to see that. I just hoped he wouldn't look this good against the Hawks.
We enter the third period with the Hawks down 3-0, and Calvin de Haan makes matters worse by scoring again. This time, Corey Crawford takes his frustration out on the goalpost, smashing his stick in half. So, that's how things are going here.
Finally, after finally starting to play some damn hockey, Kane notches the first Hawks goal of the game. It really could have been Artem Anisimov's goal, but I don't really care (and given their expressions right after, they didn't either)--a goal is a goal is a goal.
I thought our defense started looking better here, starting with a great pokecheck from Brent Seabrook to keep Warren Foegele from getting a breakaway that would have almost inevitably put the Canes up 5-1.
Saad sent a puck flying towards the Canes net and Kampf was there to tip it in--boom, just two goals away from a tie game.
Just after that, Kruger went down with a terrible hit to his knee--Clark Bishop tripped him, causing him to ram his knee into the goalpost. As I'm writing this, the Hawks have said that he's not going to play in Philadelphia on Saturday, so that's just peachy keen.
The Hawks did manage to get a power play out of that trip, but nothing came of it, and they went into the second intermission trailing by two.
As the third period started again, I told myself I'd give the Hawks five minutes to score, otherwise I was going to bed--look, I'm not a flaky fan, I'm just a tired one. Being up at eleven o'clock during the week is pushing it.
Either way, Nick Schmaltz must've heard me and scored just three and a half minutes into the period. Schmaltz, I see you.
(Side note: Since Colliton is so famously good with younger guys, I'm really hoping he can unlock Schmaltz's potential, because the boy has a lot of it.)
And with that, we're just a goal away from tying.
I should also state that in the waning minutes of the third period, Toews took an accidental high-stick to the face and his eye was bleeding. Yes, his eye. It was pretty gruesome, and from what Colliton said in the post-game, he should be alright.
Yikes.
Unfortunately, despite the great efforts by the offense and defense in the final 20 minutes, the Hawks just couldn't pull off a win.
I still think this was a good game, and I think a lot better overall than most people thought it would be after a coaching change.
It'll take some time for them to really adjust to Colliton's system, though he insisted that they're going to try to keep as much as they can the same, or at least similar, for the time being.
Overall, I loved what I saw last night against the Hurricanes. If we have to usher in a new coaching era, I think I like the way this one is shaping up.
I'll ask again: are you in?
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