A Perfect Night At The UC? Far From It!

The stage was set for a memorable evening at the United Center in Chicago on an April Sunday night. 

1.  The Blackhawks honoring Jonathan Toews with an on-ice ceremony alongside his parents, his brother, former and present assistant captains and the silver stick commemorating 1000 games played.
2. Lots of former Blackhawks in the building.
3. Playing one of the worst teams in the league, the Arizona Coyotes.
4. Hawks start fast, scoring their quickest goal of the season from the start of the game.

But, from there it went downhill. The game could have gone the Hawks way, the team was able to tie the game in third after Arizona took a 2-1 lead in the second and in overtime, if not for a Patrick Kane penalty in the last minute and a bad bounce off of Jonathan Toews skate into his own net, it could have gone to a shootout. It very easily could have gone off Toews skate into the Coyotes net, but it didn't...those are the breaks. For me, the lasting memory of this forgettable game was they still lost to that so-called worst team (forget the loser point!), so really, who's the worst team in the league? We could get confirmation if they lose again on Thursday night. 

Quick Thoughts:

• The aforementioned alternative captains on the ice before the game were Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Shaw, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa...Hossa was there?!!!  As well, Adam Burish and Corey Crawford were in attendance.

• Between the first and second periods, Pat and Eddie announced Pat's replacement for next season as Chris Vosters, who will be the new television play-by-play announcer for Blackhawks hockey. He's done a bunch of games already this season and he's done a good job, so congratulations Chris, those are big shoes (or should we say mouth) that you are filling. Pat Foley's last game in the Blackhawks booth will be April 14th against the San Jose Sharks. The evening will feature memories of Pat's through his 39-year career. Must see TV! Get your soft serve ready!
  

• The Hawks are currently on a five game losing streak, and in the last 15 games, the only teams they have beaten are Anaheim (2x), Ottawa and LA Kings. During this time they have also lost to fellow bottom feeders, Arizona, Buffalo and Philadelphia. It's infuriating because on-paper the Blackhawks should be so much better than they've shown. Even against Arizona, they are clearly the better team, but they allowed the Coyotes to stay in the game before giving up two quick goals and not capitalizing on their many first period opportunities. Almost every time the Strome/Cat/Kane line was out there, they continually cycled and carried the play in the Yotes zone. Aaargh!

• Kevin Lankinen's luck in overtime is unbelievably bad. He now has lost 6 games in extra time and his overall record this season is now a putrid 4-10-6 or straight up wins/loses 4-16!! I like Lankinen, I really do, he's a good goalie, but those numbers are insane. Not sure what the Hawks are going to do going forward with their goalies, but the way they have mis-managed the goalies they had (Crawford, Lehner, Subban, Fleury), who knows? This is something we'll discuss thoroughly when the season ends...Aaaagh!!
  

Up next: Hawks don't play until Thursday for another battle for the basement against an equally bad team as the Yoties, Seattle Kraken.

This Went Pretty Much As Planned: Toews Plays 1000 Games!

On paper, a game between one of the top teams in the league versus one of the weakest, this is a clear mismatch. On ice, it turned out to be pretty accurate because you it became obvious who the better team was. The score flattered the Blackhawks and could have been worse because the Panthers appeared to score in the first minute of the game...another long night, right. Fortunately, the goal was disallowed because of a kicking motion from Barkov and it wasn't until the final two minutes of the period that Barkov scored for real. From there the Panthers got better and cruised to a 4-0 shutout win. All in all, a fairly uneventful game for Blackhawks fans with very little to cheer about.

Some good, some not so good:

• Shots? A positive was that the Hawks directed 37 shots at Bobrovsky, unfortunately none of them went in. He made some big saves, especially against the Strome line and when the Hawks were on the power-play, but otherwise he wasn't tested enough and I'm surprised they actually had 37 shots.
• Delia!! Another positive was the play of Hawks goalie, Collin Delia. He faced 44 shots and it felt like more than that. I was cringing when the Panthers scored that disallowed goal in the first minute, then he settled in and was steady, though he still has problems controlling his rebounds. He made a spectacular save early in the game (not long after the no-goal) on ex-Hawk, Anthony Duclair that was probably the highlight of the game for the Hawks. He had no chance on Forsling's goal as he definitely got bumped and Barkov's second goal in the third period was on a 5 on 3 PP. They may want to consider starting Delia for more games, though Lankinen will probably get the second game against Tampa on this back to back.

• Tazer! Congratulations to Jonathan Toews for reaching the milestone of 1,000 games. He has played all of them in a Blackhawks jersey and as captain for the majority of them. I know this is a discussion for another day, but you have to wonder how much longer he'll be a Hawk. That being said, I hope he retires a Blackhawk. The other highlight of the night was watching the video tributes from ex-teammates, family and some freshly retired Hawks (Seabrook, Crawford, Hjalmarsson, Shaw) Here's a video with some of the tributes from ex-teammates.

• Heads up Kirby!: Notice how many times Kirby Dach has been lit up with big hits? Last night, they didn't result in any penalties, so they weren't necessarily dirty and at least they stopped taking instigating (Ryan Carpenter) penalties. He's young and skilled, so he'll be tested and treated roughly by defensemen on opposing teams, so the Hawks need to play lot more aggressively to protect their young stars. He's fortunate he didn't get injured on that second hit from Gudas.
  

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• Bye bye? I get the feeling we won't be seeing many of these players that are rotating in and out of the lineup as healthy scratches. I'll be analyzing who should be on the team next season in a future post, but it doesn't look promising for Henrik Borgstrom, Philipp Kurashev, Dominik Kubalik and Tyler Johnson. I don't understand why Reese Johnson stays in the lineup, he's kind of a poor man's Ryan Carpenter. Calvin de Haan had a rough night, he gave the puck away several times in the Hawks end and he got burned badly on Ryan Lomberg's goal. Kinda makes you wish Connor Murphy could return sooner.
  

Up next: More of the sunshine state, second part of a back to back in Tampa Bay on Friday at 6:00 pm CST. Yikes!

Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting: Hawks Wake Up!

 

It didn't start that well, in fact it was near disaster, but the Hawks were able to adjust after a slow start and beat a team they really should beat.

Horrible first period: 

• Everything in the first was worst case scenario. Connor Murphy left the game on a stretcher early in the game after taking a hit along the boards where his head hit the boards heavily. He probably at least suffered a concussion, but for precautionary measures, (possible neck?) they him took off the ice on a stretcher. This may have left the Hawks fairly traumatized witnessing this serious incident to a valuable teammate. Murphy gave his thumbs-up on the way off the ice and I think I heard he was still in the building during the rest of the game.
  

• As a result of the hit, the Sens player, Parker Kelly received a five minute major and game misconduct. Instead of taking advantage of a five minute power-play, the Hawks gave up a shorthanded goal.
• They gave up a second goal on a shot Fleury perhaps should have had. Sens 2-0
• Jonathan Toews responds to a heavy hit on Kirby Dach, drops the gloves and receives an instigating and fighting penalty, Hawks shorthanded. Captain Toews was trying to ignite the Hawks dismal play with the fight and the hope is they will respond and wake up. Will it help?

• Tyler Johnson didn't return after the first period after being the victim of friendly fire taking a puck to the side of the head from Dominik Kubalik attempting dump it into the zone. This left the Hawks with 10 forwards and 6 defense for the rest of the game. Good thing they dressed 7 D!
  

One of their best second periods:

• The Hawks do respond quickly! Less than a minute into the second, Toews scores, from Patrick Kane. Then about two minutes later, Toews scores again, from Kane. This swing of momentum leads to the Hawks taking the lead with a Caleb Jones goal. The Senators score one back to tie it, but Sam Lafferty responds quickly eight seconds later on a great individual effort to take the lead again.
• Period ends with the Hawks up 4-3.  A four goal second period was quite the turnaround, as the Hawks settled down and came out a much different team after that brutal first. Maybe the Toews fight in the first period was the "turning point" of the game.
  

Held the Lead! 

• The Hawks got additional goals from C. Jones (his second) and Dylan Strome to round out the scoring and give the Hawks some breathing room to hold onto the lead. Impressive win!

Random Thoughts

•  An early lead isn't safe anymore. I don't know what it is and especially recently, it seems there are more games where a team that takes an early lead of 2 or even 3 goals, can't hold it. The Jets had a 3-0 lead after the first against the Avs, a few weeks ago, but Colorado went on to to score 6 unanswered goals for a 6-3 win. This week, the Devils were down 3-0 to the Avs before the Devils scored 5 straight in a comeback to win 5-3, the first time this season the Avs lost when leading after the first period. The takeaway, do not turn off your TV when a team has an extended lead, it's not over until...it's a 60 minute game!
  
• When Seth Jones assisted on younger brother, Caleb's first goal of the night, it was the first time a Blackhawks' brother duo combined on a goal since 1994, when Rich and Brent Sutter combined on a goal. Caleb finished the game with 2 goals and Seth with 2 assists.

 

• It doesn't happen as much as it use to, but it was nice to see Patrick Kane assist on both of Jonathan Toews back to back goals. A little throwback to the "glory days". 

Up next, Hawks back home for a rematch against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. I'll be at the Winnipeg Jets vs Vegas Golden Knights game at the same time, so once again I'll have to rely on highlights for the Hawks game. Hope the results are similar to last Tuesday's game!