DISaster on ice – Now playing at the UC

I’m not sure if it was #JohnWiedeman or #TroyMurray who said that the Hawks were DISconnected in yesterday’s game. #Quenneville said the team was DISjoint. Had #TraceyMyers not taken the day off she would have said they were DIScombobulated. We were all in DISmay as we watched the Hawks fall apart in the second period. What a DISappointing period. The Hawks could do nothing to DISarm the Bruins. It was with DISgust that Crawford was pulled from the game. The Hawks were DISgraced by the negative reviews of their fans in attendance. I am sure there was a lot of DIScussion between periods on how to set things right.

The hawks have really looked DISorganized in many of their games as of late. It may be that they are DIStracted by the deaths that have haunted the team this season. Whatever it is, they need to DIScover the answer quickly. They must DISpense with their poor performances. They must look to DIScern a solution to the problem.

Yes the fans are DISappointed. They are DIScouraged by recent performances. Who wouldn’t be DISpleased? There is DIStrust in the quest for the cup. Yes this has been a DISturbing time. Let’s not DISpose of our allegiance. There is too much talk of DISsembling this team. But it is not time to DISband. Don’t DIScount this team. Don’t be DIScouraged. This trend will DISappear. This team will DIScover the answer.

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Dee-troit Sucks

Wow, our second and final meeting this season, unless of course, we meet in the playoffs. That would be insane. I have to admit that the game was very fun to watch. The Hawks came out skating and played well all the way through as did the Wings. The game was only "not tied" for a total of 82 seconds, not counting the outcome of course.

Hossa had a fantastic game. How many Wings did he skate around and away from? How many times did he take the puck away from some one. I wish Hossa had taken the third shoot out. I think he would have had a better chance against Howard.

The only really bad play for the Hawks, and of the game for that matter, was the Roszival give-away in the OT. I really would not mind seeing him replaced with Erixon.

Hartman had another strong game tonight.I think he will stay around although I think Carcillo might have been better to get under the skin of the Wings tonight.

Both Howard and Crawford were keys to keeping their teams in the game.

I really miss this division rivalry.

In other news:
The Wolves have loaned Jake Chelios to his home town team the Kalamazoo Wings, their EHCL affilaite.

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Getting the Devil out

As #TraceyMyers has been saying the Hawks came out looking discombobulated. On top of it Crawford lets one in that should have been stopped.

On the good side we got to see Hartman and Comisky. Hartman gives a huge hit 8 seconds in to his first shift in the NHL. He continued to play a rough and tough game and could have a role in the playoffs. Comisky played some great defense and stepped in up front like a Blackhawk. Toews compared him to Nick Leddy due to his speed.

Hossa with the goal and then an assist on the Toews goal. that was great pressing by Toews on that goal. It was good to see Johnny score as it appeared that he accidentally  used teflon tape on his stick instead of sticky tape. He just could bee to keep anything on his blade all night.

To continue my rant about the defensive pairing, Hammer and Oduya looked good together and were able to clear the zone and move the puck forward. They look MUCH better together than they do when they are split up.

It took almost 30 minutes but the Hawks finally turned themselves around, for the most part, and started playing some better hockey. Let's see if they can keep on playing during the Sunday matinee against the flightless birds.

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Canucked

That first period looked pretty poor.  Errant passes were wild and shooting was scarce. I was pretty scared going in to the second period as that has not been the best period for the Hawks this season.

Kane opened up the scoring in the second on a nice centering pass that got tipped in by the Canucks. Had it made it through Richards had an easy open netter. But my fear of the second period came to pass and Vancouver puts in 3 unanswered goals. I STILL believe that the defensive parings need to be corrected. (See my blog from a few games ago here) The Hawks are not getting out of their zone and through center very cleanly.

The Hawks finally start playing in the third period but the Sedins do them in by first pairing for the 4th goal and then again for the OT win.

But what about Hossa? Six goals in three games. Insane. Two power play goals are good but the Hawks will need to play 60 minutes to win. they played about 15 today.

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I guess that's why they call them the Blues.

The Hawks inch closer to the Blues today with the victory. Good to get that win in the last game on the road, especially against a strong division team. It was good to see Kruger finally score. He as been playing well as you can tell by all the shots he has been taking from the opposing teams. I was also glad to see Carcillo making the feed to set him up on the play.

Toews made Oshie look foolish as he stepped around him on one play. Tarasenko returned the favor by making Crawford look like he dropped his drawers. Unfortunately Tarasenko scored and Toews did not.

It was good to see the power play work. Hossa indicated that he scored on a set play pass from Saad. Said Hoss, "That was a pretty set play and I'm glad it worked." It was a dandy.

I little scrimmage with Carcillo and Ott was hardly worth the penalty time.

So the Blackhawks now return home for an important 8 game stretch. We start with Coyotes who we embarrassed earlier on this road trip.

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Winning-peg

Back in Johnny's home town where the Hawks have not lost since 1996.

It only took 1:07 for Carcillo to get the challenge from Thorburn. I give the decision to Thorburn although he did land a lot of his shots on the pads and helmet. Carcillo gets the points for the take down.

Rundblad looses a 2 on 1 on the boards then can't get in position when Scheifele receives a pass right on the tape from referee Steve Kozari. For his effort, Rundblad gets to join Raanta on the bench for the rest of the period. Give him 1:38 of play time in the first and then he only gets another 2:12 in the second to finigh the game with 3:50. The real problem was that Keith was expecting the puck to come out to the middle before Kozari kicked it away which is what left the front of the net open. We'll probably see Erixon on Sunday but I do not agree with this call from Q.

Power play. What power play? Still not fixed.

While getting out hit 16-6 in the first they were also losing face offs 11-5 at the end of the first. They finally came back to even by the end of the third and fell short by one.

SOG were few and fair between but Kane with a great feed to Saad who scores on the 3rd shot of the OT.

This was a fun, yet a little stressful, game to watch. These teams would put on a great playoff series.

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Notes from the morning practice

#DuncanKeith was off for a maintenance day. #Versteeg skated with the team wearing the white flag jersey. (Don't hit me I'm hurt.) He will travel with the team to practice but the earliest he will play is when they return home. van Riemsdyk (and I always hate starting a sentence with lower case) was not on the ice today. No surprise. He may have skated earlier or plans to later. Dennis Rasmussen  was sent back to the Hogs late yesterday. #Crawford scheduled to start tomorrow in Winnipeg.

As I expected this was the most intense practice I have witnessed today. It was 48 minutes of drills. I have never seen the ice so torn up after a practice. Let's start with passing seeing as that was not the Hawks strong suit the last two games. (Although I am not sure what their strong suit was.) Q started the team practicing passing with what looked like a shuffleboard puck. (See picture below.) A little harder to get moving and a little harder to receive. I have never seen this one before. It was interesting. When they switched to a regular puck the passes were much faster and pretty crisp.

The practice lines were the same as what they have played the last two games. So it looks like #Carcillo will be the odd man out tomorrow.

As for defensive pairings, a little hard to tell without Keith in place but I never saw #Hjalmarsson play with #Oduya. Not once. I must assume nothing will change. Seems like the Hawks have gone insane. You know the definition.

There was some powerplay practice. The powerplay looked pathetic. But they are playing against some of the best PK in the league. I think they really need to get away from the perimeter passing and drop a guy in the middle to start passing in and out.

They finished up with some 5 on 5 hockey and then after the official practice ended most players stayed to practice shooting (Hossa spending a lot of time nailing the upper right corner) or playing give and go with Dineen on the other side giving #Raanta some shots to handle.

Toews looked a little weak today. Left right at the end of the official practice. I am not sure if he is under the weather a bit.

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It was a Wild game

If you watched last night's game I really don't need to say anything. If you were having a colonoscopy, you were doing better than those of us watching the game.

It seems the Hawks may have lost the sticky tape for their sticks or they were still hungover from their trip to Vegas. I still think the defensive pairing is a large part of the problem. HEY #QUENNEVILLE, ARE YOU LISTENING? Keith/Seabrook and Hammer/Oduya play so well together and spark a lot of offense coming out of their own end while still covering up for one another. Consider that both pairs can play 22+ minutes each, that would leave only 8 minutes for the 3rd defensive pair. Personally I pick Rundblad, did you see his moves in the first period!, and Erixon.

So the Hawks lose two in a row, have been shut out twice, and have not scored a goal in 126:35.

I plan to attend practice on Thursday. I'll be interested to see what Q decides to work on seeing as so many things are currently broke.

While I am pretty confident in this team going into the playoffs, I would like to see them move up in the standings. As it stands now they are 4th in the conference and therefore would likely only get home ice advantage for the first round. Need more home ice starts.

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Some notes for tonight's game.

On the Wild front:
Cooke out tonight. Maybe for the rest of the season. Missed 22 games earlier this year with a hip flexor but has a LB injury which is different. Played 27 games so far this season with 4 goals and 4 assts.
Assume Backstrom to start.

On the Hawks front:
Carcillo is now eligible as his suspension expires. Probably not playing today. Did not practice on top 4 lines this morning.

Crawford to start in goal.

Starting lines based on practice:
20-19-81
10-91-88
29-65-86
42-16-28

Versteeg still skating in Chicago. van Riemsdyk joined him for a light skate today.

Looking ahead to the Sunday matinee:
Shatenkirk scheduled for abdominal surgery within 9 days. Will likely be out a few weeks if not the season. He has 40 points in 49 games with the Blues this year.