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Some really good news for Hawk fans is for the second straight game, their newly-assembled third line of Dennis Rasmussen, Marcus Kruger, and Richard Panik may have also been their best line last night.
But, if there’s a cloud to this silver lining, that’s it, too.
The Hawks keep rolling along, doing just enough to win games that could easily go the other way—against teams they should probably beat. It’s for the most part a good thing. But it does leave you (well, some of us anyway) to wonder if or when the bubble of a 16-6-3 record will pop.
The Hawks were absolutely dreadful for the first ten minutes of the game last night, and there were some times and situations where some season long problems reared their ugly head.
The Devils are a pretty good team—not great—and they are not loaded offensively. But they had the Hawks pinned in their end for long stretches last night, with some of the usual suspects really struggling to execute a clean breakout versus an NHL forecheck.
And the Hawks' passive penalty kill scheme is still the league's worst.
I know, I know, "Geez, JJ, all games in the NHL are close. Lighten up, have a beverage, enjoy the party."
Nahhh.
But, again, reverting to glass half full mode: Chicago appears to have something in that new third line. I self-edited (as hard as that was) last night, and avoided explaining the basics of hockey to someone on Twitter who started going off about how Philip Danault’s 5 goals after 20-25 games prove he is a better hockey player than Marcus Kruger, because he has only 2.
Danault is becoming a nice NHL player—and I’ve always been one of his biggest fans.
But from what I’ve heard, and has been observed by many others, the Chicago Blackhawks (ie, people paid to make such decisions and who have generally been right more often than not) made a commitment to Kruger last year and decided Danault was expendable, likely because they had the player they wanted in the 3C role in Kruger.
“Yeah, but dat Kroooger, he don’t score no goalssssss.”
Right. And amassing goals and assists is (still) only half of a hockey player’s job.
Let me put it another way, if Kruger were a point a game player, but an absolute trainwreck floater/cherry picker in terms of his defensive play, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. But he’d still be a player who does some things very well—because he focuses on them at the expense of some other things.
What is also telling is the goal Kruger scored last night was not a fluky/greasy, jam it through the pads kind of goal. It was a very difficult, laser shot made at high speed, against the motion of the shooter’s body. A, dare I say it, goal scorer's goal.
And the truth is, what really matters in all this much ore than the silly calculations of 5 goals versus 2, Kruger and his line are proving highly effective—in their role—which will be stifling opponents’ scoring lines, maintaining possession in the offensive zone, and occasionally getting a goal. Keeping opposing coaches and lines a bit more honest.
Great news for the Hawks. And something to build on when Jonathan Toews gets back.
I reported yesterday that Toews is dealing with a back issue, but there is some more recent scuttlebutt that there could have been a concussion issue. Either way, his return sounds imminent.
Now to get something going on his line (in addition to the AK72 line—nice comeback game for Artem Anisimov last night, by the way).
How important is that last bit about Toews’ line? Very.
Which goes back to the whole dumb argument about “dat loussssy Krooooger who can’t score no goalsssss.” No one should expect the Kruger line to be a legitimate scoring line. Not their job.
Marian Hossa found the twine for the 12th time last night, further debunking another interwebs fallacy from last season: “Dat Hossa, he can’t score no more. He’sssss a t(h)ird liner, my frent.” (this never gets old).
Expect him to score. And so whatever Joel Quenneville can do—assuming Toews and Hossa are back together soon—to complement them, or to juggle his top 6 (which is really still a top 5 with a revolving audition at one of the left wings)—the sooner he can accomplish that, the closer the Hawks will be to a team that is really every bit as good as good as 16-6-3.
All I have for now, I’ll have a Flyers’ preview tomorrow AM.
JJ
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