Last night, the Blackhawks played their third straight game without captain and top center Jonathan Toews, a 2-1 shootout victory over the Florida Panthers.
Does this fuel the argument—an argument that, like internet conspiracy theories, is out there—that the Hawks are fine or even better without Toews?
Uhhhh, no.
One of the other arguments that's been "out there" surrounded the replacement of Gerard Gallant as head coach of the Panthers by Tom Rowe, and what that would mean. Rowe tried a couple of different strategies last night, sitting back in a more defensive posture, followed by an aggressive forecheck, and the Panthers certainly made a game of it. But the reality is, the Panthers probably aren't that good a team overall.
Which leads back to the subject of the blog. The Blackhawks still need a healthy, productive Jonathan Toews to be the team they hope to be come playoff time.
Still last night, between Corey Crawford's consistently excellent goaltending, and enough offensive push from re-cobbled lower lines, the Hawks got enough to win.
The PAK line was dangerous as always—although it didn't find the twine. Perhaps the Hawks' best line was that of Marcus Kruger, Richard Panik and Dennis Rasmussen. It was Panik who opened and closed the scoring for Chicago, and Kruger who shouldered the faceoff load in Toews absence, going an obscene 15-5 in the dot.
Panik chose a good night to re-emerge into the limelight. After not scoring in 17 games, Panik converted a clean breakaway in regulation, then beat Roberto Luongo high to close the shootout.
One longer term positive that may be emerging from the Hawks' recent struggles is that the Hawks may have found an effective third line in Kruger, Panik, and Rasmussen—tough to play against up and down the ice, physical, capable of pitching in a goal here and there.
Overall, however, there's really not much new to report here—with or without Toews—the Hawks got outshot again, but did just enough, especially in net, to win a game they should win.
Next up is a likely tougher test, the New Jersey Devils coming in to the UC tomorrow night. I'll have a preview.
JJ
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