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Anaheim Ducks at Chicago Blackhawks 7PM Central/5 Pacific NBC/CBC/TVA
I watch a lot of hockey at this time of year. I watch the games, and then I watch them again.
Sitting in the passenger seat on a 4-hour drive to Michigan yesterday, I viewed much of Game 3 of the WCF again, and a couple of things really jumped out at me: one was how tired the Hawks' legs looked. The Ducks didn't have their legs either, but their game relies more on getting pucks deep and cycling and jamming things up in front of both nets—which they did to near perfection in Game 3.
The question for Game 4 is: are the Hawks just tired and done, or will they bounce back and regain some of their speed advantage in Game 4? I'm not saying they will. I do think they will be fresh. The oft-parroted theory that the Top 4 is wearing down is bull: Johnny Oduya and Cam Fowler were the two best defensemen in game 3. I know Fowler's a Duck, I just have to call out he had a really nice game.
When I say "speed advantage," the Hawks are at their best when they really dial up the pace. If they do, Anaheim will have to chase more, have less time to set up defensively. But to do that, the Hawks have to skate, and they have to win and protect the puck. The Ducks got to and won a lot of loose pucks in game 3.
I am not going to take a shot at Bryan Bickell here. I think he's giving this team all he has and believe me, although much also is being made of the Ducks' hit advanatge, Bickell is averaging about 6-7 a game and they do hurt. The problem with Bickell is, ikely due to some knee injuries over the last couple of years, he's lost a step (and a half) and he's just not a factor as a top 6 forward anymore.
The Hawks can still roll out two top lines that are better offensively than what the Ducks can—taking absolutely nothing from the Ducks outstanding top line of Perry, Maroon and Getzlaf. The time has come for Joel Quenneville to load those top two lines up and force Bruce Boudreau to beat it. Patrick Sharp is arguably the best scoring left wing on the Blackhawks, and he produces when he plays with Jonathan Toews. Quenneville needs to put him there, drop Brandon Saad to Patrick Kane's opposite flank, where he was brilliant in last year's WCF, and move Bickell down the lineup a bit. Add Sharp in to that mix and you also have two lines that can really skate and push the pace, where Bickell has been a bit of a boat anchor thus far.
There's also a lot of static out there about Trevor van Riemsdyk possibly being able to play at some point, or the lower line changes made in game 3—whether Kris Versteeg and Joakim Nordstrom should have replaced Teuvo Teravainen and Antoine Vermette.
OK, forget about van Riemsdyk for now. If the Hawks don't win tonight, their season will be over soon. Kyle Cumiskey played pretty well in Game 3, and if you believe that more speed and creativity off the break, more stretch passes, is the answer for Chicago, then Cumiskey is part of the solution on defense, not the problem.
I do believe Teravainen and Vermette were beginning to show some chemistry in Game 2, and creativity at high speed will be important tonight.
Jonathan Toews was a faceoff machine in Game 3: 21-6. But the team as a whole only won 51% of their draws. If they want to win tonight, being even better—with Vermette in the lineup—would help.
Those are my thoughts. I will enjoy yours on the message board.
JJ