For Hawk fans, there were a lot of good things to take away from last night’s 5-1 victory over the Flames—no power play goals against, domination in the faceoff dot, and goals from three lines, including a beauty from the Hawks’ best rookie forward thus far, Tyler Motte.
One negative that’s been there all season: Chicago was upside down in the shots column, including 13 shots against in a first period where Corey Crawford, yet again, carried the team, avoiding a deficit that might have changed the tone of the whole game.
Crawford and Scott Darling have both been better than the team in front of them much of the season thus far. But Crawford in particular has been fantastic the last two games, allowing one goal in 120 minutes.
As a result, the Hawks sit at 6-3-1 after 10 games. A good result, and a remarkable one in light of offseason roster changes and how bad the penalty kill has been.
Are the Hawks a better team than they were last year? A 10-game comparison is irrelevant due to different competition and other circumstances, and the only metrics that really matter are where the team finishes the regular season, and then later, the playoffs.
Chicago’ next game, tomorrow, is against the young, fast, talented Colorado Avalanche.
After that, the Hawks face Dallas in back to back contests, a team they struggled against all year last season. And these games have divisional and “likely playoff foe… subtext.
Teams like Dallas and St. Louis are the ones a good team, a serious “contender,… needs to succeed against, or at least be on par with. Chicago was not at the same level as those teams last year.
So another bit of good news is the Hawks are probably playing their best hockey yet this year at a good time—assuming things continue to index to the positive versus Colorado.
I’ll have a preview tomorrow.
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