The Blackhawks dropped a point in overtime last night in Calgary, after basically getting bailed out by their goalie for the second straight game in Alberta. The Hawks were widely outshot (again), very uncharacteristic for a "puck possession" team against two of the worst possession teams in the league.
Message boards are full of re-configured lines and pairings and trade ideas. But the fact is, the Hawks have to dance right now with what's on their roster—or on the ice. Marko Dano (sick) and Teuvo Teravainen, two guys no one is really sure are part of the short-term "solution" regardless, were out last night, forcing Andrew Desjardins and Viktor Tikhonov back into the lineup.
Guys like Trevor Daley, Brandon Mashinter, Markus Kruger, and even Marian Hossa are becoming the "scapegoats," for those looking for someone to blame. But the larger problem remains: too many new faces, and some chemistry problems on 3 of the 4 forward lines. To my eye, teams are defending the Hawks by shutting down "the house," the area around and in front of the net, and forcing the Hawks to the perimeter—where a lot of their shots are just getting blocked.
And also to my eye, the Hawks really had no jump last night from the opening horn to Brent Seabrook getting overwhelmed by Johnny Gaudreau for the game winner in OT.
The coaching staff needs to adjust or the front office needs to adjust (the roster). But hey, it's not the end of the world either, the Hawks have taken points in their last four games, and 3 of 4 available on this road trip. But, the warning signs are there.
Here is the probable lineup for Vancouver tonight (9PM Central):
Sedin Sedin Hansen Higgins McCann Grenier Burrows Horvat Virtanen Baertschi Cracknell Dorsett
Edler Tanev Hamhuis Sbisa Hutton Bartkowski
Miller
I'll recap tomorrow.
JJ