The question on a lot of folks minds in the media has to do with Chicago’s defensive depth as they move to game two on Tuesday night. The third D pair for the Hawks has been an Achilles Heel for the team throughout these playoffs. It was taken advantage of by Nashville in round one (unfortunately for Nashville, they couldn’t take full advantage of it) and was hidden nicely in round two by Minnesota’s overall atrocious defense in the series sweep. Joel Quinneville has done a masterful job in coaching to cover this, but it was exposed yesterday.
Michal Rozsival broke his ankle in Game Four of the Wild series, taking him out of the remainder of the playoffs and pressing David Rundblad into service. The third pair for Chicago saw very little ice time in the Blackhawks’ 4-1 game one loss to Anaheim yesterday. Rundblad got 10:47 in ice time, veteran Kimmo Timonen saw even less, only logging 5:15. It is not like Rozsival was lighting it up anyway, but the depth is thin in Chi-town.
Look, I’m not saying that Chicago’s top four can’t handle the load, but… in a physical series… and make no mistake, this will be a physical series and it will take a toll. Duck’s forward Ryan Kesler was quoted postgame as saying “we’ve got to invest in them physically.… A quick check of WarOnIce.com shows that strategy… of the 44 registered hits from Anaheim in game one, the top four blueliners for the Hawks took eighteen of them, with Brent Seabrook taking eight. Wearing that group down physically is one issue, and that brings up the second. Wearing down can also lead to injury, and any kind of injury to Chicago’s top four will be devastating as the Blackhawks don’t have an even remotely ready replacement… an interesting irony (at least for observers in Nashville.)
You can’t lay all of the blame on the blueline, the Blackhawk power play went 0-fer and “average… Corey Crawford showed up again. The overwhelming majority of writers and media types have called this to be a long series, nothing I saw yesterday changed that in my mind… there were some disquieting things for both sides to chew on in practice today.
Game two is tomorrow night at Honda Center.
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Monday Random Notes
- Congratulations to Team USA on taking the bronze yesterday in the IIHF World Championship, smoking the host Czech Republic 3-0. Nice bounceback from Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Russians. Congrats to Team Canada for taking the gold, 6-1 over Russia.
- The Predators showed well at these Worlds… Pekka Rinne set a modern day shutout streak record and was named best goaltender of the tournament. Filip Forsberg had eight goals in eight games and was second in the tournament in goal scoring behind Tyler Seguin (who played two more games.) Jimmy Vesey posted 3 assists for Team USA, Seth Jones had a goal and 3 assists, Steve Moses had a goal and an assist.
- Winnipeg may have their goaltender as Connor Hellebuyck was outstanding throughout the tournament for Team USA. He may have saved his best for last in the third period yesterday, stopping 16 Czech shots to preserve the shutout and the medal.
- Yesterday’s bronze medal game was the end of an era, Jaromir Jagr announced his retirement from international play, after winning the MVP of the tournament.
- Vladimir Putin scored eight goals in an exhibition hockey game … insert joke about goaltender being sent to Siberia for stopping the ninth here…
- Mike Babcock continues to be a popular guy… add San Jose to the list of interested teams. A decision is expected this week.
- The Rangers kicked Tampa Bay all over the ice on Saturday… the Lightning were lucky to be in it at all.
- Great article from Teresa Walker for AP that was picked up by the New York Times… read it here Really nice to see Brandon Walker’s Elite Edge Hockey Showcase get some love…
- The Philadelphia Flyers have a new coach… and it’s not Mike Babcock. It’s longtime North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol. Interesting choice…
- The Boston Bruins have interviewed former Washington GM George McPhee… McPhee has also interviewed with the Maple Leafs… David Poile is already studying those two depth charts…
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