As I have maintained in the past, you’re never really as good as you play in your best game, nor as bad as you play in your worst.
The Blackhawks lost to the Kings last night on home ice 5-0. It was bad. But not as bad as it looked.
More disconcerting is that they’ve gone 0-2-1 in the last three games against legitimate Western Conference playoff teams. And they’ve looked worse in each successive game.
One thing killing the Hawks right now is Corey Crawford has hit the wall. He always does this—that stretch f games where he loses technique and confidence. Could be he’s hurt, some wondered if he might’ve sustained a ding in the St. Louis game last week.
Regardless, it’s time for Crawford to sit a couple of games, work with Jimmy Waite, and Scott Darling could use the work anyway.
If Crawford is this team’s biggest problem come playoff time, that might be a very good thing. Because barring injury, Crawford can carry this team most of the time. As he’s done most of the last two seasons.
But there are other issues.
Whoever decided late last month that it was “time… for Teuvo Teravainen to move to center, may have made a mistake. Last night, versus a big physical team and top centermen, Teravainen was seriously outmatched, and he also began to revert to his early season habit of pulling up to avoid contact and losing pucks and opportunities. It would be inaccurate to pin the loss on Teravainen, but the Kings’ first goal really goes on him. It was a bad way to start the game. And hey, when your own team doesn’t score, that’s the game-winning goal to boot.
Andrew Shaw might be your 3C in a few weeks—or sooner. Because otherwise, you can probably expect more of the same versus most playoff teams, especially the Kings and the Ducks.
Joel Quenneville needs to make some decisions on his defense and stick with them. Last night, at some point, he flopped Niklas Hjalmarsson and Trevor van Riemsdyk back to their natural sides—which might be a great idea, probably is—but he needs to leave them there. Erik Gustafsson and Christian Ehrhoff are still getting acclimated. This group needs familiarity and continuity.
Maybe Ehrhoff is sitting occasionally to get the press box view of what the Hawks try to do, or maybe he’s dinged, or maybe he’s already in the doghouse. I personally have not seen a lot that says to me he is not worth TOI. To the contrary, at times, he looks pretty good. But who knows what Q’s thinking.
How much does this team miss Marcus Kruger?
Artem Anisimov, Kruger’s replacement on the penalty kill, was 32% in the dot last night. Shaw was 42%. Teravainen, at least, was 47%. And Teravainen is probably getting some 5-on-5 defensive assignments that would normally go to Kruger.
That’s just what I see. The Hawks need to tighten it up. I’ll have a Flyers Preview tomorrow.
JJ
FOB (good peeps, good reads)
Chris Block Al Cimaglia http://www.thethirdmanin.com
Frank Nova http://www.hockeenight.com
Greg Boysen http://www.letsgohawks.net
Puckin’ Hostile Crew http://www.puckinhostile.com