A couple of things jumped out at me from last night's 4-0 Blackhawk loss in Dallas.
Duncan Keith had a horrible game. And by the law of averages, that won't happen much.
Corey Crawford was not very good, on at least 2 of Dallas' 4 goals. And when Crawford is less than stellar, the Blackhawks' deficiencies become fairly plain to see.
It's no time to panic. The Stanley Cup isn't decided by one game in December. Nor is it decided by having the more points than some of your rivals in December (when other teams have games in hand).
The fact is, this is not as good a team as the one that won the Cup last year, in 2013 and in 2010. It's just not. How good it is remains to be seen. And whether it can be tweaked and ratcheted up to that level is the challenge facing the front office.
And how good are the Dallas Stars? Good. Very good. A Stanley Cup team? I don't think so honestly—without a move or two of their own.
There is a way to beat them and that is pinning them in their end, outworking them and putting a lot of pressure on a, meh, ok defense. That is what the Hawks did for much of the first two periods; but credit the Stars, they blocked a ton of shots. It was a big game—they showed up as though it was. And they got the first break—Crawford failing to seal a post—and in a tight game against a good team (also a bit undermanned, without one of their best forwards), the Blackhawks had an uphill battle from there. The Stars didn't let up. There you go.
More tests lurk in the near term, including a couple of games against another team that has exposed the Hawks' weaknesses this year: Nashville.
You're going to lose games like these on the toad against a good team. That said, in my opinion, the Blackhawks missed Marian Hossa's game in the offensive zone and maybe overall need more size/speed combination at forward and another legitimate veteran defenseman.
Positives? Yep, the fourth line looked really good, and a lot of that had to do with Philip Danault who is clearly ready for full time duty in the NHL. But, before we get too ahead of ourselves, bear in mind Danault had problems in the faceoff dot when he came up last year and he has pretty much been destroyed on draws the last couple of games, including last night where he went 3-7. Possession matters—faceoffs matter.
Regardless, you hope to have more to talk about the day after playing one of your top Conference rivals than how well your fourth line played.
I'll be a little less active with blogs the next few days. Everyone have a safe holiday.
JJ