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The Blackhawks came back nicely yesterday from Saturday night’s shootout loss in Columbus, with a 4-0 win over Toronto at the UC.
Brad Richards was out with an upper body injury, replaced on the second line by Patrick Sharp who had 3 assists and went 4-3 on faceoffs. That’s some nice depth.
Antti Raanta had 31 saves—solid outing.
It was an inspired effort, driven, as many of the players themselves stated, by the untimely passing of equipment manager, Clint Reif.
That said, the Hawks are simply playing at a high level of late, Saturday night’s road “loss… notwithstanding. The lines and pairings feel balanced; the on-ice system is working.
And I’m not sure if, as some suggest, the Hawks need an enforcer type to mitigate shenanigans taken with their premier players—as some felt the Leafs got away with last night. I’m not sure they don’t either. But it does seem that between Andrew Shaw, Joakim Nordstrom and Dan Carcillo, they have enough sandpaper for now.
In the end, you take victories on the scoreboard over moral victories on the ice.
Next up, the Hawks Alumni Club, the Winnipeg Jets, led by Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Michal Frolik, comes in to the UC tomorrow night.
I’ll have a preview.
Finally . . .
I know you don’t read this blog for big philosophical insights on life and death.
But let me weigh in briefly on Clint Reif. As many have pointed out, 34 is an awfully young age to die. But, hey, age is relative. We all go eventually. To me, the real tragedy here is Reif had some young kids, young kids who will have a really tough Christmas and many years ahead without their father. So let’s please remember them and his widow above all else.
Thanks.
JJ