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Blackhawks still consistently inconsistent |
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The Blackhawks once again had a stinker of a game when they took on the LA Kings on Saturday night.
But, Tyler, they got a point. Sure, but they also gave up 49 shots.
Here is a great (and terrifying) visual courtesy of Charlie Roumeliotis:
Even though the end result was an OT loss, which secured a point for Chicago, this domination of the play by the Kings was as bad as the Nashville game.
The above heat map and breakdown has been a consistent feature of this team and needed to get better.
The Hawks came into Anaheim looking for better team results and they got it.
The entire game was not pretty for the Blackhawks but they came out with 2 points.
It actually looked like CHI was going to run away with this one after getting up 2-0, however, as the game went on, Anaheim had stretches where they dominated the play.
A win is a win though and there were some positives from last night's game.
The top 6 is finally looking like a real top 6. It definitely helps that Jonathan Toews is looking more and more like himself (although he had a rough 3rd period last night). He, along with Saad and Nylander is a line that could see great success if Colliton keeps them together.
While I have been critical of the Nylander for Jokiharju swap, it had nothing to do with Nylander. I was more upset about why the Hawks would move on from a promising young, RHD in Jokiharju.
However, don't look now, Nylander is 3rd in the Blackhawks in scoring with 7 points in 13 games.
The Saad-Toews-Nylander trio had a solid 54.17% Corsi and looked very comfortable together.
It was nice to finally see DeBrincat-Strome-Kane reunited from the drop of the puck as well. These guys looked like they were dying to play together.
I would still like to see a little more from Kane though as we really haven't seen him take over a game like we all know he can.
On the backend, the D were much, much better at breaking the puck out. And hey, having Gustafsson and Boqvist both in the lineup wasn't the end of the world.
Congrats to Adam Boqvist for scoring his first NHL goal. Let's take a look:
What a "veteran" move by 18-year old Kirby Dach as he collected the puck after that goal.
Boqvist was moving and grooving in the offensive zone, which helped create a lot of opportunities. I was also critical that he was ready for the NHL - and I still am – however, he's looking better than I anticipated and I believe he'll be in the lineup for the foreseeable future.
The Hawks are also seeing an improvement on their PP after switching up the units. Boqvist goal was technically even strength, but it was just seconds after the Ducks' penalty had expired.
The PK gave up one last night, but that was the first short-handed goal in 5 games that the Blackhawks had given up. They look a lot better and have had serious help from Lehner and Crawford at times.
Speaking of Lehner and Crawford, these guys will continue to keep the Hawks in games – or at least will need to if CHI has any chance of winning – with the way the Hawks "system" is set up; you know the one that allows 50 shots a game and rarely has the puck.
It's not getting any easier for this team and while there are some positives above, they need to be much better overall. They need to find their identity and then hone in to consistently play a winning brand of hockey.
The Hawks play San Jose tomorrow night and then head home to host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. Then a back-to-back on the week with a quick jaunt over to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Saturday night and then back home to take on the Leafs on Sunday.
Let's switch gears to the Rockford IceHogs, they had a couple of come-from-behind wins this weekend.
Matthew Highmore and the IceHogs had 3rd period comeback on Saturday night where they came back from 2-0 in the final frame.
Then, on Sunday night, it was the Dylan show. Dylan Sikura had a hat trick in the 3rd period (within a 5:39 period) to help the IceHogs cruise to a 7-4 victory.
Here are the highlights:
The IceHogs are heating up and hopefully, the Hawks can also string a few wins together.
If not, maybe call up Dylan Sikura to show them how to score (… funny joke eh, considering he had 0 goals in 33 games). But seriously, Sikura might be getting a call up sooner than later.
That's it for me.
See ya out there!
TC
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Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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