The Hawks continued their mini-three-game road trip yesterday against the Jets in Winnipeg, and despite taking the early lead off a beautiful goal from Bedard, his 11th of the year and he knows has the 2nd longest road point streak for players age 18 or younger, the Hawks just couldn’t seem to get anything going. The first period was a fairly close game, but after that, the Jets were able to overwhelm this young Hawks team. In the second period alone, the Jets were able to generate 24 shot attempts compared to the Hawks 13. While the third period saw the teams tie in shot attempts at 15 apiece, most of the Hawks attempts came after the Jets took the 3-1 lead that they wouldn’t give up. The Hawks have now let up three or more goals in 12 straight games, and with little to no offense coming from this team, that is going to make winning games hard. During that span, they have gone 3-9, scored 31 goals, and allowed 47. Its hard to get upset with the performance from this team because, going into the season, we knew this was more than likely going to be the outcome, but man, is it frustrating to watch. I will say that I did like the chemistry I saw from the new look first line; the addition of Anthony Beauvillier seemed to jolt a bit of new-found life with Bedard and Kurashev. He led the team in shot attempts with 8, scoring chances with 7, and high-danger chances with 4. They had a few good looks right from the get-go, and I am looking forward to this line playing together more once his visa issues are resolved.
The Hawks make their final stop on this trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, as they take on the Wild, who after an impressive season last year seem to be falling back down to earth this season as they sit 7th in the Central with a 7-10-4 record. Things have looked better as of late for this team, as they are currently riding a two-game winning streak and will be getting Ryan Hartman back in the lineup now that his two-game suspension has come to an end. The Wild are 9-1 in their last ten against the Hawks, so you know they are chomping at the bit. Get at this team and keep trending in the right direction.
As of writing, there has been no word on any line-up changes, so I am going to go and assume it's going to be the same as yesterday's game, with the only changes being Beauvillier (visa) coming out, Reese Johnson back in, and Mrazek in net.
That’s going to be it from me; puck drop is at 1 p.m. central time, and as always, let's go Hawks.
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