Quick blog from sorta sunny Florida.
The Hawks went out and took care of business last night in Calgary. It was something they needed to do in light of their recent struggles. It wasn't a tour de force—aside from the performance of first star Scott Darling—but something to build on overall.
Marcus Kruger returned last night and so far so good. Kruger went 2-2 in the dot, and helped kill off the lone Hawk penalty, allowing Jonathan Toews a night off of that special team.
At 3-5-2 over their last ten games,the Hawks are just two points ahead of Nashville (7-2-1) for third place. This 4-game road trip therefore, takes on huge significance as far as playoff seeding and psychology.
The hard reality is, playoff position won't matter if Chicago doesn't play better before the playoffs than they have of late. Anyone thinking the "hangdog" cloud over this team will just magically disappear after plummeting to wildcard status, will likely be disappointed.
So last night's win was an important, albeit small step, toward getting things turned around.If there's a lingering concern it's that the Hawks were again outshot. Viktor Svedberg got a chance to show himself ready for playoff duty, as the Hawks continue to search for the right combinations on the blueline. So far, the results are less than satisfactory.
The tests continue tonight in Vancouver. 7PM Central, 5 Pacific. I would expect Michael Leighton to get the nod in net tonight. The game is on Rogers in Canada and WGN in the US.
I'll recap 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
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