Life without Corey Crawford begins tonight vs. the Dallas Stars.
The Hawks MVP was surprisingly put on the IR the day after the 4-3 OT loss on Thursday. He played the entire game but was laboring a bit at times during the game. Overall, it did not appear to affect his performance, as he was not the reason for the outcome.
Update: Quenneville said it's a nagging LBI that has been "flaring up" from time to time. He will be out at least 3 games. They want #50 to rest and heal up for good reason too, they'll be needing him to regain form for the rest of the season.
In a corresponding move, Stan called upon J.F. Berube to be the Hawks backup netminder for the foreseeable future.
There are a lot of mixed reviews on Berube out there. He's 26-years old and has 21 NHL games to his name. A former 4th round pick of the LA Kings, he found himself in a tough situation with the Islanders last couple years.
According to the Quebec native, he felt like a "prisoner" on Long Island, as he was a part of the 3-headed monster with goalie pads for the entire 2016-17 season. It was him, Thomas Greiss and Jaro Halak that split duty between the pipes. Berube would have preferred to be playing in the AHL as it would have offered him a chance to work on his trade in game action, but Garth Snow didn't want to send him down in fear of losing the young tender on the waiver wire.
He ended up playing 14 games posting a 3.43 GAA and .889 SV% last year for the NYI, which leaves a lot to be desired.
He signed a 2-year contract with the Hawks in hopes to steal a backup role but ultimately lost out to Anton Forsberg. He did not play very well in pre-season, but went down to Rockford and has performed admirably with a 6-6, 2.54 GAA, .913 SV% and 2 shutouts.
I thought at the time that Stan Bowman inking J.F. Berube was a very underrated offseason move to bolster the depth in net.
I mean, think about who we were looking at last year when Crawford went down? It was none other than Lars Johansson, who the coaching staff wasn't comfortable playing, even in spot duty, in Crawford's absence.
I could be wrong about Berube. Maybe he is as terrible as some think. However, let's hope not as I would suspect Crawford will be out 2-3 weeks.
Enough about the 3rd string goalie; the real man of the day/upcoming week(s) is Mr. Anton Forsberg.
As the Hawks sit 9th in the conference, the pressure is on to rack up some wins still, even in the absence of Corey. They will be relying on 25-year old Anton Forsberg to carry the load.
Forsberg has seen busy work weeks in recent years playing 51, 41 and 30 games for the Blue Jackets affiliate in the last 3 years respectively.
He's been working very closely with Waite and Crawford to hone his game. He has been pleasantly surprised as to how much he's been able to learn from Crawford in a short period of time. Corey is a true student of the game, so even though he's out, you can bet that he will be working very closely with Anton from afar with his game.
Tonight, the Hawks must come out tonight and play like they did at the start of the 3rd period vs. Dallas. They had a persistent forecheck and a 5-man unit that was moving in sync.
The team defence has to give Forsberg a shot at success and tighten up their overall game. They've been better as of late but weren't particularly strong vs. the Stars on Thursday.
It was an optional skate this morning, so unsure as to whether Q will be switching up the lines at all. I wouldn't be surprised if he left them as is.
I'll update on Twitter (@JustingLoweHB) any other thoughts leading up to and during the game.
See ya out there.
JL
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Who we got tonight: Dallas Stars… again.
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ICYMI:
* Rockford took a 4-3 OT win last night vs. the Chicago Wolves. Hinostroza had some redemption as he scored the winning goal. He had a terrible giveaway that caused a Wolves goal earlier in the game.
* Ironically enough, the IceHogs take on the Texas Stars tonight. Can we go 2/2 tonight with an old-fashioned NHL/AHL sweep? I'll keep you updated on the RFD game as well.
* Brandon Davidson was placed on waivers today by Montreal. The dman had a lot of promise when in Edmonton but has not fit into Montreal's plans since landing there last year. The Hawks had some interest in him a few years ago, but with a crowded defence crew, Chicago would have to make a move to find the room or value him over Jordan Oesterle.
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