The caption for this tweet is aptly named:
"This. Is. Not. A. Drill"
The season opener was not a drill but it sure seemed like the Blackhawks were not ready to play and were in need of a lot more drills to get close to ready. Even during Joel Quenneville's latter years as head coach, a common issue was sloppy, uninspiring play to start games.
Right now, the prevalent analysis for Game 1's 4-2 loss to the Avalanche was a deadly 10-minute time span and generally ugly 1st period. That analysis is accurate in that the Hawks dug themselves in a huge hole early that set the tone. However, was that the only problem?
During my sophomore year of high school, the baseball team I played on was horrid and we tended to have one inning each game where the other team scorched us going through the batting order once if not twice. As our head coach would often exclaim: "Here comes that inning!"
While he was correct that a total meltdown in a single inning frequently became the blemish that marked every game and the entire season, it really masked a larger problem of just not being a good team that lacked structure, discipline, and execution of fundamentals.
That's what I see with the Hawks after one game and during a substantial swath of the preseason. No structure, discipline, or execution of fundamentals especially on defense. Whether poor play is within a 10-minute span or spread throughout the game, losses will pile up.
Another perspective to take is another baseball one that I heard on a radio broadcast a few years ago. Every MLB team will win 60 games and lose 60 games. It's what each team does with those other 40+ games that will largely determine their fate for the season.
So don't panic yet with the outcome of one game for the Hawks, right?
Perhaps.
The Hawks really are not done downloading completely functional software. The hardware seems to be in place with the adds of the Jones brothers, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jake McCabe, Tyler Johnson, and Jujhar Khaira, the return of Jonathan Toews, and a cohort of budding youth.
However, the software by which this hardware is running seems to be faulty or needs some patches to address shortcomings. Is current head coach Jeremy Colliton and crew the IT staff to fix things? Or can the players run their own diagnostics en route to running properly?
Part of me wants to heed that phrase, "Pardon our dust." Can we trust this team to make the necessary changes plus just being ready for war at the opening faceoff? Or is this dust a harbinger for a larger sandstorm that will bring on a disaster of a season?
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Game Summary
Starting Lineup
DeBrincat - Johnson - Kane
Kubalik - Toews - Kurashev
Borgstrom - Dach - Hagel
Khaira - Entwistle - Carpenter
McCabe - Murphy
de Haan - Jones
Stillman - Mitchell
Fleury
Lankinen
Scratches:
Gaudette, Strome, Gustafsson
Scoring Recap
1st Goal: Johnson (Burakovsky, Nichushkin) 0-1
2nd Goal: Landeskog (Kadri, Johnson) 0-2
3rd Goal: Byram (Landeskog) 0-3
4th Goal: Kubalik (Mitchell, Borgstrom) 1-3 PP
5th Goal: Kadri (Byram, Rantanen) 1-4
6th Goal: Murphy (unassisted) 2-4
SOG For/Against: 34/36
PP: 1-for-3
PK: 4-for-4
Faceoffs Won: 56%
Thoughts & Notes
* Good to see the Hawks won a majority of the faceoffs (56%) to continue that trend from the preseason.
* Special teams were strong out of the gate going 1-for-3 on the PP and 4-for-4 on the PK.
* Kirby Dach played a good game trying to make things happen but just was not able to capitalize on his chances.
* While I wouldn't necessarily tinker with the forward lines just yet, I would rather have Seth Jones paired with McCabe.
* Then have Connor Murphy with Riley Stillman together as a shutdown unit.
* The 3rd pair would be Calvin de Haan with Ian Mitchell or Erik Gustafsson playing sheltered minutes and the lowest QOC.
Highlights
Goal by Dominik Kubalik
Goal by Connor Murphy
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Pardon My Dust
Please excuse me as I continue to tinker with a blogging format that is sustainable for the course of a full 82-game season. I do like game recaps but want to avoid regurgitating what you can already read on countless NHL news sites that also provide excellent content.
I also was unable to view the game live and actually did not start watching until 11pm PDT. I passed out after the game ended, hence, this blog is out much later than I typically would crank one out. Yet it helped to write with a clearer head after such a frustrating loss.
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See you on the boards!
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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