Wednesday night, the Hawks dropped their matchup against the Flyers 3-1. Arvid Soderblom, who to say has struggled this season would be a bit of an understatement, played decently in this one. The first goal was in the bad luck category as it was redirected by Vlasic through traffic; the second was an unbelievable shot from Konecny; and the third goal is an example of how he needs to work on rebound control. He finished this one with a .909 save percentage and has not been able to record a win since November 24th when he beat the Leafs for the second time this season. While things look bad for him on the win/loss point of few, he has been playing a bit better, and you also have to take into account that most of his losses have been 1 or 2 goal games. You have to wonder if we are going to see Jaxson Stauber get a few starts in the NHL or even Drew Commesso make his NHL debut. Considering this team is in just making it to the end of the season mode, I think the best play is, unless there is an injury, to keep things the way they are. This team isn’t in a hurry to win, and this is a good character test for Soderblom to see if he can be factored into the team's future.
The Hawks welcome the Winnipeg Jets to the UC for their fourth and final matchup of the season. The previous three matchups have been close contests, as the Jets picked up 3-1 and 2-1 victories and the Hawks picked up a 2-1 overtime victory in a game that was all Bedard and Mrazek. The Jets are comfortably in the third playoff spot, 11 points ahead of the Blues. Despite playing okay hockey, going 4-5-1 in their last 10 games, they remain in the hunt for the Central Division title as they are just 3 points behind the Stars and have 4 games in hand. I feel like I say this a lot, but this is a game the Jets can’t afford to lose as they make their playoff push.
I am typing this up early in the morning as I am about to hit the road for a weekend trip, so I do not have projected line-ups for the Hawks. Its safe to assume Petr Mrazek will get the start in net and continue his stellar season. Once again, this one will be about what Connor Bedard can do. He was held pointless for the first time since his return from the broken jaw on Wednesday but showed a lot more confidence, leading the rush into the zone multiple times and getting creative, trying to create scoring chances. The last time he played the Jets, it was his quote coming out party, so it will be fun to see how he follows it up.
That’s going to be it from me, puck drop is set for 7:30pm central time. As always, Lets Go Hawks!
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