Post-Game Talk: 3/9/14: Hawks beat Sabres 2-1

[IU Hawks fan]

I wish he was on the second D pairing. If he and Hammer could form some chemistry, it would be a beautiful pair.

I think down the road that's what they want, but you can't touch Oduya-Hammer right now.

 

[SLarmer28*]

Patrick Sharp amazes me. The guy looks like he's 25 yrs old, not 31. Was flying tonight.

Compared to Handzus, everyone looks like they are flying.

 

[poes law]

If the cap next year is $68M like some are speculating, it'd be nice to see Leddy spend some time paired up with Hjalmarsson to see if trading Oduya would be an option this off-season or if the growing pains would be too great. Bickell, Versteeg, Oduya, and Roszival are the most expendable on the roster that would offer any sort of cap relief. 23 and 32 won't bring much cap relief when you consider that anyone moved needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, other teams have little incentive to take 29's contract without sending money back, leaving 27 as one of the best trade options to become cap compliant. Hopefully, the cap ends up being closer to the original projection rather than the most recent one and a trade won't be necessary.

 

[here come the]

Patrick Sharp amazes me. The guy looks like he's 25 yrs old, not 31. Was flying tonight.

Been struggling to score lately, hopefully he finds it again. Tonight was one of his better games in a while.

 

[here come the]

If the cap next year is $68M like some are speculating, it'd be nice to see Leddy spend some time paired up with Hjalmarsson to see if trading Oduya would be an option this off-season or if the growing pains would be too great. Bickell, Versteeg, Oduya, and Roszival are the most expendable on the roster that would offer any sort of cap relief. 23 and 32 won't bring much cap relief when you consider that anyone moved needs to be replaced. Meanwhile, other teams have little incentive to take 29's contract without sending money back, leaving 27 as one of the best trade options to become cap compliant. Hopefully, the cap ends up being closer to the original projection rather than the most recent one and a trade won't be necessary.

Ideally they could, but I think Q, rightfully, sees the rest of the season as very important. Now's not the time to experiment when the division is still up for grabs.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Obviously Hammer is a big part of it. I never said he wasn't. But Oduya helps shut down top lines and plays on the PK. He's more reliable defensively at this point, and there's a reason he plays more than Leddy. He was also an Olympian on a deep Swedish team, and people undersell his chemistry with Hammer and value to this team.

Leddy will get his chance, and I hope he's a Hawk for a long time, but Oduya should remain the 4 for now.

You're not putting enough worth into Oduya.

I've never argued against anything you've said. At this point in the season, messing with a dynamite second pairing that plays the toughest minutes on the team that has proven itself in the playoffs is foolish. I've got plenty of worth for Oduya. His ability to play with Hammer and eat the tough minutes they do is a huge reason why Keith is the Norris front runner despite being on pace for a whopping five goals.

That said, he's very much a passenger on the best second pairing in hockey, and somebody is going to pay too much for an old #4-5 guy when his contract is up. Which should happen after next season, assuming we're able to keep him for the three-peat run

 

[clydesdale line]

Didn't realize that was Kane's first even strength goal this season with Handzus as his center. Mind boggling to think about.

 

[Honey Bear]

Another solid win. Although the Hawks went back to sleep after Kane's early goal, they ended up winning in regulation.

Need to get a big streak going. Huge game on Wednesday against the Avs that we have to win. The Avs had had our number all season long, it's time to punch them in their throat and win one outright.

The fact that we still have 2 games against St. Louis helps also. No games left vs. Anaheim though so they'll need some help from others if they want to challenge for that #1 seed. If the Hawks play motivated for the rest of the regular season, it will be an interesting race for sure. This should be the time when a team with championship pedigree starts to get it together right before the playoffs.

 

[Cullksinikers]

Didn't realize that was Kane's first even strength goal this season with Handzus as his center. Mind boggling to think about.

Number 26 had a big role on that goal, too.

 

[hawksfan50]

Well we shoulda won this game 7 or 8 to 1 considering all the scoring chances we had. ..about a dozen of them grade A level chances.. Again it seems like we have been facing too many goalies who choose a game against us to pretend they are a wall...or the Hockey gods have ordered that unless we generate 75 shots we are not getting any blowout games except on rare occasions such that if we get only 35-40 shots all we deserve is a 2 goal production..this too often repeating script over the last 10 games or so is getting annoying..We simply should be converting more grade A chances..

Funny..Enroth was quoted as saying he thought the Hawks did not want to play this game...I guess he thinks over a dozen grade A scoring chances is indicative of not really wanting to play hard enough?
Bottom line..it was another FAIL in conversion of numerous grade A scoring chances...resulting in a closer game than it ought to have been.
Let us single out the biggest FAIL guy of the night...ironically..#88...who some would say broke out of his slump with that spectacular highlight goal...looked like he started back on a mission and would get a huge multi-points night..but alas. .one point only and out..sure he generated 4 shots on goal and converting the first of them into a goal well that is 25% shooting..nothing to complain about right?
EXCEPT he FAILED on a break-away,and he FAILED.on that slow motion dangle to the high dot when he had Nroth down and the Buffalo defense not in blocking position..and he FAILS to get the shot on net. .so in effect it did not even count as a shot on that one..so he only converts one of 3 grade A chances..hardly very starry..because we all know plenty of other NHL starbplayets who would have converted those 2 big FAILS onto successful goals..Kane shoulda had a hat-trick to really "star"..I do not credit the one goal as starry enough given those 2 miserable fails..To top it off his NET contribution for the night was ONLY EVEN. .because he FAILED to get back and check his man on the lone Buffalo goal.
So he scores a goal but hurts us on the Buffalo goal..the Lord give and take away..Hardly starry.Next time you see real stars with multi-goal and multi-point games because they were on that might and compare Kane's production and effort when supposedly he was on last night...I think you cam understand my reluctance to consider this a year's performance from him..I saw more FAIL than Success. WE are paying for stardom..do you not expect more than this from a star in an allegedly "on" game where he shows up to play? Sorry..still too much a fail for me from him.

 

[theaub]

Turris would've scored like seven last night

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

If you have a problem with what Kane brought last night, I don't know what you're expecting.

 

[TorMenT]

If you have a problem with what Kane brought last night, I don't know what you're expecting.

He expects multi-point nights game in and game out, as well as never flubbing a scoring chance. So at minimum a 164 point season with no scoring chance opportunities blown. Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I once scored a hat trick with Scott back in NHL 12, I believe. I have no clue why so many people seem to think that such a dynamic, high powered offensive juggernaut isn't good enough to be the in NHL.

 

[wsoxfan1214]

Well we shoulda won this game 7 or 8 to 1 considering all the scoring chances we had. ..about a dozen of them grade A level chances.. Again it seems like we have been facing too many goalies who choose a game against us to pretend they are a wall...or the Hockey gods have ordered that unless we generate 75 shots we are not getting any blowout games except on rare occasions such that if we get only 35-40 shots all we deserve is a 2 goal production..this too often repeating script over the last 10 games or so is getting annoying..We simply should be converting more grade A chances..

Funny..Enroth was quoted as saying he thought the Hawks did not want to play this game...I guess he thinks over a dozen grade A scoring chances is indicative of not really wanting to play hard enough?
Bottom line..it was another FAIL in conversion of numerous grade A scoring chances...resulting in a closer game than it ought to have been.
Let us single out the biggest FAIL guy of the night...ironically..#88...who some would say broke out of his slump with that spectacular highlight goal...looked like he started back on a mission and would get a huge multi-points night..but alas. .one point only and out..sure he generated 4 shots on goal and converting the first of them into a goal well that is 25% shooting..nothing to complain about right?
EXCEPT he FAILED on a break-away,and he FAILED.on that slow motion dangle to the high dot when he had Nroth down and the Buffalo defense not in blocking position..and he FAILS to get the shot on net. .so in effect it did not even count as a shot on that one..so he only converts one of 3 grade A chances..hardly very starry..because we all know plenty of other NHL starbplayets who would have converted those 2 big FAILS onto successful goals..Kane shoulda had a hat-trick to really "star"..I do not credit the one goal as starry enough given those 2 miserable fails..To top it off his NET contribution for the night was ONLY EVEN. .because he FAILED to get back and check his man on the lone Buffalo goal.
So he scores a goal but hurts us on the Buffalo goal..the Lord give and take away..Hardly starry.Next time you see real stars with multi-goal and multi-point games because they were on that might and compare Kane's production and effort when supposedly he was on last night...I think you cam understand my reluctance to consider this a year's performance from him..I saw more FAIL than Success. WE are paying for stardom..do you not expect more than this from a star in an allegedly "on" game where he shows up to play? Sorry..still too much a fail for me from him.

Kane could score 20 goals in one game and you'd complain about him for some reason. Like someone said above, I'm not sure what else youre expecting.

 

[ReillyO]

If he's drawing iron, he's beating the goalie. Remember how many posts Sharpy hit last season, and then lead the playoffs in goals?

 

[Hawkaholic]

If he's drawing iron, he's beating the goalie.

A goalie would disagree.

 

[Blue Liner]

A goalie would disagree.

Yeah that's not an exact science there. There are times the goalie is beat but there are also times where the angle is cut down to the point that hitting the post is the only option if you happen to miss his body at all with the shot.

 

[Bubba88]

I still love how bad Ehrhoff looks on that Kane goal