Post-Game Talk: Game 32: Avalanche 3-0 BLACKHAWKS | Blah blah blah...We got Varlamov'd

[BK]

I don't really have exact examples.
Just from watching him. I wish I could be more specific, but it is more of a feeling than a fact.

He wasn't great at the beginning of the season, and keeps getting better everytime I watch him.
So I think him getting first line minutes for at least a few more months is better for him

OK. Thanks.

Would he be better served playing 12-15 here for the rest of the season or 22-25 in Rockford then up for the playoffs?

I think his skill set could really help the team as a PMD.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Ok but why? I am not questioning either of you but I am just looking understand what he is still missing.

A lack of experience more than anything. I haven't seen much of him recently, but small things like positioning or board battles could be better (which is why the AHL is needed).

He also has difficulty when opposing players pivot, though I don't expect that to ever be fixed. That typically happens with a stocky dman with short arms.

 

[BK]

A lack of experience more than anything. I haven't seen much of him recently, but small things like positioning or board battles could be better (which is why the AHL is needed).

He also has difficulty when opposing players pivot, though I don't expect that to ever be fixed. That typically happens with a stocky dman with short arms.

Being able to defend the bolded part well is one of the things that only top defenders can do. It is actually pretty to watch Keith defend. Lots of skill and agility.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Being able to defend the bolded part well is one of the things that only top defenders can do. It is actually pretty to watch Keith defend. Lots of skill and agility.

Yeah, I agree that guys like Keith handle the situation well. However, I don't expect Pokka to ever handle it as well as a guy like Hammer or Seabs. It's one of the few real negatives to Pokka's skillset.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

A lack of experience more than anything. I haven't seen much of him recently, but small things like positioning or board battles could be better (which is why the AHL is needed).

He also has difficulty when opposing players pivot, though I don't expect that to ever be fixed. That typically happens with a stocky dman with short arms.

Last game I went to, a player pivoted on him while RKFD was killing a penalty
He went down on all 4's and awkwardly swatted the puck away and out of the zone.

It was kind of awesome. I remember saying "Well... thats one way to do it"

So, he is progressing, but needs to be playing top minutes down there rather than sheltered minutes with possible benchings here.

 

[CallMeShaft]

Last game I went to, a player pivoted on him while RKFD was killing a penalty
He went down on all 4's and awkwardly swatted the puck away and out of the zone.

It was kind of awesome. I remember saying "Well... thats one way to do it"

So, he is progressing, but needs to be playing top minutes down there rather than sheltered minutes with possible benchings here.

For some reason I don't think swatting the puck away on all fours will work in the NHL, but I agree, at least he's willing to put forth the effort to clear the puck.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

For some reason I don't think swatting the puck away on all fours will work in the NHL, but I agree, at least he's willing to put forth the effort to clear the puck.

It definitely wouldn't.
But it was nifty

 

[JustABlackhawksFan]

Every team has games like this. Of course it had to be against Colorado, but whatever. The Blackhawks have been playing a lot of games lately. They seemed to pretty clearly be exhausted.

 

[RFIP]

So many garbage efforts this year, might be the worst Hawks team since 07-08.

The thing I notice is they seem to rarely have the puck anymore unless 88 & 72 are doing their thing. Other than that they spend most nights chasing the biscuit and these faster teams like the Ave's make the hawks look slow.

Hope there is another gear come spring.

 

[Backyard Hockey]

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Totally wrong. He was responsible for the 2nd AVs goal. The AV player beat him to the puck that should been an icing on the AVs. Scuds is just too too so slow. In the 3rd period, he was perfect because he hardly played. This is from someone who just loved watching this bum screw up the pens. LOL Hawk fans with your new toy.

The Avs are arguably the fastest team in the NHL and McKinnon and Duchene might be the two fastest skaters in the league. I'm not going to fault a guy getting beat by speed. That happens to every team in he league every night.

I'm more concerned about terrible d zone exits that lead to extended offensive pressure by the opponent. 57 had a few early and 32 had a number of them. I don't recall seeing an errant pass by Scuderi

 

[Backyard Hockey]

Lots of discussion about the D here and rightly so. As we've said, I think this was just a bad match up. Hawks team coming off of what, 6 games in 9 days or something crazy and a very fast team

Lost in this is that the highest paid player in the NHL is once again contributing nothing. If he was, that's probably the difference in at least another 4-5 wins. Not to mention his linemate just can't seem to convert a shot.

 

[Hawkaholic]

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Totally wrong. He was responsible for the 2nd AVs goal. The AV player beat him to the puck that should been an icing on the AVs.

Far from the truth. Yes, he got beat to the icing, he had to turn while the Av player was going full steam already. Not many Dmen would have got there first. But that goal is almost entirely on Bickell, if you had any knowledge of hockey whatsoever, you would have noticed that he didn't pick up his man (the Dman that scored).

 

[Salvaged Ship]

Scuderi was not an issue but people here need to moan about him to prove the earth is flat. The problem is we scored zero goals, doesn't take rocket science to figure out you can't win if you don't score. Considering the situation of Scuderi getting traded less than 24 hours earlier then he rushes here and is thrown in the line up he didn't look too bad. Better then Runblad for sure.

 

[hawksfan50]

Well we lost to the Avs and Varlamov again...so it is hard to blame it on the composition and current playing well or not of any of our players since prior teams and when Toews and Hossa were producing in those years also failed again them and bug Varlamov..but it is fair to say that in some of those other kisses we dominated in some games and Varlamov as a wall to a barrage won games for them ...in this game basically their #1 line was terrific and starry giving us fits and them production...But our top 2 lines were not ...well 2/3 of line #1 were trying but again Toews was awful ...our 2nd line was a no show poor this game..Our top 2 centres mustered a combine 1 shot on goal...Toews was the one with Zero ...again! In contrast Rasmussen had 4 shots on goal generated...So a huge fail by our top 2 centres...Then Kane and Panarin went MIA this game for some reason.

Just had no jump...AND Hossa had 6 shots but so what? He cannot beat a goalie anymore...give him 100 shots and he puts in just 5 or 6 goals....terrible...and as usual his break free and clear in on goal grade A chances always fail...What good is break-away speed if it always fails? Shades of Viktor Stalberg! AND TT mustered 2 shots 9n goal...So that is 8 by line #1 which you would think is fine except the big $10.5 million guy in the middle got Zero shots on goal and you could hardly credit him with great set-up for Hossa ir TT...their shots mostly generated by their own getting clear to shoot..Thus you cannot say our line #1 was together on attack luke the scoring and eyeball test for the Avs top line confirmed them clicking as a line and lead g numerous dangers rushes and attacks into our zone...so Again if I had to single out the Key player not earning his paycheck. ..and not LEADING or INSPIRING us ...but who looks slow ineffective and not doing much to help his linemates ...looking futile and impotent..it is #19..He has been MIA most of this year..it may not have made any difference with Varlamov's mastery of us..but on style points and at least causing Varlamov to star instead of just having an easy game
..well it sure would be preferable to see Toews actually play to a star level rather than a bum level.Zero shots on goal...for $10.5 million? IN our barn? In font if the home fans who she'll out big bucks to instead puke over what they see night after night from #19 and his Annus Horribilis?
...

 

[Hawkaholic]

How many times did Bickell fall on his ass last night? Was he wearing Krugers skates? Not a bad game from him otherwise, hope he keeps it up.

I don't know how many times Hawk shooters shot it right at Varlamovs chest. Toews needs to play on a line with someone that can finish. He set up TT and Hossa a few times but nothing came of it.

 

[Honey Bear]

The Hawks desperately need like a 6 game win streak or something. They're losing pace with these current top 3 in the Central. I understand there's still a good 4 months of hockey left in the regular season, but these other teams aren't going to slow down. In fact, some of them might even get better at the deadline. The Hawks have some cap room, but not enough to acquire a significant piece.

You have to beat a team like Colorado, especially at the UC.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Scoring can be fixed by making some changes to our D. Help jumpstart the offense. Rosi is a bigger concern to me right now because he has been brutal. .

Rozy has been fine

And the defenders aren't making our forwards pass up countless scoring opportunities nor are they the reason 1st line LW has been blackhole and depth has been invisible with puck

This. And adding Rozy back into the fold also was not a good move by Stanley. Kinda locks up two spots with absolute garbage.

Rozy is fine and cheap as rotational #6/7

Problem is he will be overworked if you don't get someone for him to rotate with on regular basis

That is why dumping Stan's mistake and bringing back Gus or Svedberg is a must. Would allow Q to rotate Scuderi/Rozy/Svedberg-Gus on 3rd pair

 

[BK]

Rozy has been fine

And the defenders aren't making our forwards pass up countless scoring opportunities nor are they the reason 1st line LW has been blackhole and depth has been invisible with puck



Rozy is fine and cheap as rotational #6/7

Problem is he will be overworked if you don't get someone for him to rotate with on regular basis

That is why dumping Stan's mistake and bringing back Gus or Svedberg is a must. Would allow Q to rotate Scuderi/Rozy/Svedberg-Gus on 3rd pair

Rosi has been terrible his last 5-6 games.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc 14s14 seconds ago
#Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw will not face supplemental discipline for hit on Avs' Francois Beauchemin. Source said, "it was a close one."

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc 14s14 seconds ago
#Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw will not face supplemental discipline for hit on Avs' Francois Beauchemin. Source said, "it was a close one."

Huh, color me surprised.

 

[BK]

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc 14s14 seconds ago
#Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw will not face supplemental discipline for hit on Avs' Francois Beauchemin. Source said, "it was a close one."

What a joke he should have got 2-3 games. Reckless and stupid.

 

[BobbyJet]

Chris Kuc ‏@ChrisKuc 14s14 seconds ago
#Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw will not face supplemental discipline for hit on Avs' Francois Beauchemin. Source said, "it was a close one."

Huh, color me surprised.

What a joke he should have got 2-3 games. Reckless and stupid.

Shaw was fortunate. I think the head-to-head contact saved him. In fact he looked like he got the worst of it. Hopefully there are no lingering effects. Not a very smart play though, to put it politely.

As for the game: I'm too disgusted to bother posting anything.

 

[hawksfan50]

After 32 games played our +/- leader is Erik Gustafsson at +5 ...yet he is down in the Rock...also the PP was humming with Rundblad qb at LD point but he was back benched for last night's game and that went well did it not? Q 's thinking process seems a bit muddled to me..Maybe his brain is turning geezer ed. ..needs to bag-skate Toews and not excuse Hossa from morning practices because Hossa needs a special practice for shooting drills in order to beat goalies with his shot...

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Does Patrick Kane not play for Hawks anymore?

 

[BK]

Does Patrick Kane not play for Hawks anymore?

Haha. I was going to say the same.