Post-Game Talk: Game 8: vs Lightning | 10/24/15 | Hawks win 1-0 in OT (Toews)

[Hawkaholic]

Solid game all around, especially from Crow when needed. Rundblad had a better game, still sucks though. And the PP doesn't look better without Keith, at all.

 

[RFIP]

This team continues to amaze me. I had little hope of a point last night, let alone (another) shutout W vs TB. The hwaks really do seem to be in their heads now.

And man it did my heart good to see the captain get the GWG.

Lot's of tough games a head but with this "core-core" and leadership group I am confident this team will be just fine.

 

[RFIP]

Oh wow, I just realized that they gave Kane an assist on the GWG? I watched that several times and I do not believe he touched the puck at all in OT. That pass to him along the boards clearly seemed to go well over his stick, no?

LOL, he's off to a flying start and "back in the day" there were tons of phantom assists so I have NO problem with this one!

**EDIT: My bad! You have to watch real close as the camera fades away but right off the draw Kane tips the puck away from a TB player to Seabrook.

Order restored!

 

[HawksandLove]

Toews.

He willed that goal.

 

[Blue Liner]

First full, start to finish game I've watched since the opener. Quick takes:

Garbutt had a really nice game. Very effective, and flashed some decent hands a couple of times. Seemed to fit in nicely in the lineup.

Panarin is the goods. That guy could stick handle in a phone booth. Him and Kane together are like watching the Globetrotters.

Anisimov is a really nice presence in this lineup.

Svedberg looked solid. Didn't notice him a ton and that's a compliment to defensemen. Means they didn't do anything to **** up and get noticed. Looks a bit more comfortable out there.

Other than having a nice slap shot from the point I still don't really enjoy seeing Rundblad out there. It's fine in the regular season. He can eat up some minutes and won't kill you, but I still want nothing to do with him being in a playoff lineup.

TVR looks really solid. Feel very comfortable with him out there.

TT seems to be fighting the puck a bit. Not too concerned long term, but certainly noticed it last night.

Hinostroza had a nice game. Like his wheels and he looked more confident with the puck last night.

I'm on board with Crawford's new gear. I like the black.

That was probably one of the more entertaining 1-0 games you'll ever see. Tampa is still Tampa. Good action back and forth. Overall, liked what I saw from the Hawks. Caught a couple breaks on some posts but overall thought they carried the play a good amount and was a solid effort.

Love that Toews goal.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

A win is a win is a win is a win.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

I thought Hino had a pretty good game last night.
I think he and Teuvo will be good together once they form some chemistry.

Had a full kids line someday maybe, TT, Hino, Dano

 

[CoachQ]

Very impressive win last night considering who we were playing. The team defense was outstanding and Crawford was his usual self. The offense is going to come, we seem to start out slow every year, trying to make the pretty play. Expect the offense to be in gear by the circus trip.

Question for Jaeger or any of the stat guys, what were the possession stats last night? Saw the tweet about the 62/39 discrepancy and found it interesting although the stats without Keith are a small sample size. Not really a stats follower as I consider it part of the overall game (I put hits in there as well), but curious to know. I'd say it was probably pretty close to 50/50.

 

[Taze em]

TVR has had two fantastic games. Like... truly fantastic. Hjalmarsson level.

 

[JaegerDice]

Very impressive win last night considering who we were playing. The team defense was outstanding and Crawford was his usual self. The offense is going to come, we seem to start out slow every year, trying to make the pretty play. Expect the offense to be in gear by the circus trip.

Question for Jaeger or any of the stat guys, what were the possession stats last night? Saw the tweet about the 62/39 discrepancy and found it interesting although the stats without Keith are a small sample size. Not really a stats follower as I consider it part of the overall game (I put hits in there as well), but curious to know. I'd say it was probably pretty close to 50/50.

62/39 gap was just from last year's Stanley Cup Finals. When Keith was on the ice, the Blackhawks had 62% of possession. When Keith was off the ice, they had 39% possession.

For the record, Tampa had a similar gap when Hedman was on and off the ice in that series.

As far as the game last night, it was 52-39 CF 5v5, so the Blackhawks had 57% of possession. It was pretty even until the 2nd period, at which point it seemed like Toews and company decided 'ok, enough of this silliness' and stepped on the gas.

Here's the event chart for the game:

 

[Fortyfives]

That beginning gap starting at the 30 minute mark oy!

Starting to see the pieces come together on this team with Svedberg and TVR looking very solid. Neither looked out of place and from what I saw TVR was on the ice when the better lightning lines were on the ice.

jaeger how do you think the Kruger line is doing? I thought they were playing better last year. I wouldn't say they are playing bad but I think they could improve.

 

[hockeydoug]

A win is a win is a win is a win.

Yep, it's just about points and cleaning up play at this time of year.

 

[zac]

Solid game all around, especially from Crow when needed. Rundblad had a better game, still sucks though. And the PP doesn't look better without Keith, at all.

You've got to be kidding me with that last part. If anything, Keith being off the units only affirms how much better it is when that happens (even if they aren't scoring in droves).

Keith is a very good PMD however, I've never thought he was great or consistent enough with his zone entries (or decisions when entering the zone). Keith's absence means we are seeing more of Kane, Panarin, TT, Daley, etc. bringing the puck in the zone. We haven't seen a lot of success in terms of goals, but the new units are having little trouble gaining and establishing the zone. That by itself is a massive improvement.

The best part? Seabs et al. are much more adept and not fumbling the puck (near the blue line) or blasting ****** shots into the glass. Seabs is very keen on when to move up on the play and has got some pretty good shots off. TVR has also has some ops the few times he's been out there, and I think that Daley has a lot of promise on the PP. The biggest issue? We still don't move quick enough with and without the puck, and although Tampa didn't do much on the PP I thought their movement in this regard was EXACTLY what this team SHOULD be doing. If we did? The units could be nearly unstoppable, especially if we gravitated more toward one-timers.

Keith shouldn't be on either unit when he returns. Not only do we have better options, but it saves him for minutes that his talents are better suited for. I just hope Q (doubtful) is paying attention.

 

[zac]

I'm sure some of the usual suspects will find something...anything... to criticize in this game, but I'd say top to bottom it was a fantastic effort.

All 4 lines were generating chances all night.

Perfect PK

Crawford was excellent

And our supposedly garbage D kept one of the more talented offensive rosters off the board all night.

The only things I can even think of were Shaw and Runblad being very meh. We also looked a little sloppy in the last 4 minutes of the 3rd, but what team doesn't have a bad stretch in a game?

Overall I thought that was a superior effort from the entire team. The Mulletov Cocktail line had the puck all night, while the first line was superb defensively. As you stated the PK was great, and I loved the individual efforts from Seabs, TVR, and Garbutt. #28 specifically stood out as he had one hell of a game.

The only negative is that the PP needs to start scoring some goals. The good news is that they generated some chances and had little problem establishing the zone most of the night.

After the first it felt like we had the puck 70% of the time.

 

[BobbyJet]

The only things I can even think of were Shaw and Runblad being very meh. We also looked a little sloppy in the last 4 minutes of the 3rd, but what team doesn't have a bad stretch in a game?

Overall I thought that was a superior effort from the entire team. The Mulletov Cocktail line had the puck all night, while the first line was superb defensively. As you stated the PK was great, and I loved the individual efforts from Seabs, TVR, and Garbutt. #28 specifically stood out as he had one hell of a game.

The only negative is that the PP needs to start scoring some goals. The good news is that they generated some chances and had little problem establishing the zone most of the night.

After the first it felt like we had the puck 70% of the time.

Good post, Sounds pretty accurate to me. Even as OT approached last night, I felt confident that Hawks would prevail despite facing a top team in the East.

 

[zac]

Good post, Sounds pretty accurate to me. Even as OT approached last night, I felt confident that Hawks would prevail despite facing a top team in the East.

You never know with that OT set up. All it takes is one missed shot or a **** up for that puck to go the other way in a 3 on 2 or 1. But yeah, I had the same feeling last night that I did 2 years ago. That is if the game was close the Hawks were going to win it in the end. I like that feeling and feel that this team is at it's best when it's playing sound defense and letting the offense naturally come when the opportunities present themselves.

 

[Fortyfives]

You never know with that OT set up. All it takes is one missed shot or a **** up for that puck to go the other way in a 3 on 2 or 1. But yeah, I had the same feeling last night that I did 2 years ago. That is if the game was close the Hawks were going to win it in the end. I like that feeling and feel that this team is at it's best when it's playing sound defense and letting the offense naturally come when the opportunities present themselves.

That last sentence is a perrfect description of the hawks.

 

[JaegerDice]

That beginning gap starting at the 30 minute mark oy!

Starting to see the pieces come together on this team with Svedberg and TVR looking very solid. Neither looked out of place and from what I saw TVR was on the ice when the better lightning lines were on the ice.

jaeger how do you think the Kruger line is doing? I thought they were playing better last year. I wouldn't say they are playing bad but I think they could improve.

I think they're doing alright, but yes, they're definitely not at the level they were at the end of last season and in the playoffs, when they were relentless forechecking bulldogs who would start every shift in their own zone and then end every shift pinning the other guys in the offensive zone.

I think there are a few reasons.

1) Shaw is struggling. Just across the board. But he was struggling at this time last season as well. He may just be a guy that elevates his game as the season continues and into the playoffs. It's worth keeping an eye on, but after piling on him early last year I'm going to be patient this year.


2) The defense. The 4th line took pretty much every shift with Hammer and Oduya last year. They've spent time with almost all the D pairs this year. They've spent a fair bit of time with Keith and Hammer, but Keith and Hammer play differently together than Hammer and Oduya, as they're not a pure shutdown pair. The other two pairs are obviously works in progress. And now Keith is out, so everything is getting mixed up again. They can't be as aggressive as they were when they had the comfort and reliability of Hammer and Oduya behind them shift in and shift out. I think once things stabilize on the back-end and the players get comfortable with the styles and habits of the D pairings they find themselves on the ice with most, you'll see an improvement.


3) They're taking even tougher starts than last season so far. This is almost entirely due to the Toews line struggling IMO, because that line has been getting close to the easiest starts of Toews career. Likely in an effort to get Toews and Hossa going, or maybe to ease in the various LW experiments, Toews and Hossa have been seeing easier competition and more offensive zone starts than usual.

In 2014-2015 Toews had a ZSO%Rel of +3.28 and Hossa had a ZSO%Rel of +0.79.

In 2015-2016 Toews has a ZSO%Rel of +13.10 and Hossa has a ZSO%Rel of +12.44.

The 4th line is taking most of the draws in the neutral zone and defensive zone that the Toews line did last season, and it's usually against pretty tough competition (1st or 2nd line players).

As it becomes clearer and clearer that Tik is the guy and Q gets more comfortable dialing up the difficulty for that line, I think you'll see the workload come down for the 4th line and they'll do better as a result.

 

[HLLYWD99]

2 - 0 for the Bickelless Hawks warm up the Rockford Limo.

 

[JustABlackhawksFan]

2 - 0 for the Bickelless Hawks warm up the Rockford Limo.

2-0 for the Keithless Hawks.... What a scrub Keith is.


But for the record, in case anyone misinterprets, I certainly agree that Bickell is garbage and should stay scratched.

 

[scarchelli]

What will happen first? Bickell in rockford or kane investigation officially dropped?

 

[SAADfather]

Little late to the party but watched the game at a bar last night an didn't have the greatest veiw but I thought garbutt was the most impressive hawk forward last night. Also really liked what TVR brought last night (as well as the last few games). He's been playing solid hockey and seems to pinch and join the rush at all the correct times. He's got some great hockey IQ. Thrilled that we have him for 825k for the next few seasons.

 

[CourtneyDagger50]

I knew Trevor was gonna be awesome

 

[madgoat33]

Yea, I'm glad TVR has turned it around because he looked rough early in the season. I've only seen one game since the second game, but he looked good there and I've heard nothing but good things also.

 

[Fortyfives]

thanks for answering my question I appreciate it.