Post-Game Talk: Lehtonen stands on his head, Stars end our winning streak in Chicago

[Salvaged Ship]

Crawford is still fatigued. That's on the coaching staff. Raanta should start the next 2-3 games. He's a regular 55 game goalie, not the workhorse they are trying to make him out to be.

His previous 3 games he played great and only gave up 1 goal in each with little rest. He had not played since Friday and was not as sharp yesterday. Just an off game from him, I can't see it blamed on fatigue. It happens.

 

[Kurtosis]

Haha, that was meant for the politics board.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

even if it's true, I expect more of 6M NHL goalie as "not letting in soft goals".Obviously, 0.775 SV% is usually not enough to win games.

So you expect Crawford to NEVER have a bad game?

As a group, we are the most spoiled, whiniest set of *****es that I've ever seen. BAD GAMES ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. GOALIES ARE GOING TO OCCASIONALLY ALLOW SOFT GOALS.

Can you imagine this board if T-Bo was still in net, Krapo was on the roster, or the ABC lines was the #1 line?

Positives: I'm proud the Hawks came back and made a game of it. They could have easily folded after a brutal 1st period.

Sidebar: If I'm the Hawk's organization, I'm spending whatever it takes for dehumidifiers in the UC so the ice is better. (Just going from memory - humidity is usually what makes the ice so bad.) The Hawks had a bunch of chances that were negated by the puck bouncing or just bad ice in general. With the Hawks skating and skill, they're more negatively impacted when the ice gets sloppy.

 

[Hawkaholic]

To the people bashing Crawford, you do know that Lundqvist, Rinne, Rask, and Quick all have sub par games every once in a while. And you know that they make more money than Crawford, right?

Yeah. Crawford wasn't his best, and it probably cost us the game, but it's far too early to worry about it, as he only needs to get hot when the playoffs roll around.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

I remember when Brodeur let in 4 goals on like 13 shots. I guess he's not a hall of famer anymore.

 

[Blue Liner]

Hand-wringing over Crawford in this city is just baffling to me. Baffling.

 

[ColdSteel2]

Hand-wringing over Crawford in this city is just baffling to me. Baffling.

He's a generally quiet guy, that's just not Chicago unless you are ****ing elite. I bet if he played exactly as he does now but had the firey personality of Emery, he'd be a local legend. It wouldn't give the Hawks any more wins and probably would give us a few more penalties, but yeah, we have a lot of idiots in this town that look beyond what happens on the field. Thankfully, the team does not so he isn't going anywhere.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Sometimes I honestly get the feeling that a lot of the complaints about this team on this board come from folks that only play NHL 14 on easy mode and think that losing so much as one game out of ten is therefore bad.

Sometimes really good teams and really good players have bad games. By all standards except the outcome, we dominated the game in every way, but that was washed away with a few critical mistakes at inopportune times, Crow having a bad game, and Lehtonen having an amazing game. Change any one of those three variables, and we probably win in a route.

Sometimes games like last night's happen. Oh well.

Hey look, a line that doesn't begin with "sometimes."

 

[Salvaged Ship]

Sometimes I honestly get the feeling that a lot of the complaints about this team on this board come from folks that only play NHL 14 on easy mode and think that losing so much as one game out of ten is therefore bad.

Sometimes really good teams and really good players have bad games. By all standards except the outcome, we dominated the game in every way, but that was washed away with a few critical mistakes at inopportune times, Crow having a bad game, and Lehtonen having an amazing game. Change any one of those three variables, and we probably win in a route.

Sometimes games like last night's happen. Oh well.

Hey look, a line that doesn't begin with "sometimes."

 

[Blackhawks]

I remember when Brodeur let in 4 goals on like 13 shots. I guess he's not a hall of famer anymore.

"you remember" exactly what I am talking about. In the 20 games that Crawford has played he has been lit out like 4 of them... and has been average on 13 and good in 3. How is this a 6 million dollar goalie? Surprise, great goalies around the league have bad game too, well no s*** they all have bad games but its once every 20 games or so, not every third game... Oh and in those 20 games they might have about ten spectacular ones as well, when was the last time Crawford stood on his head to win a game for the Hawks?

 

[TorMenT]

When you have the highest scoring team in the league, your goalie rarely gets an opportunity to need to stand on his head.

 

[Hawkaholic]

"you remember" exactly what I am talking about. In the 20 games that Crawford has played he has been lit out like 4 of them... and has been average on 13 and good in 3. How is this a 6 million dollar goalie? Surprise, great goalies around the league have bad game too, well no s*** they all have bad games but its once every 20 games or so, not every third game... Oh and in those 20 games they might have about ten spectacular ones as well, when was the last time Crawford stood on his head to win a game for the Hawks?

..Henrik Lundqvist has let in 4 or more goals 5 times this year.
..Tukka Rask has done it 3 times
..Ryan Miller has done it 7 times
..Niemi has done it 5 times


etc, etc, etc

Last time Crawford stood on his head? Last game against Dallas.

 

[Blackhawks]

..Henrik Lundqvist has let in 4 or more goals 5 times this year.
..Tukka Rask has done it 3 times
..Ryan Miller has done it 7 times
..Niemi has done it 5 times


etc, etc, etc

Tukka Rask has a .935 save percentage lol exactly my point because in the rest of his games he is lights out...

Ryan Miller? seriously? are we going to argue about him having the worst team in hockey infront of him? He still has a 0.918

Niemi has a better GAA better S% and gets paid 2 mill less and still doesnt wet the bed as often

Crawford's contract is one of the worst if not the worst given to any goalie in the NHL, he is a product of the Blackhawks playing infront of him and not the other way around, that was proven when emery was here as well as they had almost identical numbers. Put Rantaa in net for those same games Crawford has or any of the names you pointed above and they would all have spectacular numbers.

 

[Salvaged Ship]

Anyway............ I thought the Shaw fight last night was one of the most entertaining by a Hawks player in a long time. You just have to love the heart of number 65, he won't back down from any challenge.

Andrew Shaw and Antoine Roussel weren’t about to let a couple of guys in black and white break up one of the more spirited bouts of the season. The pair dropped the gloves with just under five minutes to go in the first period, with the Stars winger landing the first flurry of shots before Shaw came back with a barrage of his own — the majority of which came after his jersey was pulled over his head. Showing surprisingly good aim for not being able to see his target, the scrappy Blackhawk unleashed on Roussel, and the pair continued to dance even after the referees swooped in. The officials eventually succeeded in pulling them apart, however, with one linesman having to take Shaw down to the ice himself.

 

[Blue Liner]

Lineys botched that break up. If I remember correctly the one grabbed Shaw first instead of them going in simultaneously. Put him at a distinct disadvantage for a couple of seconds, especially cuz I believe his jersey was up over his head a bit. I'll have to watch video again but I think that's why he was so pissed off afterward and chirping at the linesman that took him down. I'd be pissed, too. Was a hell of a scrap, though. One of the more entertaining ones in a while.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Tukka Rask has a .935 save percentage lol exactly my point because in the rest of his games he is lights out...

Ryan Miller? seriously? are we going to argue about him having the worst team in hockey infront of him? He still has a 0.918

Niemi has a better GAA better S% and gets paid 2 mill less and still doesnt wet the bed as often

Crawford's contract is one of the worst if not the worst given to any goalie in the NHL, he is a product of the Blackhawks playing infront of him and not the other way around, that was proven when emery was here as well as they had almost identical numbers. Put Rantaa in net for those same games Crawford has or any of the names you pointed above and they would all have spectacular numbers.

You said no elite goalie lets in 4G more than once in 20GP

.and Crawford had a 1.94GAA, and 926sv% last year and a 1.84GAA and a 932sv% in the playoffs and should of won the Conn Smythe.

 

[hawksfan50]

Ok...CC if he was a better goalie should not have let the first DALLAS goal in right through his wickets..If he did not see it he ought to have because Keith is no big hulking screen..he should never have let that one go straight in thrpugh his five hole...set the tone.. Their second hoal was a deflection. .no chance...the Penalty shot goal is a mano a mano and to that point in his career I believe CC had stopped all ten prior penalty shots he had faced..so he was due statistically for one of these to finally go in...though I do think he was technically off angle and out a bit to far too early. ..so not a good attempt to stop by him..in short even though due to let one in he coulda shoulda made a better blocking difficulty for Roussel to shot it by him...Then the GWG...well Smith let his check beat him to the open spot at the front of the ctrese..fail on Smith and a Fail on the d who lost the puck battle and let the Dallas forechecker get control of the puck behind our net for the nice passout to the uncovered guy waitong for ot at our crease. SO 2 fails thete were more to blame than CC..still you can argue that a goalie with a much better save % still saves the day on such a point blank uncovered shooter...point is we do not expect any meh save% goalie to save the day on such a grade A point blank uncovered scoring opportunityfrom any nhler except maybe if such a shooter was Sharp who seems to need 7 shots to get 1 to go in..So again chicken vs. egg...Dallas very efficient scorers while we are horibly inefficient shooters..Or Lehtonen stands on his head and CC.stinks.Which is the truth? Probably a bit of both.

 

[hawksfan50]

Other reasons we lost...How can we get 50 shots on Dallas? Courseand our so vaunted Captain only manages 2 of those shots? Tells you a lot why he did not score..A star has got to shoot more...especially in a barrage game..tells you he did not play upto expectation this game..And Versteeg only 1 shot? Maybe if Toews and Versteeg had shot more we coulda had 60 shots on Lehtonen and another goal or two go in past him?
Also..we lost too many draws with Pirri..21% he was in the dot..no doubt why he got banished back to Rockford..a miserable fail in a key role where we needed better..Note that Versteeg was 83% in the dot..Obviously he needs to take more draws in key faceoff situations..And again though our best faceoff guy wis Toews for taking the most draws over a game..HE failed at the most crucial draws on at least 2 critical PP draws..we lost control the puck goes back to our end and we lose valueable ozone time on the PP as a result.So I thil Toews had a big Fail in this game.he did not impose himself as difference-maker and he lost control for us on 2 crucial Pp O-zone draws. FAIL and FAIL for our captain and his leadership when we needed it the most..letting Dallas beat the defending Cup champs on OIR HOME ICE...so blame CC if you want but plenty of other culprits to blame despite the 50 shots..BTW..I do not think the 50 shots was that impressive...most were routine shots that mot good nhl goalies should not let get past them...Quantity we had...but not enough quality shots.

 

[zac]

zac lacks perspective, news at 11.

Coming from you I'll take that as a compliment.

 

[Crazy_Ike]

.and Crawford had a 1.94GAA, and 926sv% last year and a 1.84GAA and a 932sv% in the playoffs and should of won the Conn Smythe.

Only so far as people always think every goalie should win the Conn Smythe because their contribution is a lot more visible. Fact is most goalies in the league can, and would have, done just as well as Crawford given the team in front of him. Maybe not Khabibulin... but most the others.

Emery last year: .922, 1.94
Emery this year: .909, 2.55
Emery career: .908, 2.62

Did he just suddenly become a superstar goalie for one season with the Hawks? And then gave it right back up?

Don't quote goalie stats while they are playing in front of a team like the Hawks to me. Crawford is at best an above average NHL goalie, and that is at absolute best. He's not irreplaceable and he's not worth the contract he is about to get. He certainly should not have gotten the Conn Smythe. He's good enough to win the Cup with given a stacked team in front of him... like most the goalies in the league. Put him on a below average team like the Flyers? I suspect he'd have even worse numbers than Emery.

The depth of the Hawks skilled forwards make a lot of weaknesses look less important than they otherwise would be. The #2 center, the soft play of a lot of players, the baffling coaching decisions... the average goaltending.

 

[Hawkaholic]

..and Rask looks good because he's behind the Bruins defense.

..and every other goalie is just a product of the team in front of them.

Look at Emerys stats since Philly started playing better, almost identical to last year.

 

[Bongo]

Can someone tell me if the game broadcast that nightwas NBCsn or the CSN feed with Foley?