Chicago Blackhawks 2012 Playoffs

[Flames24Rulz]

And that should do it. Duncan Keith went from a superstar to a very average player overnight.

[UMFan83]

Revised trip prediction 2-5-2

[17 Seconds]

what a bunch of stiffs.

[Careless]

such a frustrating stretch

[UMFan83]

On the bright side, save a possible empty netter, we allowed 5 less goals than last night

[Flames24Rulz]

Its been 51 days since the Hawks last won a road game.

[17 Seconds]

thats insane

[kujay]

Hawks look better to start this one. Good energy. And a nice dive to draw a penalty by Frolik. First productive thing he's done in awhile.

[kujay]

It's official, folks. Duncan Keith is terrible. Absolutely putrid.

[UMFan83]

Lemme guess....defensive zone giveaway directly leading to a goal?

[UMFan83]

Apparently, "Duncan Keith" is the number 5 trending topic in the US on Twitter right now. He must have done something laughably bad.

[Flames24Rulz]

Apparently, "Duncan Keith" is the number 5 trending topic in the US on Twitter right now. He must have done something laughably bad.

 

He's been the worst player on the ice tonight. Again.

 

This defense is officially fun bad.

[17 Seconds]

time to look into making some big changes.

 

and the stanley cup win ruined duncan keith.

[UMFan83]

Can I have the honors of overreacting and suggesting the playoffs are not a lock for this team?

 

What a spectacular free fall for this team.

[Flames24Rulz]

Can I have the honors of overreacting and suggesting the playoffs are not a lock for this team?

 

What a spectacular free fall for this team.

 

We're as close to 9th place as we are to 1st right now.

[jersey cubs fan]

and the stanley cup win ruined duncan keith.

 

The insanely high level of ice time, coupled with the cup run, olympics and a couple other playoff appearances cannot have helped.

[kujay]

Do we talk to SJ about Nittymaki? Not that they would be thrilled about helping a rival.

 

The holes on this team are massive. Apparently B-Mo wasn't the fix.

[Prizefight]

I think, or at least I'm trying to convince myself, that #2's game is suffering as a result of the ineptness in front of him. I think he feels that he needs to be playing perfect games and take advantage of every opportunity so much so that it's leading to turnovers and mental errors.

 

They obviously need another defender and I wouldn't be the least bit upset if they did. Because Q has decided that Lepisto is worse than Scott and not even worth an extended look. But these defensemen would look a lot better and play much more relaxed if the forwards on this team were consistently doing their jobs.

 

There's a lot more to it, but 2 years ago, this team allowed an NHL best 25 shots a game on goal. So it was fine for them to have a very middle of the pack goalie performance (90% sv %) since they just weren't allowing that many shots. Last year, the shots per game increased by around 4 while the goaltending stayed more or less the same and we started to see some decline.

 

This year, they are allowing almost 30 shots per game, 5 worse than the cup year. And while much hand wringing has been made about the goal tending, the save % is at .899% which isn't so drastically worse than even the year they won the cup. Clearly neither Crawford nor Emery have stolen any games for us this year, I think a case can be made that the crux of the problem is the 5 guys on ice in front of them.

 

Their forwards. Wow. Some truly atrocious defensive play from these guys. Watch a few replays from last night and you'll see how many times all 3 forwards are caught deep with a defender pinching. ONE of those forwards HAS to stay back. It's hockey 101 and they aren't capable of doing it on a consistent basis.

 

That cup winning team obviously won on puck possession. But they were just as good without it. Guys like Madden, Ladd, hell even Versteeg were great without the puck and relentlessly backchecked. The crop of borderline AHL guys, either due to talent or age, they have making up lines 3 and 4 just can't cut it.

 

Also, there's plenty of blame to go to Q, again, for making zero adjustments last night. Same odd man rushes from the 1st through the 3rd. Same Hawk strategy all night.

 

Toews is hurt a lot more than we are being told. I'm sure no reporter will ask about it though. He's been invisible(by his standards) and careless with the puck.

 

 

TL:DR. The problems are much deeper than our goaltending and d-men. It's just as much on our forwards as well

[Flames24Rulz]

Defense is a far bigger worry to me than goaltending is right now. There were countless 2 on 1 opportunities for the Avalanche last night. I think three of the four goals that the Avalanche had last night were goals where no goalie in the league would have had a chance at stopping.

[KingCubsFan]

And that should do it. Duncan Keith went from a superstar to a very average player overnight.

I'm not a huge hockey follower, but I remember that when the Hawks' defensive prospects were coming up through the system, guys like Barker, McCarthy and Seabrook were all seen as better prospects, with Keith a notch below them. So perhaps the Cup season was his career year, and now he's playing at his true talent level?

[Old Style]

Very disheartening turn of events. I hope they get the ship righted in a hurry.

[kujay]

Defense is a far bigger worry to me than goaltending is right now. There were countless 2 on 1 opportunities for the Avalanche last night. I think three of the four goals that the Avalanche had last night were goals where no goalie in the league would have had a chance at stopping.

 

Probably, but Emery isn't the long term answer and Crawford has been terrible lately.

 

Another note from last night. Kane seemed to be working hard through the neutral zone and in the defensive zone. But Hossa was absolutely useless. He honestly looked like he wasn't trying.

[Flames24Rulz]

Defense is a far bigger worry to me than goaltending is right now. There were countless 2 on 1 opportunities for the Avalanche last night. I think three of the four goals that the Avalanche had last night were goals where no goalie in the league would have had a chance at stopping.

 

Probably, but Emery isn't the long term answer and Crawford has been terrible lately.

 

Another note from last night. Kane seemed to be working hard through the neutral zone and in the defensive zone. But Hossa was absolutely useless. He honestly looked like he wasn't trying.

 

Agreed about the current goalie situation. Obviously, it could be improved but I honestly believe that it wouldn't matter if Patrick Roy was our goaltender.

 

Kane's effort was needed but almost everyone else has been horrendous on this road trip. Sharp was good against Vancouver, but he's been invisible since that game. The whole team has been about as bad as you could possibly expect the last couple of weeks. I'm also wondering just how healthy Toews is because even he hasn't been himself the last few games as well.

[UMFan83]

Defense is a far bigger worry to me than goaltending is right now. There were countless 2 on 1 opportunities for the Avalanche last night. I think three of the four goals that the Avalanche had last night were goals where no goalie in the league would have had a chance at stopping.

 

I didn't catch the game but the trib write up suggested that the Emery definitely should have saved the 3rd and 4th goals. Who knows if they even know what they are talking about. This was what Brian Hamilton said:

 

Early in the third, Seabrook couldn't keep the puck in the zone and that trickled down to another Avalanche rush and a Gabriel Landeskog go-ahead, should-be-stopped blast past Emery. Same with a David Jones breakaway tally that made it 4-2 and essentially sealed things before Kyle Quincey added an empty-netter.

[kujay]

Rumors out there of interest in Nabokov, per TSN.

 

Makes sense.